IL Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders

SWB RailRiders Game Notes - September 3, 2021

Published on September 3, 2021 under International League (IL)
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders News Release


Buffalo Bisons (60-41) vs. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (59-42)

RHP Casey Lawrence (4-2, 6.00 ERA) vs. RHP Luis Gil (4-0, 5.23 ERA)

| Game 102 | Home Game 50 | PNC Field | Moosic, PA | September 3, 2021 | First Pitch 7:05 p.m. |

NOPE, DON'T LIKE THAT: With losses in the final two games of the series at Lehigh Valley and in the first three games of the Buffalo series, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders enter play on Friday night riding a five-game losing streak for the first time all season. Remarkably, the RailRiders have only suffered three other losing streaks of three straight throughout the season. In 2019, SWB had three four-game losing streaks, a five-game losing streak and one six-game losing streak. There was also one stretch where the team lost 11-of-12 games played from 8/6-17.

COMPANY PICNIC: Despite the recent swoon and an overall disappointing month of August (11-15 record), the RailRiders hit the 100-game mark of the season with one of the best records in team history through that benchmark game. At 59-41, the RailRiders have the third-best 100-game record in the RailRiders Era (2013-Present), trailing the 2017 squad (63-37) and the 2016 National Championship team (62-38). The 2021 RailRiders own the best mark through 50 games (34-16), but sat exactly at the .500 mark in their next 50 games.

SEPTEMBER MIKE, NICE TO MEET ME: Following a rough August, RailRiders are certainly relieved to be moving on to the month of September. After posting an 11-15 record, the first losing month for the club since August 2019, when they went 12-17. This was despite posting the best staff ERA by month (3.66) this season. The SWB offense managed to post season-lows in all three triple slash categories, combining to hit just .236 AVG/.321 OBP/.374 SLG in the month, while posting another monthly low with only 22 home runs.

THE PARTY PLANNING COMMITTEE: 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 42 of SWB's 59 wins. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre has the third-best bullpen ERA in full season baseball (minors and majors), trailing only Buffalo (2.84) and Somerset (2.89). The bullpen is posting impressive rates of 10.76 K/9, 4.03 BB/9, and has limited opposing batters to just a .204 batting average this season.

THE DINNER PARTY: The RailRiders have played an extraordinary number of close games this season, with 51 of SWB's 101 games being decided by one or two runs (50.5%). Scranton/Wilkes-Barre has performed roughly average in these close contests, going 15-14 (.517) in one-run games and 11-11 (.500) in two-run games. Not to be out-done, the RailRiders have also participated in their fair share of extreme blowout games, decided by eight-or-more runs. In 12 such contests, SWB is 10-2 (.833) on the season, and is part of the reason why the team is +124 in run differential this season, second-best in Triple-A East.

ALLEN STARTED THE FIRE!: RailRiders OF Greg Allen has been on a tear in 19 games since being returned to the team from the Yankees. The switch-hitter is batting .411 (23-for-56) with 11 R, 4 2B, 3B, 3 HR, 11 RBI, 4 BB, 8 K, and 5 HBP. Allen had a 12-game on-base streak snapped on Saturday with an 0-for-3 performance, but during the streak his season batting line improved from .263/.402/.343 to .321/.440/.460, a 155-point jump in his OPS.

FIELD TRIP TO LAKE SCRANTON: Despite two consecutive losses to Lehigh Valley to end the road trip, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders are 33-19 (.634) on the road this season, the second-best mark of any team in Triple-A this season. Only Jacksonville (33-21) can claim as many wins away from home in Triple-A East, and in the Northeast Division, Worcester (29-22) has the second-best road record. In Triple-A baseball, only Reno (35-19) has more wins on the road than Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

THAT ONE NIGHT, YOU MADE EVERYTHING ALRIGHT: Today marks the two-year anniversary of Game 141 of the 2019 season, when the RailRiders completed the Miracle on Montage Mountain against the Syracuse Mets. Trailing 7-1 entering the bottom of the 7th and having just one hit to that point off starting pitcher Ervin Santana, the RailRiders scored five times to make it a 7-6 deficit. When Syracuse responded with six runs in the top of the 8th inning it seemed as if the RailRiders' fate was sealed, but instead they plated a season-best eight runs in an inning and grabbed a 14-13 lead en route to a win. This game also has the distinction of being the final regular season game ever played in the International League, a circuit which began play in 1884 but has been disbanded and reconstituted as the Triple-A East League.

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