MOOSIC, PA. - Pablo Reyes homered as part of a two-hit night, but the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders broke a 4-4 tie with a walk-off single from Mandy Alvarez in the bottom of the ninth to defeat the Indianapolis Indians on Wednesday evening. It was the RailRiders' seventh straight victory.
MOOSIC, PA. - Pablo Reyes homered as part of a two-hit night, but the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders broke a 4-4 tie with a walk-off single from Mandy Alvarez in the bottom of the ninth to defeat the Indianapolis Indians on Wednesday evening. It was the RailRiders' seventh straight victory.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (17-12) jumped out to a 3-0 lead with one swing of the bat in the bottom of the second inning. Alvarez led off with a single, and later moved to second when Zack Zehner reached on a fielder's choice. Matt Lipka then clubbed a three-run home run to left field for the first runs of the game.
Indianapolis (15-16) answered quickly and tied the game in the top of the third. Jake Elmore smacked a double to right field to begin the rally. One out later, he scored when Ke'Bryan Hayes hit a ground-rule double to center. Hayes came home on José Osuna's single, and Jacob Stallings capped the scoring with a sacrifice fly to left field that plated Osuna.
The Tribe untied the game in the top of the fourth. Reyes led off with a liner of a home run into the bullpens in left field. It was Reyes' first home run since being optioned to Indy from the Pittsburgh Pirates, and his second hit of the night.
A wild pitch tied the game back up in the bottom of the sixth. With runners at second and third and no outs, a fastball from Jesus Liranzo got away and Alvarez scampered home. Liranzo bore down with a pair of strikeouts and a groundout to prevent SWB from taking the lead.
In the top of the ninth, the Indians picked up back-to-back singles from Jason Martin and Hayes, but Stephen Tarpley induced a double play with runners at the corners to get out of the threat.
That turn set the stage for the bottom of the ninth when the RailRiders won the game. Logan Morrison was hit by a pitch to leadoff the inning, and after a walk and bunt single, Alvarez stepped to the plate. He delivered a liner to left-center field that plated Morrison and ended the game.
Tarpley (1-0) earned the win after he pitched the final two innings for SWB. Sean Keselica (0-1) fired a pair of scoreless frames to start his night, but he was on the mound when the game ended and picked up the loss.
The Indians and RailRiders will conclude the series Thursday morning, with first pitch scheduled for 10:35 a.m. Alex McRae (2-2, 6.60) is slated to start for Indy. The club returns home to Victory Field on Tuesday, May 14.
