IL Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders

SWB RailRiders Game Notes - May 13, 2021

May 13, 2021 - International League (IL)
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders News Release


Lehigh Valley IronPigs (6-2) vs. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (6-2)

LHP David Parkinson (0-0, 27.00 ERA) vs. RHP Nick Green (0-0, 7.71 ERA)

| Game 9 | Home Game 3 | PNC Field | Moosic, PA | May 13, 2021 | First Pitch 6:35 p.m. |

LET'S GET IT STARTED (IN HERE): After posting a 6.75 ERA (15 ER/20.0 IP) in the season-opening series at Syracuse, RailRiders starting pitchers have been much better at PNC Field through two games. The combination of Deivi García and Brody Koerner have combined for a 1.04 ERA (1 ER/8.2 IP) in this series against Lehigh Valley. With a small sample size of eight games played, the last two games have dropped RailRiders' starters ERA down to 5.02, while the overall staff ERA has fallen from 6.24 entering Tuesday's home opener, to 4.97. In 2019, SWB posted a 4.98 ERA at home in 71 games, and 4.94 overall.

WHERE HAVE ALL THE DINGERS GONE?: After shattering the SWB franchise record with 212 home runs in 2019 (previously 164 in 1998), the RailRiders are at it again, hitting 15 home runs in the team's first six games. However, the RailRiders have not hit a home run in their two games at PNC Field this season. Nontheless, the 15 round-trippers hit by SWB puts the club in a tie for third place in the Triple-A East League with Nashville, trailing Durham (17) and Gwinnett (16). The RailRiders are tied for fifth in minor league baseball in home runs and are one of six teams who have hit at least 15 long balls. Incredibly, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs only hit two home runs thus far, with only Louisville (1) having hit fewer among Triple-A East teams.

SUPER BASH BROTHERS: RailRiders first baseman Chris Gittens is off to one of the hottest starts in minor league baseball, and enters Wednesday eighth in the Triple-A East League in OPS (1.357). He is one of two SWB players in the top-10 in the league, joined by Trey Amburgey (3rd, 1.478). However, by the metric weighted On-Base Average (wOBA), Gittens is fifth in all of Triple-A East (.563), trailing Jesús Sánchez of Jacksonville (1st, .727). Sánchez also paces the circuit in OPS (1.779). wOBA is a metric which more accurately weighs on-base percentage and slugging to measure a player's total offensive contributions, with leaderboards found at Fangraphs. By wOBA, Amburgey (.608) ranks fourth among qualified hitters in the league.

THREE DOZEN SIDES OF BACON: The COVID-19 pandemic has created one of the most unusual season schedules in the history of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre franchise. With the season beginning a full month later than traditional, all teams in the Triple-A East League will play 120-game schedules. The RailRiders, along with the rest of the Northeast Division teams, will exclusively play teams within the division. This leads to a schedule where SWB plays the rival Lehigh Valley IronPigs an unprecedented 36 times. The 2021 Iron Rail is currently tied 1-1.

MARATHON MEN: The RailRiders played their longest 9-inning game in franchise history on Thursday at Syracuse, clocking in at 4:09. That surpassed the previous record of 4:04, when the then-Red Barons locked horns with the Pawtucket Red Sox on Sept. 1, 2000. Thursday's game also featured 13 walks by SWB pitchers, three shy of the club record set against Tidewater in 1991. Early in the season, it stands as the longest game in Triple-A East League history, but wasn't even the longest 9-inning game in minor league baseball on May 6. That distinction belongs to the Lake County Captains (High-A, CLE) and Lansing Lugnuts (High-A, OAK) who completed a 7-6 Captains win in 4:18. Not to be out-done, the RailRiders and Mets game on Sunday, May 9 lasted 4:03, making it the third-longest game in franchise history.

AIN'T NO PARTY LIKE A MOOSIC PARTY: Tuesday's RailRiders home opener was Scranton/Wilkes-Barre's first game at PNC Field since Game 3 of the First Round of the IL Playoffs vs. Durham on Sept. 7, 2019. The span of 612 days between games at home in NEPA is the longest in franchise history, surpassing the 577-day streak from Sept. 5, 2011 - April 4, 2013 when SWB played the entire 2012 season away from Moosic owing to renovations at PNC Field. In 2019, the RailRiders were 45-26 (.634) at home, and are 212-142 (.599) at PNC Field since the beginning of the 2015 season, and sport an average season record of approximately 42-28.

VETERANS DAY: The RailRiders 31-man Break Camp roster is one of the most veteran-laden in recent club history, featuring a whopping 19 players with MLB Service Time and 3,523 total games played in MLB. Derek Dietrich (746 G) has played in the most MLB games on the roster, while Luis García (326 G) narrowly edges out Adam Warren (323 G) for the most pitching appearances.

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International League Stories from May 13, 2021


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