LEHIGH VALLEY IRONPIGS (27-23) @ SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE RED BARONS (28-20)

RHP Enyel De Los Santos (2-0, 2.37) vs. RHP Chance Adams (2-1, 4.80)

|  Game No. 49  |  PNC Field  |  Moosic, PA  |  May 31, 2019  |  First Pitch 6:35 p.m.  |

MOOSIC, PA (May 29, 2019) -- The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders utilized two strong pitching performances and timely hitting to sweep a Wednesday doubleheader from the Rochester Red Wings. The RailRiders have now won seven of their last eight games, including four straight at home.
Rochester took a 1-0 lead two pitches into game one when Nick Gordon connected for a leadoff home run against Brody Koerner. That would be the only blemish on the night for the RailRiders right-hander, who tossed 6.0 innings, allowing just one run on three hits, walking three and striking out three. SWB finally broke through in the bottom of the fourth against Red Wings RHP Randy Dobnak, who walked the bases loaded with two outs. Ryan Lavarnway delivered a bases-clearing, opposite-field single through the shift to give the RailRiders a 3-1 lead.
In the second game of the twin bill, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre seized the early advantage as Ryan McBroom connected for an opposite-field line drive home run in the bottom of the second. The Red Wings, however would retaliate with five runs in the top of the third as they sent nine batters to the plate. In the bottom of the sixth, the RailRiders edged closer against Ryan Eades, who allowed a leadoff single to Breyvic Valera. Two batters later, Tauchman launched a home run to center to cut the Rochester advantage to 5-4.

SWB provided some excitement in the bottom of the seventh when Brad Miller led off with a single and scored the tying run on a Tyler Wade single through the right side of a drawn-in infield to tie the game at 5-5. With the bases loaded in the bottom of the first extra-inning frame, the Red Wings decided to intentionally walk McBroom to load the bases for Miller who hit a ball hard to Jordanny Valdespin that kicked away for the walkoff win.
IL NORTH RIVALRY: The Lehigh Valley IronPigs come to PNC Field for the second time this season to take on Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The Philadelphia Phillies took off from the Scranton-area following the 2006 season and signed a one-year Player Development contract with the Ottawa Lynx in 2007 before Coca-Cola Park opened in 2008. A year ago, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs (84-56, .600) won it’s first Division title as they won the IL North by 10.0 games over the RailRiders (73-65, .529) who still claimed a playoff spot by winning the Wild Card by 1.0 games over both the Columbus Clippers and Indianapolis Indians. The RailRiders won the first round playoff series between the two teams 3-1.
RAILREHABBERS: INF Didi Gregorius joins OF Aaron Hicks on the list of Yankees rehabbers for the RailRiders this season. In Game 1 of Wednesday’s doubleheader, Gregorius was 0-for-3 and played all seven innings at SS. A year ago, SWB had 10 different Yankees play games with them: Greg Bird (INF), A.J. Cole (P), Brandon Drury (INF), Clint Frazier (OF), Aaron Hicks (OF), Tommy Kahnle (P), Billy McKinney (OF), Gary Sanchez (C), Masahiro Tanaka (P), Adam Warren (P). In his two games with SWB before returning to New York, Hicks was 3-for-7 with 2 2B, HR, RBI, 4 R, BB, 1-for-1 SB.
CHANCE THE RESTER: RHP Chance Adams gets the ball for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Friday night against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. The last time that Adams pitched for the RailRiders was May 7 vs. Indianapolis. Since then he has made two appearances for the New York Yankees; May 19 against the Tampa Bay Rays (3.0 IP) and May 25 against the Kansas City Royals (4.0 IP). That means that Adams has thrown 120 pitches in live game action in the last 23 days as he gets ready for Friday’s series opener.
LOOKING FOR PITCHING: The last week has featured a 5-2 record for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, with a pair of losses sandwiched around five consecutive wins. During that time, the offense has carried the load for the RailRiders, averaging 9.3 runs per game (65 runs scored in 61 innings). The pitching has worked to a 6.97 ERA during that stretch, allowing 58R/48ER over 62.0 IP. Dating back a week prior, the SWB pitching staff has allowed fewer than four runs in a game just once of its last 14 nine-inning games.
ON-BASE STREAKS, EXTENDED: Scranton/Wilkes-Barre enters Thursday’s series finale against the Rochester Red Wings with a number of lengthy on-base streaks intact. Brad Miller (22G), Mike Ford (19G), Ryan Lavarnway (15G), Breyvic Valera (13G) and Mike Tauchman (10G) all have active double-digit streaks. Miller’s is the fourth-longest active streak in the league with Ford tied right behind him. Miller’s streak has now eclipsed Tampa Tarpons’ Diego Castillo who had a 20-game on-base streak from 4/14 - 5/7 as the longest streak in the Yankees MiLB this year.
WHAT A STRETCH: Early in the season, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders had their schedule broken up by a handful of postponements and suspensions due to weather -- seven over the first five weeks of the season. Though many of the games were made up the following day, it’s getting time to pay the piper over the next few weeks. Following Monday’s day-off, the RailRiders began a stretch Tuesday night against the Pawtucket Red Sox that features 23 games over 20 days before their next scheduled off day. All 23 games come against each of their five IL North Division rivals. They are currently 7-2 on this stretch.