RAILRIDERS LOSE, IRONPIGS CLAIM WILD CARD

Austin Homers Twice in Setback

Lehigh Valley Claims Wild Card

Allentown, Pa. – The SWB RailRiders (Triple-A/New York Yankees) fell behind early and saw an impressive rally fall just short in a 4-3 loss to the host Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Philadelphia Phillies) at Coca-Cola Park on Labor Day afternoon. With the win, the IronPigs clinched the IL’s wild-card playoff berth and a postseason rematch between the nearby divisional rivals in the upcoming Governors’ Cup playoffs. The IL North champion RailRiders (86-55) will face the ‘Pigs (80-62) in Game 1 of the best-of-five series at 7:05 p.m. on Wednesday in Allentown.

Lehigh Valley grabbed a 3-0 lead in the first inning against starter Jose Pena (0-1). J.P. Crawford hit a two-run homer to right-center and Dylan Cozens added an RBI infield single. An inning later, Christian Marrero’s run-scoring groundout made it 4-0. The SWB bullpen carried the baton from there as Joe Mantiply, Anyelo Gomez and Tyler Jones combined to fire six innings of scoreless, three-hit baseball, whiffing seven and walking just one. At one point, they retired 12 straight.

However, the RailRiders’ offense did not awaken until the seventh when Tyler Austin homered to right, snapping the team’s string of consecutive scoreless innings at 17. Francisco Diaz added an RBI double in the eighth and Austin homered to begin the ninth against All-Star closer, Pedro Beato.

SWB would eventually load the bases with one out in the ninth before Beato struck out Jake Cave and got a groundout to second from Billy McKinney. Starter Henderson Alvarez (2-0) picked up the win and Beato secured his minor league-best 33^rd save.

The RailRiders’ first home playoff game will be on Friday, Sept. 8 at 6:35 p.m. and playoff tickets are on sale now. For tickets or more information, please call 570-969-BALL (2255) or visit swbrailriders.com.

OFF THE RAILS:

Tyler Austin’s two homers lifted his season-long SWB total to 10 in 47 games played. He became the seventh RailRider to record double-digit homers this season.