Sports stats

Yankees Move into First Place with 13-8 Win

July 21, 2012 - International League (IL1)
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees News Release


Lawrenceville, GA - The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees (56-45) improved to a season high 11 games over .500 with a 13-8 win over the Gwinnett Braves in the second game of a four game series on Saturday night at Cool Ray Field. With the win and losses by Pawtucket and Lehigh Valley, the Yankees moved into first place in the IL North for the first time since May 16, 2011.

Brent Leach (LP, 0-1) got the start for the Braves getting a call up from Double-A Mississippi prior to the game to make his first start for Gwinnett. The left hander retired only one SWB hitter as the Yankees put up seven runs on the Braves starter including a Grand Slam off the bat of Cole Garner. The slam was the first for the Yankees in 80 at bats this season with the bases loaded and the first for the Yankees since Kevin Russo hit one at Toledo's Fifth Third Field on July 15, 2011. Corban Joseph got the Yankees on the board with an RBI double scoring Chris Dickerson before Leach chipped in with a pair of bases loaded walks made the score 3-0. Garner was the last batter that Leach would face as his homer made it 7-0 SWB. Former SWB Yankee Buddy Carlyle came in relief and allowed a run in the first on back-to-back triples from Dickerson and Kevin Russo to make the score 8-0.

Ramon Ortiz (WP, 8-3) had an 8-0 lead before ever throwing a pitch. The right hander kept Gwinnett off the board until the bottom of the fifth inning when the Braves scored six runs, only one of which was earned. Ruben Gotay led off the inning with a double before miscommunication on the infield led to a dropped pop up by Russo at third. With one down Luis Durango plated the first run of the night with an RBI single to cut the lead to 8-1. Felix Pie's whose sacrifice fly should have been the third out of the inning without the error made it 8-2. Ernesto Mejia singled to center to cut the lead to 8-3 leaving runners on the corners for Stefan Gartrell who pulled the Braves to within two runs at 8-6 with a three run homer to left. Ortiz's night was finished after 5.0 innings allowing eight hits with six runs just one of which was earned with one walk, one strikeout and a hit batsman.

Carlyle and Billy Bullock, the third Braves reliever of the night had retired 11 consecutive Yankees hitters heading to the top of the sixth inning when Scranton/Wilkes-Barre extended the lead to 11-6 scoring three runs off Bullock. Joseph plated his second run of the night with an RBI single that loaded the bases with one down. Following Bullock's strikeout of Jack Cust with the bases loaded, Laird delivered a two out, two RBI single to left giving SWB a five run lead. Dickerson's sacrifice fly in the sixth inning off Dusty Hughes gave the Yankees a 12-6 lead and Laird added a solo homer to center in the seventh for his third hit and his fourth RBI of the night off Hughes to run the lead to 13-6.

Gwinnett added two more unearned runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to cut the lead to 13-8 picking up two runs off Yankees reliever Cory Wade. Wade's third inning of relief began with Jose Constanza reaching on an error at second base by Joseph. Gotay made it 13-7 on an RBI triple to right. After a walk to Lance Zawadzki, Wade was replaced by Danny Farquhar, who threw a double play grounder scoring Gotay with the second unearned run of the inning before getting a ground out from Luis Durango to end the inning.

Russo picked up his first four hit game of the season and extended his SWB best hit streak to 12 games. Laird added three hits and four RBI's to pace the Yankees offense, which got hits from seven of nine starters in the game.

Game three of the four game series is scheduled for 5:05 PM on Sunday night at Cool Ray Field with right hander Adam Warren (5-6, 3.86) getting the start for the Yankees. Left hander Yohan Flande (4-7, 4.46) is slated to make the start for Gwinnett.



International League Stories from July 21, 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