Dirty Water: PawSox claim opener 11-8

Six-run first stakes visitors to enough advantage over SWB

Breyvic Valera went 3-3 with two walks on Tuesday, but the RailRiders fell 11-8 to Pawtucket. (Tim Dougherty)

By Madonna Mantione

May 21, 2019

MOOSIC, Pa. (May 21, 2019) - After a league-wide day off Monday, the Scranton Wilkes-Barre RailRiders and Pawtucket Red Sox played a game Tuesday night that had the airs of two teams that never wanted to be without baseball again - an 11-8 win for the PawSox that took 3:49 to

MOOSIC, Pa. (May 21, 2019) - After a league-wide day off Monday, the Scranton Wilkes-Barre RailRiders and Pawtucket Red Sox played a game Tuesday night that had the airs of two teams that never wanted to be without baseball again - an 11-8 win for the PawSox that took 3:49 to complete.

The top half of the first inning saw a lot of action off RailRiders starting pitcher Drew Hutchison. Mike Miller singled to begin the game, Brock Holt doubled and Miller scored for the PawSox. Then, Dustin Pedroia flew out and Sam Travis walked. Holt stole third base and Castillo hit a sacrifice fly and Holt scored for a 2-0 lead. That was just the beginning in an inning that featured five hits, six runs and a pair of errors to contribute to an insurmountable early deficit. u1:p

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre got back within three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning with a pair of runs to make it 8-5, later trailing 9-6 after five complete innings in the books. They plated a run in the seventh inning but could not draw closer than 9-7, with Pawtucket stretching its lead to 11-7 in the 9^thinning before settling for an 11-8 victory.u1:p
u1:p
The RailRiders offense was highlighted by Logan Morrison, who entered with four hits over the first 10 games of his RailRiders career, but exploded with a double and a pair of home runs in a 3-for-5 night. Breyvic Valera also had a strong offensive night with three hits and a pair of walks to reach base safely in all five plate appearances on the night.

The previous long 9-inning game this season for the RailRiders was 3:23, 26 minutes shorter than Tuesday's affair.u1:p
u1:p
The RailRiders and PawSox return to action Wednesday with game two of their three-game series. RHP Raynel Espinal (1-4, 6.49) takes the ball for the RailRiders against LHP Matthew Kent (0-1, 9.72). First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. with pregame coverage featuring Joe Vasile beginning at 6:05 p.m. For tickets and more information, call (570) 969-BALL or slide to www.swbrailriders.com/tickets.u1:p