RAILRIDERS & CHIEFS BASEBALL

SYRACUSE CHIEFS (60-75) vs. SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE RAILRIDERS (69-64)
RHP Erick Fedde (3-3, 4.70) vs. LHP Ryan Bollinger (0-1, 4.00)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

|  Game No. 134-of-138  |  August 30, 2018  |  PNC Field  |  Moosic, PA  | 

|  First Pitch 7:05 p.m. |  Pregame Show 6:35 p.m.  |

LAST TIME OUT: Led by a sterling outing from starting pitcher Mike King, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders defeated the Syracuse Chiefs in walk-off fashion 2-1 on Wednesday night at PNC Field.

After intentionally walking Abiatal Avelino to load the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the ninth, Carlos Torres walked Ryan McBroom to chase home Gio Urshela with the winning run. The walk-off was the ninth of such victory of the 2018 season for the RailRiders.

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre got on the board in the bottom of the second when they struck for a run against Kyle McGowin. Avelino singled to right, and McBroom followed with a base-hit to left. Zack Zehner blooped a single into shallow right and Avelino raced around to score and give the RailRiders a 1-0 lead.

Mike King was superb on the mound for the RailRiders on Wednesday, turning in six perfect innings. In addition to retiring all 18 batters he faced, the right-hander struck out six and threw a first-pitch strike to 15 Syracuse batsmen. In the top of the seventh, Luis Cessa replaced King and allowed a double to Victor Robles on his first pitch to break up the perfect game. Two batters later Jose Marmolejos singled to plate Robles and tie the game at 1-1. Chance Adams (4-5) replaced Cessa in the eighth and held the score to set the stage for the fateful ninth inning. Torres walked Urshela to lead off the frame and Mike Ford singled to put runners at first and third. Avelino was intentionally walked to load the bases with no outs, and on a full count McBroom drew the decisive free pass.

The win moved the RailRiders into sole possession of second place in the International League Wild Card race, 1.0 games behind the Indianapolis Indians with five games remaining in the season.

RACE TO THE FINISH: The Wild Card race in the International League is heating up as the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (69-64) hit the homestretch of the 2018 season. With 5G to go, SWB finds itself 1.0 GB of the Indianapolis Indians (71-64), who themselves are only 1.0 GB of the IL West-leading Columbus Clippers (72-63). It’s looking like a four-team race for the final playoff spot with the Norfolk Tides (68-66, 2.5 GB) and Toledo Mud Hens (69-65, 1.5 GB) making a playoff push for the International League Wild Card as well.

MAKING OPPOSING PITCHERS GROIN: Rehabbing a groin injury, C Gary Sanchez was in the lineup Monday and Tuesday for the RailRiders for the first two rehab games of his current stint, and fourth and fifth game overall this season with SWB. He batted second and caught seven innings Monday @ Lehigh Valley, Tuesday was the DH for the entire game vs. Syracuse and Wednesday caught all nine innings in the walk-off win. Sanchez already played 3 games in 4 days with the RailRiders from 7/15 - 7/18 against Rochester and @ Toledo, going 2-for-12 with 2 HR before the current rehab assignment in which he has gone 3-for-12 with 2 HR, 2 RBI and 2 R.

ACES IN THE HOLE: The top pitching prospect in the Yankees organization, LHP Justus Sheffield, made his bullpen debut for the RailRiders Tuesday night in Buffalo and pitched for a second time out of the bullpen Saturday in Lehigh Valley.RHP Chance Adams has been shifted to the bullpen and has made a pair of bullpen appearances in his return to the RailRiders roster. In his first season out of Dallas Baptist University where Adams was often used as a bullpen arm, all 14G in which he appeared were out of the bullpen to limit his innings. Since the start of the 2016 season however, the only one of his 75G that was not a start was August 18, 2016 when he came out of the bullpen in back of MLB rehabbing RHP Bryan Mitchell who pitched that night for the Trenton Thunder against the Akron RubberDucks.

AND THEN THERE WAS ONE: With RHP J.P. Feyereisen heading to the Disabled List, the RailRiders have only one player who was on the SWB Opening Day roster and has not been on the DL or played with another team in the Yankees organization -- RHP Raynel Espinal, who is in his first season of Triple-A. RHP Cale Coshow was on the Opening Day roster but was on the DL from July 13-20 and the same can be said for INF Mike Ford who was on the DL from June 8 - July 12 (but player 6G on rehab with SS-A Staten Island).