Missed Chance: RailRiders fall 9-8 in 12 innings
ALLENTOWN, Pa. (August 28, 2021) –The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders dropped a heartbreaking 12-inning contest to the Lehigh Valley IronPigs 9-8 on Saturday night at Coca-Cola Park. Owing to a pair of Lehigh Valley errors in the top of the first, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre jumped out to an early 3-0 lead. Rob Brantly drove
*ALLENTOWN, Pa. (August 28, 2021) *–The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders dropped a heartbreaking 12-inning contest to the Lehigh Valley IronPigs 9-8 on Saturday night at Coca-Cola Park.
Owing to a pair of Lehigh Valley errors in the top of the first, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre jumped out to an early 3-0 lead. Rob Brantly drove in a run with a single for the only run batted in of the frame. The IronPigs responded with two runs in the bottom of the first against Deivi Garcia to cut the deficit to 3-2.
The RailRiders added a run in the top of the fourth with an Estevan Florial RBI single. Once again the IronPigs struck back and tied the game against Garcia in the bottom of the fourth with a two-run double from Alec Bohm.
Donny Sands put Scranton/Wilkes-Barre back on top with a leadoff home run in the top of the fifth. The blast was the sixth of the season for Sands in 25 games played, and his 15th overall combined with his time in Double-A.
It's out of here!!!
— SWB RailRiders (@swbrailriders) August 29, 2021
The RailRiders take the lead with a Donny Sands solo home run pic.twitter.com/RkpmYABRt8
Braden Bristo tossed 1.1 innings of relief in back of Deivi Garcia, and while Greg Weissert ran into some trouble in the sixth, Ron Marinaccio helped him escape it and threw 2.1 scoreless innings to hold the lead.
In the bottom of the ninth, Nick Maton led off with a double against Sal Romano and scored on a sacrifice fly from Matt Vierling to tie the game at 5-5 and send the game to extra innings.
In the top of the 10th, Trey Amburgey singled with two outs to score automatic runner Jonathan Davis from second base and five SWB a 6-5 lead. However, the IronPigs tied the game in the bottom of the tenth on a pinch-hit single by T.J. Rivera.
A sacrifice bunt and a sacrifice fly netted Scranton/Wilkes-Barre a run in the top of the 11th, but Lehigh Valley matched with a run in the bottom of the frame against Adam Warren to send the game to the 12th.
The RailRiders again scored a run on a sac bunt and a sac fly in the top of the 12th, but the IronPigs responded by scoring the tying run on an infield single from Charlie Tilson and the winning run on a sac fly from Maton against Nick Green (1-2).
POSTGAME NOTES: This was the second 12-inning game played by the RailRiders since the automatic runner rule went into place for the 2018 season. Both have taken place at Lehigh Valley this season, and both have been won by the IronPigs... At four hours, 31 minutes, this was the longest game played by SWB this season… The RailRiders blew three saves in the game, the most by the team in any game this season… SWB is now 5-7 in extra-inning games this season.
The RailRiders complete their series with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs on Sunday afternoon at Coca-Cola Park. First pitch is scheduled for 1:35 p.m., with coverage on the RailRiders Baseball Network beginning at 1:15. SWB sends RHP Nick Nelson (2-2, 3.72) to the mound, while RHP David Paulino (4-3, 4.13) climbs the hill for Lehigh Valley.
SWB returns home to PNC Field on August 31 to begin a series with the Buffalo Bisons. For tickets and more information, call (570) 969-BALL or slide to www.swbrailriders.com/tickets.