SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE RAILRIDERS (46-34) @ LEHIGH VALLEY IRONPIGS (37-41)

RHP Brody Koerner (3-1, 4.60) vs. RHP Ramon Rosso (0-1, 4.60)

|  Game No. 81  |  Coca-Cola Park  |  Allentown, PA  |  June 30, 2019  |  First Pitch 1:35 p.m.  |

ALLENTOWN, PA (June 29, 2019) -- Shane Robinson did not homer in 50 games and 188 at-bats for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders in 2018. Saturday night, he delivered a pair of homers and drove home five runs against his former team as the Lehigh Valley IronPigs notched a 12-3 victory over SWB before a sellout crowd of 10,100 at Coca-Cola Park.
The barrage began for Lehigh Valley just two batters into the game when Robinson delivered a two-run homer clubbed to left field. By the time he stepped to the plate in the 6th inning and drilled his second two-run homer of the night, the IronPigs had extended their lead to 7-1, and his second blast made it 9-1.
RailRiders pitching recorded their final six outs via strikeouts, including J.P. Feyereisen who notched a scoreless inning in his first time out since being named an International League All-Star Wednesday. 
The RailRiders scored a run in the top of the 5th inning to plate their first run of the game, with Mike Ford’s RBI double doing the honors. He later belted a solo homer to begin the 8th inning and finished the game 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles, a home run and two RBI. Tyler Wade (2-for-5) and Clint Frazier (2-for-5) also logged multi-hit games for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre as they fell Saturday night depite a 12-hit attack.
SLIDING INTO JULY: The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders wake up Sunday morning with a 4.0-game lead in the IL North Division after dropping a third straight game Saturday night to the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. The last time they were only 4.0 games up in the division was following a loss 27 days ago June 7th against the Syracuse Mets. This marks the third losing streak of at least three games this season for SWB, and they’ll look to avoid matching their four-game streak from April 17-April 23 as the longest of the season.
THIS FELT DIFFERENT: The RailRiders dropped a second straight game Friday night to the Lehigh Valley IronPigs via a one-run loss, dropping them to 11-13 in one-run games this season. However, the RailRiders held a 3-2 lead entering the 7th inning before giving up the tying run in the bottom of the 7th and surrendering the winning run in the 8th. Before Friday, the 2019 RailRiders had been 38-0 when leading after six innings.
A DIFFERENT SITUATION: The RailRiders entered Friday’s series-opener against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs having to take on two of the top arms in the International League in RHP Enyel De Los Santos (3-3, 3.28) and LHP Cole Irvin (2-0, 2.50). SWB had faced De Los Santos once already this season, scoring four times in the bottom of the first inning, with Tyler Wade’s two-run homer capping the early barrage. Friday night, De Los Santos had shut down the RailRiders’ bats until the 5th inning. Over the first 4.2 innings he had allowed just three hits before three runs scored with two outs to give the RailRiders a 3-1 lead. Meanwhile, Irvin appeared in games April 10th and 17th and the RailRiders did not have the same level of success in notching just 1 ER off the southpaw in 12.2 IP (0.71 ERA).This continues a dominating trend for the two starters from a season ago, when Irvin and De Los Santos appeared in a combined 10G/10GS against SWB and was downright stingy: 3-2, 56.2 IP, 57 H (.261 BAA), 15R/15ER (2.38 ERA), 49 K, 10 BB
HANDLED AT HOME: The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders welcomed the Buffalo Bisons to town Wednesday night for a three-game, two-day set between the top two teams in the International League North Division. Entering play Wednesday, the RailRiders held a 5.0-game lead on Buffalo, but the lead could have gotten reduced to 2.0 games had Buffalo continued its play as the hottest team in the IL. Instead, the RailRiders took the first two games of the series before dropping the nightcap of Thursday’s doubleheader, 1-0 (7). The RailRiders and Bisons have now met 17 times this season entering Thursday’s doubleheader, with the RailRiders holding an 11-5 advantage (Home: 5-6 // Road: 6-0). The two teams will not meet again until the final four games of the regular season August 30 - September 2 at PNC Field.
ON PACE: The RailRiders have a number of players at the midway point of the season who are locked-in on setting a new career-high in home runs in a seasonMike Ford: 19 HR (Career-High: 20 HR, 2017)Ryan McBroom: 16 HR (Career-High: 22 HR, 2016)Trey Amburgey: 13 HR (Career-High: 16 HR, 2018)Breyvic Valera: 10 HR (Career-High)Gosuke Katoh: 7 HR (Career-High)
MORE POWER: Logan Morrison homered just over a week ago to became the sixth member of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders to record double-digit homers this season. He three more over the next three games and is now up to 14 longballs on the season. He has joined Mike Ford (16), Ryan McBroom (16), Kyle Higshioka (11), Trey Amburgey (10) and Brad Miller (10) among the team leaders. Last year’s team had only six players with 10+ homers. Up next for the 2019 RailRiders: Breyvic Valera (9).