SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE RAILRIDERS (2-2)  @ LEHIGH VALLEY IRONPIGS (3-1)

RHP Drew Hutchison (No Record) vs. RHP Drew Anderson (No Record)

|  Game No. 5  |  Coca-Cola Park |  Allentown, PA  |  April 8, 2019  |  First Pitch 7:05 p.m.  |

BUFFALO, NY (April 7, 2019) – The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders were trying to shake off the cobwebs of letting a five-run lead slip away Saturday to the Buffalo Bisons, and they did it in a big way in a power-filled 10-2 win Sunday afternoon.

A season ago the RailRiders had one game where they hit more than four homers, and through four innings Sunday they had already connected for four home runs off MLB rehabber, Clay Buchholz. The right-hander was tagged with the loss after allowing four hits- all home runs- over 5.0 innings of work and seeing his team fall behind 5-1 in the process. On the opposite side of things, David Hale was excellent for the RailRiders and allowed just one run on four hits over 5.2 innings in his season debut.

Mike Ford likely wasn’t expecting to make history Sunday afternoon in Buffalo, but after homering in his first two at-bats, he had a couple chances to become one of just a handful of players in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre with a three-homer game. After sending a ball into orbit that Bisons’ right fielder Andrew Guillotte didn’t even bother turning around to see sail over the wall, he joined that exclusive group of five – only three of whom did it in a nine-inning game (Zoilo Almonte, 7/23/2014 @ Gwinnett; Gary Bennett, 8/16/1998 @ Buffalo).

Other exclamation points throughout the game were delivered by Ryan Lavarnway (whose homer sailed onto an adjacent highway beyond left field), Mandy Alvarez (who hit his first career Triple-A homer) and Cliff Pennington (who drilled a three-run home run in the 9th inning to match Ford with 4 RBI in the game).

DRIVING THE BASEBALL: Sunday, the RailRiders earned a 10-2 win over the Buffalo Bisons, and the longball played a big role. The team hit six homers, which is more than they hit in any game all of last year. Leading the way was Mike Ford, who became just the fifth player in SWB history with a 3-homer game, and only the third to do it in a nine-inning game (Last: Zoilo Almonte, 7/23/2014 @ Gwinnett).

FOR WHOM IT TOLLS: It was announced January 24, 2019 that Jay Bell had replaced Bobby Mitchell as Manager for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders for the 2019 season. He played over 2,000 games during an 18-year Major League career and has spent the last two years managing in the Yankees organization with Double-A Trenton and High-A Tampa. Bell is joined on staff by Pitching Coach Tommy Phelps, Hitting Coach Phil Plantier and Bullpen Coach Doug Davis, all of whom are returning to the RailRiders dugout. Julio Borbón joined the Yankees organization in March and will serve as the Defensive Coach for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. 

♫ WALKING IN BUFFALO ♫: The RailRiders pitching staff had issued just four walks over the first 17.0 IP of the season (2.1 BB/9) entering Saturday’s game. Before the fifth inning had come to a close, SWB had handed out seven free passes en route to a nine-walk performance. The RailRiders walked more batters than they had in any game since at least the 2016 season. They fell well short of the franchise record for walks in a game however, which was set May 11, 1991 in which they walked 16 men.

PLENTY OF EXPERIENCE:  When the initial player list was announced by the Yankees in the week leading up to Opening Day, it included 17 players who played for the RailRiders 2018 playoff-bound team, 13 players with Major League service time and two top-30 prospects. In the time since, SWB has lost INF/OF Tyler Wade and OF Clint Frazier to the big leagues, with the injuries to OF Giancarlo Stanton and INF Miguel Andujar up in New York, and have lost (and regained INF Thairo Estrada), lost INF Giovanny Urshela to the Bronx and added former MLB arm RHP Jake Barrett from the Pittsburgh Pirates organization and INF Cliff Pennington.

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.