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MOOSIC — A special guest made an appearance at PNC Field on Tuesday night for the first time in nearly a decade.
The Phillie Phanatic brought his fun and games to Moosic for the first time since Scranton/Wilkes-Barre changed affiliations from Philadelphia to the Yankees in 2007.
While the most well-known mascot in perhaps all of sports had a memorable appearance it was the RailRiders’ Aaron Judge, who had a unforgettable night helping his team defeat the current affiliate of the Phillies, Lehigh Valley, 5-3 on Tuesday night.
Judge, a rightfielder who participated in the MLB All-Star Futures Game earlier this month, showed why he was in the showcase as he doubled twice, scored a run, saved a run with a diving airborne catch that turned into a double play, and had another outfield assist in the victory.
“I think that’s the best part of the game,” Judge said about his defense. “The pitcher’s out there pitching his butt off for us. I’m out there trying to make plays for him and keep us in striking distance. Defense is probably one of my favorite things, except for hitting home runs, I guess; defensive plays are second.”
Judge’s best defensive work came in the fourth inning when Logan Moore hit one into the gap in right-center and Judge jumped and dove making the brilliant catch then throwing to second base to double off Cord Phelps and save at least one run from scoring.
“I just went for it and I heard Ben (Gamel) saying ‘Two, two,’ ” Judge said. “So I’m glad he was there to help me with that.”
Not to be outdone by Judge was the RailRiders bullpen, which has been lights out lately. The SWB relievers tossed four scoreless innings as Wilking Rodriguez (2-0) went 2 2/3 innings getting six of his eight outs via strikeout, and Johnny Barbato pitched the last 1 1/3 innings for his first save. The RailRiders relievers have now hurled 19 consecutive scoreless innings and haven’t given up a run since July 23 at Indianapolis.
“I think the confidence is up there and obviously we’re pitching pretty well right now,” Barbato said. “Just going out there, getting ahead of people, throwing strikes and getting people out.”
The RailRiders had problems against IronPigs lefty Jesse Biddle, who was effectively wild in his five innings f work. One of Philadelphia’s top prospects, Biddle didn’t allow a hit until there were two outs in the fourth, but the RailRiders drew five walks off him. Three of the walks came in the bottom of the first when SWB scored its first run on a groundout to tie the game at 1-1.
“It’s tough. He was all around the zone,” Judge said about Biddle. “Trying to find a pitch you can drive was a little tougher so we were swinging at his pitch mostly so that made it tough.”
After taking a 2-1 lead into the fifth inning on a RBI-single by Austin Romine in the fourth, the IronPigs regained an advantage in the top of the fifth getting to Joel De La Cruz for a pair of runs on three hits to take a 3-2 lead.
When Biddle, who was mixing a good curveball and change-up with a fastball that topped out at 90 mph, was pulled from the game after the fifth, the RailRiders offense really got going.
They batted around in the sixth and scored three run on four hits to re-take the lead at 5-3. With the bases loaded, Jose Pirela hit a dribbler down the third base line that stayed fair for the first run of the inning. Cole Figueroa plated another run with a single, while Ben Gamel hit a sac fly to chase reliever Cesar Jimenez.
“Once we got a new guy in there and started swinging at our pitch we got productive,” Judge said.
RailRiders 5, IronPigs 3
Lehigh Valley`AB`R`H`BI
Henson lf`4`1`1`0
Bogusevic rf`4`1`2`0
Altherr cf`3`1`2`1
Kratz c`3`0`0`0
Phelps 3b`4`0`1`1
McGuiness 1b`3`0`2`0
Moore dh`4`0`1`0
Lohman 2b`4`0`1`0
Serna ss`4`0`1`0
Danks ph`1`0`0`0
Totals`33`3`10`2
RailRiders`AB`R`H`BI
Gamel cf`3`1`1`1
Refsnyder 2b`4`0`0`0
Bird 1b`4`0`0`0
Judge rf`4`1`2`0
Sanchez c`2`1`0`0
Flores lf`3`2`1`0
Pirela 3b`3`0`1`1
Romine dh`4`0`1`1
Figueroa ss`3`0`1`1
Totals`30`5`7`5
Lehigh Valley`100`020`000`—`3
RailRiders`100`103`00x` —`5
E: Biddle (2), Gamel (5). DP: IronPigs 0, RailRiders 3. LOB: IronPigs 6, RailRiders 10. 2B: Bogusevic (14), Judge 2 (5). SF: Gamel. Outfield assists: Gamel (Phelps at 2nd), Judge 2 (Phelps at 2nd, McGuiness at 2nd)
IronPigs`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Biddle `5.0`1`2`1`5`4
Jimenez (BS, 5), (L, 2-4) `0.2`4`3`3`1`1
Ogando `2.1`2`0`0`1`2
RailRiders`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
De La Cruz `5.0`8`3`3`3`2
Rodriguez (W, 2-0) `2.2`1`0`0`0`6
Barbato (S, 1)`1.1`1`0`0`0`1
HBP: Refsnyder (by Ogando)
Umpires: HP: Doug Vines. 1B: Jon Byrne. 3B: Jansen Visconti
T: 2:48. Att: 8,214
