Chiefs drop two tight games to RailRiders

The Syracuse Chiefs dropped a pair of games to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders on Wednesday evening at NBT Bank Stadium. In the conclusion of a suspended game from Tuesday, the Chiefs lost 7-6, despite a pair of triples from Andrew Stevenson. Syracuse then fell 3-1 in a seven-inning game two.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (48-30) began the scoring early in game one on Tuesday night. With one out, Dustin Fowler pummeled a line drive over the right-field fence off Sean O'Sullivan for his 13^th home run of the season. Miguel Andujar, who was called up to the Yankees on Wednesday, followed the Fowler homer with a double. After a Ji-Man Choi strikeout, Clint Frazier doubled to left field, plating Andujar and putting the RailRiders up 2-0.

Syracuse (27-49) responded in the bottom half of the same inning. Stevenson led off the inning with a single off RailRiders starter Chance Adams. Adrian Sanchez followed up Stevenson's base hit with a walk which put runners on first and second. Stevenson then advanced on a fly out from Brandon Snyder. In the next at-bat, Clint Robinson hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Stevenson and cutting the lead to 2-1.
Cito Culver started the top of the second inning with a leadoff single. After a Wilkin Castillo lineout and a walk from Williams, the skies opened up over NBT Bank Stadium. Acting crew chief Roberto Ortiz then called for the tarp and a 50-minute rain delay ensued. Following the delay, the umpires decided to postpone the game due to the conditions of the field which had already been soaked by rain on Monday and Tuesday.
Play resumed in the top of the second inning on Wednesday evening. With runners still at first and second and one out, Mark Payton replaced Fowler at the plate. Payton singled off Dustin Antolin to start the inning, but Abiatal Avelino, who had replaced Andujar in the lineup, and Choi struck out to end the inning.
The Chiefs took their first lead of the game in the bottom of the third inning against Caleb Smith. On the third pitch of the inning, Stevenson slapped a triple down the right-field line to start the frame. Sanchez then reached on a fielding error from Choi at first base allowing Stevenson to score. After Snyder walked and moved Sanchez up to second, Robinson smacked a double into left field, scoring Sanchez and allowing Snyder to advance to third. Following a pair of strikeouts from Neftali Soto and Alejandro De Aza, Irving Falu singled on a line drive to center field, plating both Snyder and Robinson and putting the Chiefs up 5-2.
The RailRiders recovered a run on one swing in the fourth inning. With two outs, Williams crushed a fly ball over the right-center-field fence for his first home run of the season, slicing the lead to 5-3.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre inched closer in the fifth. With one out, Frazier singled into right field. After a Jake Cave walk and a Donovan Solano single loaded the bases, Culver hit a sacrifice fly to left field, plating Frazier and trimming the lead to just 5-4.
The Baby Bombers took the lead back in the sixth. With Sammy Solis on the mound, Williams started the frame with a single into center field. In the next at-bat, with Payton at the plate, Williams moved up to second on a wild pitch from Solis. After Payton popped out, Avelino walked to put a pair of runners on for Choi. The South Korean first baseman cranked a fly ball over the center-field fence putting the RailRiders in front 7-5.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, the Chiefs nearly came back to win the game. After Emmanuel Burriss grounded out to second to lead off the inning, Stevenson walloped his second triple of the day into the right-center-field alley. Stevenson then scored on a Sanchez groundout to make the score 7-6. With two outs, Caleb Ramsey, who entered for an injured Snyder in the sixth, singled into center field off J.P. Feyereisen. Robinson followed with a walk to put runners at first and second with two outs. Soto crushed a fly ball to left field on the fourth pitch of the next at-bat, but it hung up just long enough for Frazier to get underneath it at the warning track and record the final out.
The triple was Stevenson's second of the game. With the three-bagger, Stevenson became the first Chief to triple twice in one game since Will Rhymes on June 26, 2013 against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
In game two, the scoring began on one swing of the bat in the top of the second inning. Choi started the inning with a single off Jaron Long into right field. Culver followed with a double, advancing Choi to third. Following a Payton pop out and a Billy Fleming strike out, Avelino ripped a single down the left-field line, scoring both Choi and Culver, putting the RailRiders out in front 2-0.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre extended its lead in the third. After Williams and Cave struck out to begin the inning, Frazier singled into center field. Choi then doubled into left field to put two runners in scoring position. With Culver in the batters' box, Long tossed a wild pitch that careened off the chest protector of Chiefs catcher Jhonatan Solano and landed in front of the plate. Frazier raced down the third-base line and past a diving tag attempt from Long, scoring the third run of the game for their RailRiders and increasing the lead to 3-0.
The Chiefs retrieved one run in the bottom of the seventh inning. Following Robinson and Falu groundouts to lead off the inning, De Aza singled off the glove of the third baseman Avelino. Solano followed that up with a double into left field, plating De Aza for the lone Chiefs' run of the game. With the tying run at the plate, Ramsey grounded out to shortstop to end the game.
The Chiefs and RailRiders square off again Thursday night in the finale of a four-game series at 6:35 p.m. from NBT Bank Stadium. Greg Ross is set to take the mound for Syracuse opposite left-hander Daniel Camarena for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.