SWB RailRiders Game Notes

August 10, 2018 - International League (IL1)
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders News Release

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (60-54) vs. Durham Bulls (63-50)

LHP Nestor Cortes (5-5, 3.72) vs. RHP Chih-Wei Hu (3-7, 4.83)

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Cortes: Allowed 1 R on 3 H with 7 K and 2 BB over 6.0 IP in 8/04 Win vs. BUF Hu: Allowed 1 R on 2 H in 2.2 relief IP on 8/05 @ CHA with 3 K and 1 BB

LAST TIME OUT: The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders bested the Norfolk Tides 6-2 at Harbor Park on Thursday. After the Tides evened the game in the seventh, the RailRiders tallied four runs in the top of the eighth to take two of three in the series tie the Tides for the wild card lead.

The RailRiders opened the scoring in the top of the fifth. Mark Payton singled and advanced to second when Tyler Wade walked. A single by Abiatal Avelino loaded the bases and Ryan McBroom followed with a single to left, driving home both Payton and Wade for a 2-0 lead.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Tides evened the score against Raynel Espinal, scoring two runs on four singles. Armando Araiza's and Breyvic Valera's base hits drove in Luis Sardinas and Adrian Marin to pin a blown save on Espinal.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Tides evened the score against Raynel Espinal, scoring two runs on four singles. In the eighth, however, McBroom led off with a single and moved to second on a groundout by Mike Ford. After a Ronald Torreyes single put two on, L.J. Mazzilli doubled to left, driving home McBroom for a 3-2 lead. Francisco Diaz walked to load the bases. After Torreyes scored on a passed ball, Payton singled home Mazzilli and Diaz to extend the lead to four at 6-2.

Justus Sheffield worked five scoreless, striking out five and walking one. Espinal (7-2) vultured the win; his team-best seventh of the year.

NO BULL: Scranton/Wilkes-Barre opens its only series in Durham this season tonight. The RailRiders took the first meeting of the season 6-3 as David Hale topped Chih-Wei Hu. A Bruce Caldwell home run from the nine spot in the order paced the offense. Durham captured the next two games by 10-5 and 5-4 finals. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre has gone 34-22 since that series ended,

CORTES AT THE READY: Nestor Cortes will get the call in the series opener. The left-hander did not face Durham in June. Cortes has factored in the decision in each of his last seven outings, having won four straight before losing two in a row and winning his most recent appearance. He has a 2-1 record at home with an ERA of 4.28 and has gone 3-4 away from Moosic but holds a lower earned run average at 3.19 on the road.

SERIES STUFF: Scranton/Wilkes-Barre had lost two straight series before taking two of three at Norfolk.

SHUFFLING THE DECK: The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders continue to have a flurry of roster moves as the calendar moves past the trade deadline. Over the past 15 days (Since June 25),the RailRiders have announced 49 roster moves. Overall, 76 moves were made by the RailRiders in the month of July and the team is up to a total of 226 roster moves heading into play tonight. That stated, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre has only had one move since leaving Moosic on Monday.

ROAD WOES GO AWAY? The RailRiders are eight games over .500 at home, but two under on the road this year. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre has not had a losing road record since 2014; the last time the club did not make the I.L. playoffs.

DOING THE MATH: The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders enter Wednesday against the Norfolk Tides in 2nd place in the I.L. North, 9.0 games behind the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. The RailRiders have 24 games left in their season, and if they were to go 20-4 (.833) down the stretch to reach 80 wins, they'd need Lehigh Valley to play no better than 10-14 (.416) in order to win the division title. Lehigh Valley is 70-46 entering play tonight.

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