Tuesday, August 7, 2018

SCRANTON RAILRIDER NOTES

SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE RAILRIDERS (58-53) vs. NORFOLK TIDES (59-52)
RHP Luis Cessa (3-0, 1.80) vs. RHP Jimmy Yacabonis (3-4, 3.90)
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|  Game No. 112  |  Tuesday August 7, 2018  |  Harbor Park  |  Norfolk, VA  | 
|  First Pitch 7:05 p.m. |  Pregame Show 6:35 p.m.  |
 
 
LAST TIME OUT: Mike King was superb in his Triple-A debut, but the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders fell to the Buffalo Bisons 6-5 on Sunday afternoon at PNC Field.
 
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre jumped on the board in the bottom of the second against Buffalo starter Brandon Cumpton. Ronald Torreyes singled and scored on a Mark Payton triple down the first base line. Zack Zehner followed with an opposite-field single to plate Payton and hand the RailRiders a 2-0 advantage. King held the lead as he baffled the Bisons batters, throwing seven innings and allowing one run on three hits, striking out four and walking one. The lone blemish came in the top of the seventh when Rowdy Tellez hit a solo home run to cut the deficit to 2-1. The RailRiders loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the seventh, and a Zehner sacrifice fly and a run-scoring fielder’s choice groundout from Giovanny Urshela pushed across a pair of tallies against Taylor Guerreri.
 
Buffalo struck back in the top of the eighth against George Kontos, who was making his 2018 RailRiders debut after being acquired by the. Yankees in at trade earlier in the month. A solo home run from Tim Lopes did the damage for the Bisons.
 
The Bisons loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the ninth against Tommy Kahnle, and a one-out double from Anthony Alford plated two runs to cut the RailRiders lead to 5-4. Joe Harvey was summoned from the bullpen and allowed an RBI single to Richard Urena and a sacrifice fly to Tim Lopes as Buffalo grabbed a 6-5 lead. Tim Mayza and Justin Shafer retired the RailRiders in order in the bottom of the ninth to close out the Bisons victory.
 
RIPTIDE: The RailRiders were 7-5 on April 17, marking the last day they would be on the inside of the playoff cut in the International League for quite a while. It wasn’t until July 18 in Toledo that SWB found itself back in the playoff picture (Game No. 94), spanning 82 games and being as many as 6 games under .500 along the way (27-33). Coming into Tuesday’s series opener against the Norfolk Tides, the RailRiders are 1.0 GB for the Wild Card spot of the Norfolk Tides with 27 games to go in 2018. Seven of the next 13G for the RailRiders come head-to-head against Norfolk and will go a long way in determining who the final playoff spot goes to in the International League.
 
WADE WELCOMED BACK: Tyler Wade was recalled to the big leagues July 27 following Game Two of a suspended doubleheader against the Charlotte Knights. He is a welcome addition back to the lineup for the RailRiders, as Wade had been hitting the ball well before bouncing back-and-forth to the Yankees. Over his most recent 32G with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre before the series against Buffalo, Wade wa batting .308 (40-for-130) with 10 2B, 3B, 2 HR and 22 R. He joins a roster that is currently without a true CF and could take over some of the responsibilities there with Shane Robinson having been added to the Yankees roster July 27. Wade’s first series back with SWB saw him go 2-for-11 vs. Buffalo.
 
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 12 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 as they wake up for Tuesday’s series opener against Norfolk.
 
DOING THE MATH: The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders enter Tuesday against the Norfolk Tides in 2nd place in the I.L. North, 11.0 games behind the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. The RailRiders have 27 games left in their season, and if they were to go 22-5 (.815) down the stretch to reach 80 wins, they’d need Lehigh Valley to play no better than 10-17 (.370) in order to win the division title. Lehigh Valley is 70-43 entering Sunday and has a .619 win percentage on the season.

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