Click here to subscribe today or Login.
MOOSIC — In a act of patriotism, the RailRiders worse special stars and stripes jerseys for Sunday’s game in observance of Memorial Day.
It’s the first of three times this season that Scranton/Wilkes-Barre will don the American Flag-themed tops.
The RailRiders may be hesitant to wear the festive shirts again with the mixed performances they had on Sunday.
While the special uniforms may have helped SWB produce its season-high in runs, the pitching staff allowed the most runs it has all season as Durham had an offensive explosion using its biggest inning of the season and scored the most runs it has in a game this season to outslug the RailRiders 13-10 at PNC Field.
The SWB mantra so far this season has been to never give up. The same could be said for Sunday’s game as the team was down by as many as nine runs earlier in the contest but bringing the potential tying run to the plate in the ninth inning.
In the final half inning the RailRiders batted around plating four runs to make the score the closest it was all afternoon, since they held a 1-0 lead after the first inning.
SWB brought the tying run to the plate with Nick Noonan at bat. The shortstop hit a deep fly home run distance but foul early in the AB before striking out to end the game.
“At that point we’re just playing station to station and don’t run into any outs and be smart on the basepaths,” said first baseman Rob Segedin, who had a RBI-single in the ninth to bring up the tying run.
The Bulls hammered RailRiders starter Matt Tracy for a seven-spot on six hits in the second inning, and a fielding error by Noonan didn’t help much. Eight of the first nine batters in the inning reached base against Tracy as he was pulled with two outs. The second out he recorded was on an outfield assist by Tyler Austin gunning down Eugenio Velez trying to stretch a double into a triple.
In addition to Velez’ double plating two runs in the frame, Richie Shaffer and Leonardo Reginatto doubled in runs, while Taylor Motter and Corey Brown singled in one run each as Durham turned a one-run deficit into a 7-1 lead.
Lefty Eric Wooten relieved Tracy and got out of the inning on one pitch, but then gave up back-to-back solo jacks to Allan Dykstra and Shaffer, who hit two homers on the day in his Triple-A debut, as the Bulls extended the lead to 9-1 in the third inning. Durham scored three more off Wooten in the fifth to open a 12-3 lead.
“There’s nine innings for a reason,” Segedin said. “The game obviously got out of hand early on and sometimes pitchers have bad days and we gotta pick them up. And sometimes we have bad days and the pitchers pick us up. It’s a long season and days like this are gonna happen. You just gotta go up there and keep battling and don’t give in.”
The RailRiders started to chip away led by Mason Williams, who was playing in just his fourth game in Triple-A since being promoted earlier in the week. The center fielder had a big day at the plate for the RailRiders picking up his first four-hit game since he played for Class A Tampa in 2013, he scored three runs while hitting a double and triple.
“It feels good, but it would’ve felt better if we won so it didn’t mean anything,” Williams said of his four hits. “I’d feel much better if we had won, so it is what it is right now.”
Austin Romine and Tyler Austin each hit solo shots for the RailRiders, while both finished 2 for 5 with a pair of RBI. Ramon Flores and Segedin also had two hits apiece.
Bulls 13, RailRiders 10
Durham`AB`R`H`BI
Motter ss`5`1`2`2
Brown cf`4`1`1`1
Velez lf`5`0`2`2
Mahtook rf`5`1`1`0
Arencibia 1b`5`1`1`1
Dykstra dh`3`3`2`1
Shaffer 3b`5`4`4`3
Casali c`5`1`0`0
Reginatto 2b`3`1`2`2
Totals`40`13`15`12
RailRiders`AB`R`H`BI
Williams cf`5`3`4`0
Flores lf`4`2`2`1
Refsnyder 2b`4`1`0`0
Roller dh`3`1`1`1
Romine c`5`2`2`2
Austin rf`5`1`2`2
Galvez 3b`4`0`0`1
Segedin 1b`5`0`2`1
Noonan ss`5`0`1`0
Totals`40`10`14`8
Durham`072`030`100`—`13
RailRiders`101`120`014`—`10
E: Motter 2 (11), Noonan (5). DP: Bulls 2, RailRiders 0. LOB: Bulls 4, RailRiders 8. 2B: Mahtook (8), Shaffer (1), Reginatto (4), Velez (9), Motter (13), Flores 2 (7), Williams (1). 3B: Williams (1). HR: Romine (3), Austin (3), Dykstra (3), Shaffer 2(2), Arencibia (7). CS: Brown (2), Galvez (2). PO: Brown (by Tracy). Outfield assists: Austin (Velez at third), Flores (Velez at second).
Durham`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Diamond (W, 4-2)`5.0`8`5`3`1`2
Dominguez `1.0`1`0`0`1`1
Balfour`1.2`1`1`1`1`0
Oliver `1.0`3`4`4`2`2
Marinez (S, 1)`0.1`1`0`0`0`1
RailRiders`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Tracy (L, 0-2)`1.2`6`7`6`1`0
Wooten `5.1`9`6`6`1`2
Gallegos `1.0`0`0`0`0`1
Ramirez`1.0`0`0`0`1`1
HBP: Brown (by Tracy)
Umpires: HP: Jansen Visconti: 1B: Doug Vines. 3B: Peter Lakkis
T: 3:01. Att: 5,419.