COLUMBUS CLIPPERS (56-37) @ SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE RAILRIDERS (54-40)

RHP Eli Morgan (Triple-A Debut) vs. LHP Daniel Camarena (3-4, 5.93) 

|  Game No. 95  |  PNC Field  |  Moosic, PA  |  July 16, 2019  |  First Pitch 7:05 p.m.  |

MOOSIC, PA (July 15, 2019) -- The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders were victorious in the series opener against the Columbus Clippers, 6-4, Monday night at PNC Field. Deivi Garcia, the No. 4 prospect in the Yankees system and just 20-years old, struck out six in his first appearance in Triple-A.
Garcia gave up back-to-back singles to the first two batters he faced. Columbus took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on a Yu Chang sac fly, but a strike-him-out, throw-him-out double play ended the inning.  
The game became tied at 1-1 in the bottom of the second when the RailRiders plated a run on a wild pitch from Columbus pitcher Tanner Tully. Erik Kratz scored on an RBI groundout, putting Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in the lead 2-1. 
An inning later, Max Moroff put the Clippers on top with a two-run home run in the top of the third, bringing the score 3-2. Moving into the bottom half, Clint Frazier nailed an RBI double and plated the second game-tying score, 3-3.  Wendell Rijo plated a run on an RBI groundout, giving Scranton/Wilkes-Barre the lead at 4-3. Zack Zehner launched a two-run homer and the RailRiders extended their advantage to 6-3 in the bottom of the fifth providing enough breathing room for the bullpen for the rest of the contest.
BLAST FROM THE PAST: The All-Star quartet of Mike Ford, Ryan McBroom, JP Feyereisen and Kyle Higashioka had travel snafus on the way back from El Paso to Syracuse Thursday and as a result, LHP Daniel Camarena had to pitch and hit for the RailRiders. It was the first time since 7/28/2006 when Brian Mazone went 1-for-2, 2B against the Richmond Braves that a pitcher logged multiple at-bats in a game for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Last season with the Sacramento RiverCats Camarena was 3-for-20 (.150 AVG), for a guy who had been an Under Armour All-American in high school as a position player. Camarena takes the ball Monday night at PNC Field for the RailRiders.
LAST TIME: The last time that the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders and Columbus Clippers went head-to-head at PNC Field before Monday night was April 25 last season, with the RailRiders taking the series with an 8-5 win. That day, a familiar face to Yankee fans was in the lineup going against the RailRiders in INF Giovanny Urshela. He was on rehab from the Cleveland Indians and went 2-for-4 that day, part of a 3-for-8, 2 2B, R, 2 RBI performance in 2G that series. He played 11G for Columbus last season, as well as 24G with the Buffalo Bisons (in which he didn’t face SWB) before finishing the final 27G of the regular season and the playoffs with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
LEADING AFTER 6: Saturday and Sunday featured a pair of losses by the RailRiders that were atypical for how the team has performed this season. They dropped a pair of games in which they were leading into the 7th inning, allowing four runs in the 8th inning on consecutive days. The team had been 43-1 this season when leading after six innings, and prior to Sunday’s game, they had been 43-0 when leading after seven innings.
A QUICK PROJECTION: Monday evening featured a win by the RailRiders (54-40, .574) and a loss by the team closest to them in the IL North stadings, the Buffalo Bisons (49-45, .521). Scranton/Wilkes-Barre has 46 games to go in the regular season and now has a 5.0-game lead on the Bisons for first place after hitting the All-Star break with a 5.5-game lead. That means, if the RailRiders were to go 23-23 (.500) the rest of the way, the Bisons would need to go 28-18 (.609) to catch them in the division. 
RECORD WATCH: The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders have already well eclipsed their season home run total from a year ago with 144 HR in 94G (1.53 HR/G), which far exceeds the rate for the 132 HR they hit all of last season (0.96 HR/G). The franchise record of the 164 HR (1.15 HR/G) was set by the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons in 1998 over a 142-game season. With the new baseball in Triple-A, a number of records will be under assault as the calendar turns to August, including Slugging Percentage which is at .490 entering Monday, well ahead of the .449 mark put up in 1998.