IL1 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders

SWB RailRiders Game Notes

Published on July 7, 2018 under International League (IL1)
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders News Release


SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE RAILRIDERS (45-40) vs. PAWTUCKET RED SOX (40-45)

LHP Josh Rogers (6-5, 3.53) vs. RHP Drew Pomeranz (0-1, 9.00)

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| Game No. 86 | Saturday July 7, 2018 | McCoy Stadium | Pawtucket, RI |

| First Pitch 6:15 p.m. | Pregame Show 5:45 p.m. |

LAST TIME OUT: With a resplendent sunset as the backdrop at McCoy Stadium, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders took a 3-2 decision from the Pawtucket Red Sox Friday night before a crowd of 4,929 as SWB extends its season-best win streak to five in-a-row.

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre took an early lead on Pawtucket in the top of the first. With Abiatal Avelino on first base following a one-out walk, Billy McKinney pulled a 3-2 pitch from Justin Haley over the right field wall for a 2-0 RailRiders advantage. McKinney leads the team with 12 homers and ranked second behind Ryan McBroom with 28 RBI.

In the bottom of the inning, the PawSox would cut back the deficit. Former RailRider Adam Lind singled off Scranton/Wilkes-Barre starter Chance Adams, driving in Tzu-Wei Lin with two outs to halve the PawSox deficit. Pawtucket had the opportunity for more damage off Adams but stranded the bases loaded in the first, two runners in the second and one in both the third and fourth innings. The RailRiders right-hander pitched four innings in a no-decision, striking out three and walking four on 95 pitches.

Down the stretch, the SWB bullpen was excellent. The final three innings were scoreless and absorbed by Giovanny Gallegos (1.0 IP) and Joe Harvey (2.0 IP), the latter recording his fourth save of the season.

ROLLIN' INTO THE BREAK: Over the last 25 games the RailRiders have owned an 18-7 record to bring them up to 2nd place in the International League North standings. After taking both games in each of their two-game series up in Buffalo and at PNC Field, the RailRiders are 6-0-2 in their last eight series. The RailRiders entered the series June 29 against Pawtucket trying to draw themselves back to .500 for the first time since being 19-19 May 17 (Game No. 38) and are now five games above .500 for the first time all season.

SWEEP APNEA: The RailRiders notched a fourth straight win over Buffalo this week and secured a four-game winning streak for the first time all season. It is the 7th time the RailRiders have had at least a three-game win streak this season, before finally getting over the hump with a fourth straight win. If you consider the split series a four-gamer, the RailRiders look for a four-game sweep of Buffalo since all the way back to... last season: June 16-18 which included a pair of wins in a doubleheader June 17.

...AND JUSTUS FOR ALL: Sunday's expected starting pitcher, LHP Justus Sheffield, has been selected to participate in the 2018 SiriusXM Futures Game July 15 at Nationals Park in Washington D.C. Baseball America ranked Sheffield as the No. 3 prospect in the New York Yankees system entering the season, trailing only INF Gleyber Torres and OF Estevan Florial. In 15 appearances this season (14GS), the southpaw is 3-5 with a 2.49 ERA and 88 K (10.0 K/9), 36 BB (2.4 K:BB) over 79.1 IP between Double-A Trenton and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Sheffield is the first Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders player to be tabbed for the Futures Game since OF Aaron Judge was selected to the United States in 2015. The lone Yankees representative last season was RHP Domingo Acevedo who allowed 3R/3ER on 4H in his one inning of work for the World Team.

WINGING IT: The RailRiders continue to get a strong performance out of its bullpen over the last two weeks. In 17G since June 17, the bullpen arms not named rehabber RHP A.J. Cole had combined for 64.2 IP, 41 H (5.7 H/9), 18R/13ER (1.81 ERA).

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International League Stories from July 7, 2018


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