Series Victor: SWB Hits Four Homers to Split Doubleheader

The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders split the doubleheader with Lehigh Valley on Saturday. They dropped the first contest 3-0, but came back with a vengeance to take the second 7-4. The RailRiders hit four home runs in the latter contest to seal their series victory taking four games in their first road trip.

Game 1

The IronPigs starting the run scoring capitalizing on a walk and stolen base from Esteban Quiroz in the second. He came home on an error for a 1-0 lead.

In the fourth, Lehigh Valley struck again. A leadoff double from Weston Wilson and a walk by Dalton Guthrie put two on. Another error allowed Wilson to cross the plate, while a sacrifice fly from John Hicks sent home Guthrie. The Pigs led 3-0 for the rest of the way.

The RailRiders broke up a perfect game in the fifth thanks to back-to-back singles from Jesus Bastidas and Jose Godoy. The visiting team could not plate a run and a season-high five errors in the field didn't help their cause.

Mitch Spence (L, 0-1) got the start throwing four and two thirds innings of work. The righty let up three runs, all unearned, on five hits. He struck out a season high five batters. Barrett Loseke made his Triple-A debut. Loseke came in for Spence in the fifth and stranded two runners on. He pitched the sixth cleanly.

T.J. Zeuch (W, 1-0) was lights out in his second start tossing six frames with just three hits allowed, after going four perfect. Jakob Hernandez (S, 1) struck out the side to end the game.

Game 2

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre got the offense early going in the first inning. After Michael Hermosillo was hit by a pitch to reach, Jamie Westbrook doubled him home to get on the board.

Lehigh Valley bounced back in the second with two runs on three hits to take a 2-1 lead.

The RailRiders tied it at two in the fourth with Westbrook’s solo shot in the fourth.

The score changed hands as the IronPigs got an RBI double from Dustin Peterson to go up 3-2.

Rodolfo Duran led off the fifth with a base hit and came home onHermosillo’s long home run. Andres Chaparro made it back-to-back homers with his solo shot to dead center. It was his first hit of the 2023 season to put SWB up 5-3.

Billy McKinney got in on the party as well with a solo shot of his own to start the sixth inning. Mickey Gasper followed with a walk and stole a bag to get into scoring position. Wilmer Difo’s base knock sent him home for the RailRiders seventh run of the game.

The IronPigs countered in the sixth with a lead off double from Esteban Quiroz. An RBI groundout sent him home to make the score 7-4.

The home team put up a fight in the bottom of the seventh. Two doubles, to total six on the night, plated a run to inch closer 7-5 but that was all they could manage.

Nick Ramirez opened the bullpen game for the RailRiders. He tossed 1.2 innings allowing two runs on three hits. Deivi Garcia (W, 1-0) finished out the third and completed three total innings letting up just one run. Matt Bowman inherited a runner, but left him on the base paths in the fifth. He gave up one run on one hit in the sixth. James Norwood (S,1) allowed one run in the seventh but struck out three batters to slam the door shut.

Nick Allgeyer got the start throwing three innings on 52 pitches. He let up one run on three hits. Jeff Hoffman gave up one run in his frame. Hans Crouse (L, 0-1) was hammered with two home runs that let three runs score. Jake Jewell pitched a frame allowing two runs on three hits. Kyle Hart made his season debut tossing a clean inning.