RailRiders Blanked by Bulls in Game Three, 3-0

MOOSIC, Pa. (Sept. 13, 2018) - The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders fell to the Durham Bulls 3-0 on Thursday night at PNC Field. The Bulls took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five Governors' Cup Finals.

Game three was a home game for the Durham Bulls, despite being played at PNC Field. The entire series was moved to Moosic from Durham Bulls Athletic Park with Hurricane Florence preparing to make landfall in the Carolinas this week.
 
The Bulls took the lead in the bottom of the first when Kean Wong and Rob Refsnyder led off the game with back-to-back singles against Mike King to put runners at first and third. Austin Meadows hit into a fielder's choice groundout, plating Wong with the first run of the contest.
 
Durham tacked on two more tallies in the bottom of the second as Brandon Snyder cracked a leadoff home run. Two batters later Jason Coats collected an infield single and scored on a Jake Cronenworth double and the Bulls grabbed a 3-0 lead.
 
King settled down after the rocky start and pitched well over the remainder of his 6.2-inning outing. He allowed seven hits and walked two while striking out four. At one point the right-hander retired 11 of 12 batters. He exited with runners on second and third, but Phil Diehl was able to escape the jam in his Triple-A debut.
 
The RailRiders threatened offensively, but Chih-Wei Hu was able to escape the jams. With runners on first and third and one out in the top of the sixth, Giovanny Urshela grounded into an inning-ending around-the-horn double play.
 
In the top of the seventh Mike Ford singled with one out against Hu. Two batters later Shane Robinson doubled to left and Ford was thrown out to end the inning trying to score from first.
 
Kyle Bird closed out the victory for the Bulls with two scoreless innings to earn his second postseason save. Mark Payton led the way with a 2-for-4 day offensively for the RailRiders, while Zack Zehner and Robinson tallied a double each.
 
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre continues the best-of-five Governors' Cup Championship Series with Durham Friday night at PNC Field. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. The RailRiders send lefty Ryan Bollinger (0-0, 1.59) to the hill, while the Bulls counter with righty Andrew Moore (0-0, 2.25). For tickets and more information call (570) 969-BALL or slide towww.swbrailriders.com/tickets.