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MOOSIC — The day didn’t start exactly how Phil Coke would have liked.
The RailRiders left-hander had a warm-up pitch get away before Wednesday’s game started and hit home plate umpire Roberto Ortiz.
Something like that could be a bad omen for pitchers, but not for a veteran like Coke.
The 33-year-old who has more than 400 games under his belt in the Major Leagues, tossed five innings of four-hit ball only allowing one run to lead Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to a 7-1 win over Louisville on Wednesday in front of a sellout crowd of 10,000 fans on the School Day Special at PNC Field. The victory gives the team its 10th in the last 13 games.
“Apparently, it’s a weird, but good trend,” Coke said about the pitch that got away.
The warm-up pitch that got Ortiz above his right knee was a slider that Coke has recently reintroduced to his repertoire. And though he got off to a rocky start, Coke is encouraged by the pitch. And because Ortiz was able to stay and call the entire game, it made things easier to take.
“The fact that I’m getting the shape that I’m getting on it (the slider) is a positive,” Coke said. “The fact that I’m taking umpires out at their knees is not so positive. It’s just a matter of direction and it actually gives me feedback of what I need to do. Sorry it was an innocent bystander.
“I felt terrible for it. And wouldn’t have felt any emotion towards it other than ‘are you alright?’ but I had the whole visiting dugout laughing at me and I couldn’t help but smile. I felt bad, but that’s just how it went,” he said.
Coke got help from his offense early as the RailRiders scored at least six runs for the fifth time during their win streak. The unit started to get going in the bottom of the first inning when Chris Parmelee slugged a three-run homer giving Coke a 3-0 lead against Anthony DeSclafani, who was making a Major League rehab appearance for Cincinnati.
The lead was a welcome for Coke, who got behind hitters in the first inning and got a double play to help get some momentum.
“That’s awesome,” Coke said about the lead. “As a pitcher in any situation out there you want to put your best foot forward and when your guys respond on the offensive end and the defense end as well — we made a lot of spectacular defensive plays today — it was awesome. “
After Coke allowed a run in the fourth on consecutive doubles to cut the lead to 3-1, the RailRiders got the run right back on a run-scoring triple by Deibinson Romero.
Cesar Puello added an RBI-single in the fifth inning, while Ben Gamel and Aaron Judge had run-scoring hits in the ninth as the team and bounced back from a loss that ended about 13 hours prior to the start of Wednesday’s game.
“Under the circumstances with the night game (Tuesday night) and the loss and the 10:30 game this morning, it was tough for everybody to get ready, but the guys still came out, worked hard,” SWB manager AL Pedrique said. “The key was scoring early. The team that scored early was going to be the difference. I’m glad we did it.”
Notes: The RailRiders learned on Wednesday that catcher Gary Sanchez will be placed on the disabled list with a crack in the thumb on his right hand. He’s headed to New York for further evaluation; a timetable for his return is unknown. …Cesar Puello, who went 1 for 3, was also hit by a pitch for the eighth time this season in just 24 games having missed time on the disabled list.
RailRiders 7, Bats 1
Louisville `AB`R`H`BI
Peraza ss`3`0`0`0
Winker rf` 4`0`2`0
Curtis dh`4`1`1`0
Schebler lf`4`0`1`1
Meijas-Brean 3b`4`0`1`0
Iribarren cf`3`0`0`0
Triunfel 2b`3`0`0`0
Berset c`3`0`0`0
Chang 1b`3`0`0`0
Totals`31`1`5`1
RailRiders`AB`R`H`BI
Gamel cf`4`2`2`1
Judge dh`5`0`1`1
Solano 2b`5`1`2`0
Parmelee 1b`4`1`1`3
Puello rf`3`1`1`1
Cave lf`4`1`1`0
Romero 3b`2`1`1`2
Rodriguez c`2`0`0`0
Kozma ss`4`0`0`0
Totals`33`7`8`7
Louisville`000`100`000`—`1
RailRiders`300`110`02x` — `7
LOB: Bats 4, RailRiders 9. DP: Bats 0, RailRiders 1. 2B: Schebler (4), Curtis (8). 3B: Romero (1). HR: Parmelee (6). SB: Gamel (8). PB: Rodriguez (2).
Louisville`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
DeSclafani (L, 0-1) `3.0`3`3`3`0`2
Johnson `2.1`1`2`2`4`1
Magill `0.2`0`0`0`0`1
Hoover ` 1.0`1`0`0`0`2
Hayes ` 1.0`3`2`2`2`1
RailRiders`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Coke (W, 3-0)`5.0`4`1`1`0`4
Mullee `2.0`1`0`0`1`1
Cotts `1.0`0`0`0`0`1
Swarzak `1.0`0`0`0`0`1
WP: Johnson
HBP: Puello (by Johnson)
Umpires: HP: Roberto Ortiz. 1B: Joe Born. 3B: Ryan Clark.
T: 2:48 Att: 10,000