PAWTUCKET RED SOX (54-73) @ SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE RAILRIDERS (68-60)
RHP Ryan Weber (1-3, 4.48) vs. RHP Michael King (0-1, 7.50)
| Game No. 129 | PNC Field | Moosic, PA | August 22, 2019 | First Pitch 7:05 p.m. |
MOOSIC, PA (August 21, 2019) -- A heroic, pinch-hit, go-ahead home run by Breyvic Valera broke a 2-2 tie in the 8th inning and gave the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders a 4-2 win Wednesday night at PNC Field over the Pawtucket Red Sox.
The game was tied entering the bottom of the 8th inning, when Wendell Rijo singled off the PawSox starting pitcher Kyle Hart. That knocked the lefty from the game on his 101st pitch after 7.1 innings of strong pitching, turning the ball over to the bullpen. With Terrance Gore set to come up to the plate, RailRiders Manager Jay Bell summoned Valera from the bench which set the table for his dramatic blast.
Pawtucket got on the board first in the ballgame in the top of the second as Gorkys Hernandez and Cole Sturgeon hit RBI singles and plated two runs, 2-0. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre caught up in the bottom half as Gosuke Katoh and Wendell Rijo nailed back-to-back singles and tied the game 2-2.
RailRiders starting pitcher Nick Nelson (0-1) worked 6.0 innings and allowed seven hits and two runs. It was his second Triple-A start, after making his most recent appearance Thursday in Charlotte. The 23-year old sat 93-95 MPH with his fastball as he kept his team in the game through the middle innings. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre dipped into its bullpen by first summoning Tyler Lyons for 1.2 scoreless innings. Then, reliever J.P. Feyereisen (9-2) was the winning arm as he got the final out of the 8th inning before the RailRiders struck for the go-ahead homer. He notched the final three outs in order without allowing Pawtucket to bring the tying run to the plate.
WALKING TO THE FINISH: INF Gosuke Katoh has been in the midst of a hot stretch of his season where he has been finding his way on base in any way possible for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. In 17G since returning from the Double-A Trenton Thunder, the infielder is batting 16-for-52 (.308 AVG), 2B, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 16 BB (.471 OBP) and 3-for-4 SB. Entering Thursday’s game, Katoh has reached safely in 17-of-his-last-26 plate appearances (.653 OBP), going 6-for-15 (.400 AVG) with 11 BB.
A TALE OF TWO WEEKS: Over those 7G, the RailRiders not scored more than 4 runs in a game, plating just 16 runs (2.28/game) in that stretch in which the team batted .174 (38-for-218). Since then, the last 8G have been a lot more favorable for the RailRiders offense as they have scored 54 runs (6.8 runs/game) and batted 87-for-284 (.306 AVG) in that time.
HANGING ON: The RailRiders used a pair of wins Sunday and Monday to snap a six-game losing skid, winning the two games by a combined 20-4. In its previous 16G before the two wins, the team was 3-13 falling from 16-games above .500 with a 6.0-game lead in the division to just a 1.0-game lead in the division. They now hold a modest lead over the Syracuse Mets (1.0 GB) with the Buffalo Bisons (2.0 GB) and Rochester Red Wings (4.0 GB) hot on their heels. Before this recent span of games, the last time the lead in the division was as small as 1.0 games entering Sunday’s series-finale was May 30th when they improved to 48-40 on the season as they were growing the lead in the division after just taking over first place from the Syracuse Mets.
The game was tied entering the bottom of the 8th inning, when Wendell Rijo singled off the PawSox starting pitcher Kyle Hart. That knocked the lefty from the game on his 101st pitch after 7.1 innings of strong pitching, turning the ball over to the bullpen. With Terrance Gore set to come up to the plate, RailRiders Manager Jay Bell summoned Valera from the bench which set the table for his dramatic blast.
Pawtucket got on the board first in the ballgame in the top of the second as Gorkys Hernandez and Cole Sturgeon hit RBI singles and plated two runs, 2-0. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre caught up in the bottom half as Gosuke Katoh and Wendell Rijo nailed back-to-back singles and tied the game 2-2.
RailRiders starting pitcher Nick Nelson (0-1) worked 6.0 innings and allowed seven hits and two runs. It was his second Triple-A start, after making his most recent appearance Thursday in Charlotte. The 23-year old sat 93-95 MPH with his fastball as he kept his team in the game through the middle innings. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre dipped into its bullpen by first summoning Tyler Lyons for 1.2 scoreless innings. Then, reliever J.P. Feyereisen (9-2) was the winning arm as he got the final out of the 8th inning before the RailRiders struck for the go-ahead homer. He notched the final three outs in order without allowing Pawtucket to bring the tying run to the plate.
WALKING TO THE FINISH: INF Gosuke Katoh has been in the midst of a hot stretch of his season where he has been finding his way on base in any way possible for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. In 17G since returning from the Double-A Trenton Thunder, the infielder is batting 16-for-52 (.308 AVG), 2B, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 16 BB (.471 OBP) and 3-for-4 SB. Entering Thursday’s game, Katoh has reached safely in 17-of-his-last-26 plate appearances (.653 OBP), going 6-for-15 (.400 AVG) with 11 BB.
A TALE OF TWO WEEKS: Over those 7G, the RailRiders not scored more than 4 runs in a game, plating just 16 runs (2.28/game) in that stretch in which the team batted .174 (38-for-218). Since then, the last 8G have been a lot more favorable for the RailRiders offense as they have scored 54 runs (6.8 runs/game) and batted 87-for-284 (.306 AVG) in that time.
HANGING ON: The RailRiders used a pair of wins Sunday and Monday to snap a six-game losing skid, winning the two games by a combined 20-4. In its previous 16G before the two wins, the team was 3-13 falling from 16-games above .500 with a 6.0-game lead in the division to just a 1.0-game lead in the division. They now hold a modest lead over the Syracuse Mets (1.0 GB) with the Buffalo Bisons (2.0 GB) and Rochester Red Wings (4.0 GB) hot on their heels. Before this recent span of games, the last time the lead in the division was as small as 1.0 games entering Sunday’s series-finale was May 30th when they improved to 48-40 on the season as they were growing the lead in the division after just taking over first place from the Syracuse Mets.
LOTS OF FACES: When RHP Ryan Dull entered in out of the bullpen in the top of the 8th inning he became the 75th player to appear in a game for the RailRiders this season. LHP Joe Mantiply made his SWB 2019 debut Sunday and in doing so became the 74th player to appear in a game for the RailRiders this season. LHP Tyler Lyons entered out of the bullpen Friday night for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders for his New York Yankees organizational debut against the Gwinnett Stripers as the No. 73 player in a RailRiders uniform. This number now far exceeds the 2018 team’s total roster of 69 players, and far surpasses the 2017 mark of 65.
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