IL1 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders

SWB Red Barons Game Notes

Published on June 1, 2019 under International League (IL1)
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders News Release


LEHIGH VALLEY IRONPIGS (27-24) @ SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE RED BARONS (29-20)

RHP Drew Anderson (0-4, 6.67) vs. RHP Drew Hutchison (3-3, 6.20)

| Game No. 50 | PNC Field | Moosic, PA | June 1, 2019 | First Pitch 4:05 p.m. |

MOOSIC, PA (May 31, 2019) -- Scranton/Wilkes-Barre celebrated the first game of the Red Barons Reunion Weekend with a smashing 8-0 victory over Lehigh Valley Friday night at PNC Field. Chance Adams, Danny Coulombe and David Sosebee blanked the IronPigs on seven hits and the RailRiders, playing as the Red Barons, took an early lead and never looked back.

Adams tossed a perfect top-of-the-first inning and was backed with four runs in the home half. With two on and one out, Mike Tauchman lined a base hit, plating Mike Ford. Kyle Higashioka lifted a sac fly to center and Tyler Wade drilled a homer into the right field RailHouse, bringing the action-packed first inning to a close with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre leading 4-0.

Adams (3-1) followed with five more shutout innings, allowing four hits while walking none and striking out three. He received a defensive gem from Wade and Didi Gregorius in the top of the sixth. Wade dove to rob Deivy Grullon of a base hit, threw to Gregorius at second, who then completed a double play with a pinpoint throw to first to end the inning.

In the bottom of the sixth, Mike Ford demolished a baseball for a three-run home run to right center and the lead increased to 7-0. In the eighth, Breyvic Valera doubled to drive in Brad Miller to cap the scoring at 8-0. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre has won eight of the last nine games and five straight at PNC Field. Tauchman paced the Red Barons with three hits over four at-bats, while Ford and Wade added multi-hit games.

A YEAR LATER: The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders completed the month of May with a .281 AVG over 27G with 51 HR and 178 R (6.6 runs per game) and a 19-8 record. In May 2018, SWB batted .240 over 29G with 33 HR and 113 R (3.9 runs per game) and went 13-14. The RailRiders are 3.0 games ahead of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs and Syracuse Mets, which is the largest lead they've held in first place in the IL North since the final day of the 2017 season when the led the division by 6.5 games. At 29-20 coming into Saturday, is also the most games above .500 for the RailRiders since the end of 2017 as well-- last season, the RailRiders were never more than eight games above .500.

IL NORTH RIVALRY: The Lehigh Valley IronPigs come to PNC Field for the second time this season to take on Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The Philadelphia Phillies took off from the Scranton-area following the 2006 season and signed a one-year Player Development contract with the Ottawa Lynx in 2007 before Coca-Cola Park opened in 2008. A year ago, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs (84-56, .600) won it's first Division title as they won the IL North by 10.0 games over the RailRiders (73-65, .529) who still claimed a playoff spot by winning the Wild Card by 1.0 games over both the Columbus Clippers and Indianapolis Indians. The RailRiders won the first round playoff series between the two teams 3-1.

RAILREHABBERS: INF Didi Gregorius joins OF Aaron Hicks on the list of Yankees rehabbers for the RailRiders this season, and has gone 0-for-8 in the first two games in which he has played. In Game 1 of Wednesday's doubleheader, Gregorius was 0-for-3 and played all seven innings at SS. A year ago, SWB had 10 different Yankees play games with them: Greg Bird (INF), A.J. Cole (P), Brandon Drury (INF), Clint Frazier (OF), Aaron Hicks (OF), Tommy Kahnle (P), Billy McKinney (OF), Gary Sanchez (C), Masahiro Tanaka (P), Adam Warren (P). In his two games with SWB before returning to New York, Hicks was 3-for-7 with 2 2B, HR, RBI, 4 R, BB, 1-for-1 SB.

LOOKING FOR PITCHING: The last week has featured a 5-2 record for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, with a pair of losses sandwiched around five consecutive wins. During that time, the offense has carried the load for the RailRiders, averaging 9.3 runs per game (65 runs scored in 61 innings). The pitching has worked to a 6.97 ERA during that stretch, allowing 58R/48ER over 62.0 IP. Dating back a week prior, the SWB pitching staff had allowed fewer than four runs in a game just once of its last 14 nine-inning games before its shutout Saturday night.

ON-BASE STREAKS, EXTENDED: Scranton/Wilkes-Barre enters Thursday's series finale against the Rochester Red Wings with a number of lengthy on-base streaks intact. Brad Miller (23G), Mike Ford (20G), Ryan Lavarnway (15G), Breyvic Valera (14G) and Mike Tauchman (11G) all have active double-digit streaks. Miller's is the fourth-longest active streak in the league with Ford tied right behind him. Miller's streak has now eclipsed Tampa Tarpons' Diego Castillo who had a 20-game on-base streak from 4/14 - 5/7 as the longest streak in the Yankees MiLB this year.

WHAT A STRETCH: Early in the season, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders had their schedule broken up by a handful of postponements and suspensions due to weather -- seven over the first five weeks of the season. Though many of the games were made up the following day, it's getting time to pay the piper over the next few weeks. Following Monday's day-off, the RailRiders began a stretch Tuesday night against the Pawtucket Red Sox that features 23 games over 20 days before their next scheduled off day. All 23 games come against each of their five IL North Division rivals. They are currently 8-2 on this stretch.

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International League Stories from June 1, 2019


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