SWB 5, Syracuse 3

Moosic, PA - On Saturday night in front of a crowd of 10,310 the Syracuse Chiefs, the Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, were defeated 5-3 by the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees. Shairon Martis pitched five innings and Pete Orr hit his ninth home run of the season for Syracuse in the losing effort. The Yankees re-take the lead in the IL North by ½ game with the win.

Syracuse (47-37) scored in the second inning to get out to an early lead. Recently reinstated third baseman Seth Bynum hit a sharp ground ball to second base that went off the glove of Reegie Corona and allowed Jason Botts to score from third base. In the ensuing at bat, Carlos Maldonado singled to right which scored Orr and made it 2-0.

In the bottom of the second, Sranton/Wilkes-Barre (47-36) answered back with two runs to tie the game. With a runner on base, two out, and a 2-2 count, former Chief Eric Brunlett laced his fifth home run of the season over the fence in left. The game was tied at two after two innings.

The Chiefs re-took the lead in the fourth on a solo home run from Orr. He went deep for the ninth time this season to put the Chiefs ahead 3-2.

Martis exited the game after pitching five innings and giving up two runs on four hits while walking two batters. He gave way for Atahualpa Severino (3-1) who surrendered three runs in the sixth inning. Eric Bruntlett delievered an RBI single to tie the game at three. Just one batter later, Chad Moeller homered to left field to put the Yankees ahead for good. Jesse English and Ron Villone each pitched a scoreless inning of relief for Syracuse.

Zach McAllister (7-5) earned the win pitching six innings while yielding three runs on eight hits. He struck out three and did not walk a batter. Boone Logan pitched one and two thirds of an inning in relief leading up to Jonathan Albaladejo who secured his league leading 26th save.

The Chiefs return home for July 4th to begin a four game series with the Buffalo Bisons. Erik Arnesen (2-4, 4.08) will start for Syracuse against Dillon Gee (7-5, 5.00) for Buffalo. First pitch on Sunday is scheduled for 6:30.