Lehigh Valley Walk-Off Spoils Whitley's Dominant Start

Allentown, Pa. - The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (Triple-A/New York Yankees) raced out to a 4-0 lead on Friday night, but the Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Philadelphia Phillies) rallied and won in a walk-off in the ninth, 5-4. Despite the loss which gives the Pigs a one-game edge in the IronRail series, the RailRiders can claim the trophy with a win in the season finale between the two teams on Saturday night.

Chase Whitley was dominant from the start, and he worked six scoreless innings. Whitley conceded just one hit, and only issued one walk. He struck out five, and induced nine groundball outs to just three fly-outs. Despite his solid outing, Whitley did not factor into the decision.

The RailRiders gave Whitley the lead in the top of the third. J.R. Murphy reached on an infield single with two outs, and Ronnier Mustelier hit a fly-ball to left field that was misplayed by Cesar Hernandez. Murphy scored on the play, and the error kept the inning alive. With Mustelier aboard at second, Randy Ruiz made the IronPigs pay when he homered to left-center field. SWB led 3-0 after three innings.

The lead was extended in the fourth. David Adams led off with a solo home run to left field. The homer was Adams' fifth with the RailRiders; he also owns two in the big leagues with the Yankees.

Whitley was making just his fifth start since being moving from the bullpen, and he was lifted before the seventh. Cesar Cabral allowed a lead-off triple to Freddy Galvis to start the frame. One out later, Josh Fields singled to right to drive Galvis home. A single by Tyler Henson moved Fields to second, and Michael Martinez then capped the inning with a triple to right field. It scored both Fields and Henson to cut the SWB lead to 4-3.

The IronPigs continued their rally and won the game in the ninth. Steve Susdorf led off with a single and moved to second when Fields doubled. Leandro Castro was brought in to run for Fields, and Henson proceeded to hit a sacrifice fly to left field that plated Susdorf to tie the game, and move Castro to third as the winning run. Martinez finished up his big night with a walk-off base hit to right field that drove home Castro.

Mauricio Robles (2-2) tossed a scoreless ninth for Lehigh Valley, and he was handed his second win of the season.

Matt Daley (2-3) was inserted into the game in the ninth, and picked up the loss for the RailRiders.

The RailRiders will go for the IronRail trophy on Saturday night when the match-up with the IronPigs for the last time in 2013. Brett Marshall (7-10, 5.13) is coming off a seven-inning, shutout performance in Pawtucket, and he'll take the mound for SWB. First pitch is slated for 6:35 p.m., and pre-game coverage will get underway at on NEPA Sports Radio - The GAME, Northeast PA's largest sports radio network: 100.7 FM, 1340 WYCK-AM, 1400 WICK-AM, 1440 WCDL-AM and 106.7 FM.

- SWB RailRiders - All Aboard! -