Sports stats



Timely Hitting and Solid Pitching Lead Yankees to 3-1 Win

April 27, 2012 - International League (IL1)
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees News Release


Allentown, PA - Dellin Betances (WP, 1-2) picked up his first win at Triple-A and Craig Tatum supplied enough offense with a two run homer as the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees (10-10) picked up a 3-1 win over the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs (13-9) in the second game of a four game "home" series at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown.

Lehigh Valley got on the board in the top of the first inning off Yankees starter Betances grabbing a 1-0 lead. The right hander got off to a shaky start walking leadoff man Scott Podsednik on four pitches. Kevin Frandsen greeted Betances with a double to right center and the Iron Pigs led.

Tatum put the Yankees out front in the second inning with his first homer in pinstripes with a two run shot over the 17 foot high wall in right center off Iron Pig starter Austin Hyatt (LP, 2-2), for a 2-1 lead. Brandon Lair worked a two out walk in the plate appearance before Tatum to extend the inning, setting the stage for Tatum's first homer of the season.

Betances was on top of his game retiring the next nine batters he faced, ending the first and going through the second and third innings. After the RBI double by Frandsen, the SWB right hander did not allow another base runner until walking the first two batters he faced in the fourth.

The game remained a 2-1 Yankees lead until the home half of the fifth inning. Kevin Russo gave Scranton/Wilkes-Barre some breathing room with an RBI double to right center field scoring Doug Bernier who walked, stole second base and went to third on a throwing error by the catcher Kratz. Russo, who would add a base hit in the ninth inning off Raul Valdes picked up his second straight three hit night to raise his overall average to .306, up from .245 where it sat at the beginning of the series.

The Yankees bullpen would handle the rest with three pitchers combining to shutout Lehigh Valley over the final four innings of the game. Juan Cedeno tossed 2.0 scoreless, allowing only a two out sixth inning double while striking out two Iron Pig hitters. Chase Whitely tossed a one, two, three eighth inning and turned the game over to closer Kevin Whelan in the ninth.

Luna reached on a wild pitch following a strikeout to open the ninth and moved to second on a bloop single to right from Kratz. With first and second and none out, Derrick Mitchell's sacrifice bunt attempt was fielded by catcher Craig Tatum who threw to third forcing Luna. Larid's throw to first to got away from Jayson Nix, the Yankees second baseman covering the bag. Mike Fontenot, who was pinch running for Kratz moved up from second to third and Mitchell who appeared to be thrown out at second base on the ensuing throw by Nix was called safe by umpire A.J. Johnson. SWB manager Dave Miley was thrown out of the game for arguing the call with the end result being Iron Pigs at second and third with one down in a 3-1 game. Whelan struck out Rich Thompson and got Andres Blanco to fly out to Ray Kruml in center for the final out of the game.

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre continues the four game "home" series with Lehigh Valley on Saturday night at Coca-Cola Park with a 6:35 PM first pitch. Right hander Nelson Figueroa (0-0, 0.00) will start for the Yankees while the Iron Pigs will send left hander (2-1, 2.53) to the mound.

• Discuss this story on the International League message board...

International League Stories from April 27, 2012


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central