SCRANTON WINS OVER PAWTUCKET 3-1

SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE

RAILRIDERS

GAME REPORT

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre    3    Pawtucket    1

 

MOOSIC, Pa. (Aug. 31, 2018) – The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders inched one step closer to an International League Wild Card berth Friday night with a 3-1 victory over the Pawtucket Red Sox.

 

Before 9,483 fans at PNC Field, the RailRiders took an early lead in the home half of the first.  With two outs, Ryan McBroom doubled off PawSox starter Chandler Shepard and Mike Ford singled McBroom home for a 1-0 edge.  The RailRiders added a run in the second when Francisco Diaz singled in Devyn Bolasky after a one-out triple.

 

RailRiders starter Erik Swanson made the advantage stand-up, retiring the first 10 batters he faced before allowing a single in the fourth inning and walking a batter in the sixth. Entering the seventh inning, he had thrown 84 pitches but saw his shutout bid end with a solo home run to Brandon Phillips in the top of the inning to trim it back to a one-run lead.

However, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre responded with a run in the bottom of the seventh with an RBI single from Giovanny Urshela to plate Diaz for an insurance run. The bullpen was flawless for the RailRiders, retiring all eight batters faced by Raynel Espinal and Joe Harvey – six via strikeouts.

 

The RailRiders lead the Wild Card race by a half-game over Toledo and hold a one-game lead over Indianapolis with three games to go.

 

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre concludes the home portion of the 2018 regular season, Saturday night against the PawSox. LHP Nestor Cortes (6-5, 3.63) will start for the RailRiders against RHP William Cuevas (10-7, 3.39) for Pawtucket. Join Adam Marco and Adam Giardino.  For tickets and more information, call (570) 969-2255 or slide to www.swbrailriders.com.

 

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders Record:

71-64