LEHIGH VALLEY IRONPIGS (8-3) @ SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE RAILRIDERS (8-4)

LHP Cole Irvin (0-0, 1.64) vs. RHP Jonathan Loaisiga (NR)

|  Game No. 13  |  PNC Field |  Moosic, PA  |  April 16, 2019  |  First Pitch 6:35 p.m.  |

MOOSIC, PA (April 15, 2019) – The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders remain unbeaten at PNC Field this season after a 6-5 walk-off win over the Lehigh Valley IronPigs in 10 innings on Monday night. The occasion marks the second walk-off win for the RailRiders on the current homestand, and fifth straight win for the team.
With the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th, Ryan Lavarnway catcher grounded the first pitch he saw from James Pazos down the third base line and past Mitch Walding to plate Estrada and hand the RailRiders a victory.
Lehigh Valley took a 4-0 the lead in the top of the second on a pair of two-run doubles, one from Malquin Canelo and the other by Phil Gosselin. That was the only blip on the radar for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre lefty Nestor Cortes. In his third start of the season, Cortes lasted 5.0 innings, allowing four runs on eight hits, walking two and striking out five.
The RailRiders answered back in the bottom of the second against JoJo Romero. With one out and the bases loaded, Billy Fleming lifted a pitch over the wall in right field for a grand slam to tie the game at 4-4. The blast was Fleming’s first round-tripper of the year and the first grand slam of his career. Ryan McBroom gave the RailRiders a 5-4 lead with a solo home run in the bottom of the third. McBroom has now hit a home run in three consecutive games, and SWB has hit multiple home runs as a team in three straight contests.
In the top of the ninth, Tarpley allowed a leadoff double to Gosselin. A wild pitch advanced him to third base with no outs representing the tying run. Tarpley induced back-to-back groundouts to a drawn-in infield to hold the runner at third before Walding poked an opposite field single to plate Gosselin and tie the game at 5-5. The RailRiders pushed the winning run into scoring position in the bottom of the ninth, but were not able to score, sending the game to extra innings.
Cale Coshow recorded the final out in the ninth and stayed in for the 10th, and was immediately in a jam after hitting Damek Tomscha with a pitch to put runners at first and second with no outs. A wild pitch advanced both into scoring position with one out, but Coshow escaped the jam without any runs scoring.
In the bottom of the 10th, James Pazos retired Mike Ford on a groundball that advanced pace of play runner Thairo Estrada to third base with one out. The IronPigs opted to intentionally walk Trey Amburgey and Ryan McBroom, which loaded the bases and set up Lavarnway’s heroics.
EXPLODING FOR RUNS: The RailRiders put up 9 more runs Sunday against the Buffalo Bisons and have now recorded four games this season (and 4-of-the-last-6G) in which they have plated 9+ runs. It wasn’t until Game No. 61 last season vs. Rochester that SWB had its fourth 9R-game of 2018.

FINISHING THE DEAL: Sunday, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders had an opportunity to close out a four-game sweep of the Buffalo Bisons and they did so with a 9-5 victory. A season ago, the RailRiders won four straight games in four straight days over Buffalo from 7/2-7/5, but the four games were split between the two cities, two games a piece. The last time SWB notched a four-game sweep over Buffalo was 7/13/2017-7/16/2017 on the road, and the last four-game sweep of any opponent at PNC Field by the RailRiders was 5/15/2017-5/18/2017 vs. the Pawtucket Red Sox. 
SOME PHUTURE PHILLIES: MLB.com has a number of players on the Lehigh Valley IronPigs listed as top prospects in the system. According to their initial MLB Pipeline rankings, five players- all pitchers- rank as Top-30 prospects: RHP Enyel De Los Santos (No. 6), LHP JoJo Romero (No. 7), LHP Ranger Suarez (No. 10), LHP Cole Irvin (No. 16) and RHP Edgar Garcia (No. 28). In addition to De Los Santos, Romero, Suarez and Irvin, the IronPigs have Jared Eickhoff and Drew Anderson, who were both top-30 prospects at times in the past few years, round out an early-season six-man rotation. 
TRUCKING AT THE TOP: INF Mike Ford had gotten out to an incredibly hot start to the 2019 season, picking up a hit in all 9G in which he has played before Monday vs. Lehigh Valley (0-for-5). Entering Monday, he ranked Top-10 in the International League in: AVG (.471, 3rd), HR (5, T-2nd), RBI (14, 1st), OBP (.525, 3rd), SLG (1.029, 1st), OPS (1.554, 1st), H (16, T-2nd), XBH (9, T-1st) and Total Bases (35, 2nd). All of this, despite not having played in two of the RailRiders first 11G.

RUNNING LIKE CRAZY: Last season’s version of the RailRiders recorded 49 SB on 79 tries (62.0%) which was 11 fewer SB than any other team in the league (Lehigh Valley & Gwinnett: 60 SB), and by percentage was the second worst in the league (Louisville, 60.0%). That said, last April was a strong month for SWB on the base paths, going 14-for-15 in SB but only 35-for-64 (54.6%) over the final 115G of the season (1 SB every 3.3G from May 1st onward). The 2019 RailRiders are off to a torrid start, having gone 13-for-16 SB over the first 11G of the year, including another SB Sunday (Trey Amburgey, 2). Leading the way is OF Billy Burns who is 5-for-5 SB which puts him in the IL lead.