SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE RAILRIDERS (9-8)  @  ROCHESTER RED WINGS (7-12)

RHP David Hale (2-0, 1.69) vs. RHP Zack Littell (1-2, 5.40)

|  Game No. 18  |  Frontier Field |  Rochester, NY  |  April 25, 2019  |  First Pitch 11:05 a.m.  |

ROCHESTER, NY (April 23, 2019) -- The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders got an incredibly strong start from Chance Adams, and a spotless bullpen appearance from J.P. Feyereisen to pace their first shutout victory of the season Wednesday night, a 5-0 win over the Rochester Red Wings at Frontier Field.
Adams took the ball for the RailRiders and didn’t allow a hit over the first few innings before Rochester worked their lineup a second time through the order. Despite that, Adams had to dance around an error to begin the second inning and saw runners at first and second base with no outs before he retired the next three batters in order, including a pair of strikeouts. All told, the RailRiders righty fanned a season-high nine batters while surrendering just three hits over 6.0 shutout frames. 
Feyereisen was dominant out of the bullpen, striking out three batters over 3.0 perfect innings. He retired all nine men that he faced on 43 pitches, picking up his first save of the season.
Mandy Alvarez was the offensive highlight for the RailRiders Wedneday night, pacing an 11-hit attack with a 4-for-5 performance, while scoring a pair of runs. It was Ryan McBroom who delivered the loudest swing of the night for SWB as his third-inning homer off the billboard wall in centerfield traveled 436 feet off former teammate, Daniel Camarena – who was making his Minnesota Twins organizational debut.
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 17-for-20 SB over the first 17G of the year, including 3 more SB Monday. Leading the way is OF Billy Burns who is 7-for-7 SB which puts him 1 SB off the IL lead.
STRIKEOUT RATE: The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders enter Thursday morning against the Rochester Red Wings T-6th in most strikeouts (167 K) as a team in the International League but the 3rd-highest strikeout rate (167 K in 141.0 IP; 10.7 K/9) behind the league-leading Rochester Red Wings (210 K in 157.0 IP; 12.0 K/9). The RailRiders enter their series vs. Rochester ranked 8th in the IL in ERA at 4.73 which is a couple pegs higher than the Red Wings who rank 13/14 at a 6.30 ERA. Last season, the RailRiders ranked 5th in ERA (3.71), 3rd in K (1,179) and 2nd in K/9 (Durham: 9.4; Pawtucket: 9.0; SWB: 8.9). A few games into the series and that number had jumped to a 5.25 ERA for SWB before Wednesday’s shutout dropped it back down to 4.91.
LARGE LEADS SLIP: Monday night marked the third time over the first 15 games of the season that the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders allowed a team to rally from a deficit of 5+ runs. The first time it happened was the third game of the year, April 6 in Buffalo when the RailRiders led 8-3 entering the bottom of the 4th inning, ultimately losing 10-8. It happened less than a week later April 11 when an 8-1 lead going into the top of the 5th inning evaporated, but the RailRiders rallied in 10 innings to win 9-8.
AN OLD FRIEND: LHP Daniel Camarena pitched Wednesday for the Rochester Red Wings against his old organization in the New York Yankees. He tossed 4.1 innings, allowing 3 runs on 5 hits and struck out 6 -- and in typical Camarena fashion, did not walk a batter. A season ago, he was released by the Yankees May 20th after 8G/8GS with the RailRiders, going 2-3, 5.03 ERA in 39.0 IP, 44 H (.288 BAA), 20 BB, 34 K. Four days later he was signed by the San Francisco Giants and assigned to Triple-A Sacramento where he made 16 of his final 17 appearances of the season (7/22 @ Akron: 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2ER, BB, 2 K). This year he signed with the Minnesota Twins January 19th and is set to make his season debut. Over parts of three seasons with the RailRiders (2016-2018) he appeared in 17G/15GS (80.2 IP, 42R/39ER -- 4.35 ERA) going 6-6 over that stretch. His biggest triumph came in Game 4 of the 2016 Governor’s Cup series against the Gwinnett Braves in which Camarena went 5.1 IP without allowing a hit as the RailRiders secured a 3-0 win, and the International League title.