IL Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders

SWB RailRiders Game Notes - September 10, 2021

Published on September 10, 2021 under International League (IL)
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders News Release


Rochester Red Wings (43-64) vs. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (62-46)

RHP Cade Cavalli (0-2, 7.00 ERA) vs. RHP Deivi García (2-7, 7.09 ERA)

| Game 109 | Home Game 57 | PNC Field | Moosic, PA | September 10, 2021 | First Pitch 7:05 p.m. |

GITTENS OUTTA HERE: RailRiders first baseman Chris Gittens launched his team-leading 11th home run of the season on Tuesday night against Rochester in only 114 at-bats, giving him an AB per HR ratio of 10.36 for the season. That pace is on par with Matt Williams's 1994 season, in which he hit 43 home runs in 445 at-bats, which sits as the 34th-best AB/HR season of all-time in major leagues. The best mark by a RailRiders player with at least 100 at-bats in 2019 belonged to Logan Morrison who hit 15 home runs in 152 at-bats (10.13/HR).

DOUBLE THE FUN: The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders embarked on their third doubleheader of the current homestand Thursday night, and swept a pair against the Rochester Red Wings. It was the first time this season that SWB has won both ends of a twin bill. Unfortunately, the first two doubleheaders of the homestand were affairs to forget, as the Buffalo Bisons swept Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in two games last Tuesday and then again on Saturday. That marked the first time this year that the RailRiders have been swept in doubleheaders, but following the sweep on Thursday, the team's record in doubleheader games is 7-9 for the season.

STOP THE STEAL: The Rochester Red Wings were 2-for-2 on stolen base attempts against the RailRiders on Tuesday night, continuing a troubling trend of teams running wild on the RailRiders. Opponents are an absurd 14-for-16 on stolen base attempts during the current homestand. Since the beginning of August, RailRiders opponents are a stunning 32-for-37 (86.5% success rate) when trying to steal against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. That is slightly better than the career success rate of Carlos Beltran, ranks third all-time in stolen base success rate.

CLOSE CALLS & BLOWOUTS: The RailRiders have played an extraordinary number of close games this season, with 52 of SWB's 108 games being decided by one or two runs (48.9%). Scranton/Wilkes-Barre has performed perfectly average in these close contests, going 15-15 (.500) in one-run games and 11-11 (.500) in two-run games. However, the RailRiders have also participated in their share of extreme blowout games, decided by eight-or-more runs. In 13 such contests, SWB is 11-2 (.846) on the season, and is part of the reason why the team is +127 in run differential this season, third-best in Triple-A East.

ONE OF THE BEST: Throughout the 2021 season, the RailRiders bullpen has been the backbone of the pitching staff, posting a 3.00 ERA as a unit and racking up 43 of SWB's 62 wins. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre has the third-best bullpen ERA in full season baseball (minors and majors), trailing only Buffalo (2.79) and Somerset (2.80). The bullpen is posting impressive rates of 10.92 K/9, 4.04 BB/9, and has limited opposing batters to just a .203 AVG this season.

CERTIFIED STRIKEOUT BOYS: RailRiders pitchers struck out a season-high 17 batters on Friday night in a 1-0 loss against the Buffalo Bisons. That was the highest strikeout total of the year for SWB, surpassing the 15 K mark accomplished three times, most recently on August 8 against Worcester. The 17 strikeouts recorded by the RailRiders on Friday was the most since the staff struck out 18 on May 5, 2019 against the Syracuse Mets. That contest was also notable for SWB scoring 14 runs (10 earned) against Mets starter Mickey Jannis, and a 7 RBI performance from Kyle Higashioka. The RailRiders followed that up with a 15-strikeout performance on Sunday, whiffed 24 Rochester hitters in Thursday's doubleheader, and are striking out 10.17 batters per-nine innings this season as a staff.

THE FINAL STRETCH BEFORE THE FINAL STRETCH™: Friday continues the penultimate series of the regular season across minor league baseball, with most teams having nine games remaining on their regular season schedules. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre hosts Rochester for five more games before finishing the season on the road at Lehigh Valley. Following that, the RailRiders return home for a five-game set with Syracuse to kick off the Triple-A Final Stretch, a 10-game, 2-week "postseason tournament". The team with the best overall record over the 10-game period will be dubbed the Final Stretch Champion and receive a prize which is still TBA. Team and individual stats and records achieved during the Triple-A Final Stretch will be counted toward regular season numbers, as confirmed by MLB's statistics team.

Check out the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders Statistics

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International League Stories from September 10, 2021


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