MOOSIC, Pa. (September 11-12, 2018) - Weathering a nearly three-hour rain delay, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders held off the Durham Bulls 3-2 on Wednesday morning at PNC Field. The RailRiders have a 1-0 lead over the Bulls in the best-of-five Governor's Cup Championship Series.
MOOSIC, Pa. (September 11-12, 2018) - Weathering a nearly three-hour rain delay, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders held off the Durham Bulls 3-2 on Wednesday morning at PNC Field. The RailRiders have a 1-0 lead over the Bulls in the best-of-five Governor's Cup Championship Series.
Domingo Germán made his return to the mound for the RailRiders and was terrific. The only blemish he allowed in 3.0 innings was a two-out double to Austin Meadows in the top of the first, while striking out five Bulls.
In the top of the fifth Durham took a 1-0 lead when they loaded the bases with no outs against Justus Sheffield. The southpaw induced a double play from Jake Cronenworth for the first two outs, but Nate Lowe scampered home to score the contest's first run.
The RailRiders wasted no time in striking back in the bottom of the fifth against Ryan Weber, who eventually took the loss. Wilkin Castillo and Mark Payton collected back-to-back one-out singles, and Bruce Caldwell followed with a two-run double to put the RailRiders on top. After a Giovanny Urshela groundout and a walk to Mike Ford, Ryan McBroom laced a base hit into left, plating Caldwell and extending the SWB lead to 3-1.
Former RailRider Rob Refsnyder connected for a solo home run against David Sosebee to narrow the gap to 3-2. He escaped the inning without further trouble, and Cale Coshow and Joe Harvey combined to toss a scoreless top of the eighth.
In the bottom of the eighth McBroom drew a walk to lead off the inning, and Zack Zehner ran a 2-2 count against Ian Gibaut when rain intensified and the game entered a two-hour, 59-minute rain delay. When the game resumed, the RailRiders were retired in the eighth.
George Kontos walked Lowe leading off the top of the ninth, but settled down to retire the side on three flyouts to close out the victory, notching his first save of the postseason.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre continues the best-of-five Governors' Cup Championship Series with Durham Wednesday night at PNC Field. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. The RailRiders send LHP Nestor Cortes Jr. (6-6, 3.71), the Bulls will counter with RHP Austin Pruitt (3-0, 2.95). For tickets and more information call (570) 969-BALL or slide to www.swbrailriders.com/tickets.
