Power Players: Homers pace RailRiders in win
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (May 5, 2021) – The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders clubbed three home runs and never trailed as they scored their first win of the season on Wednesday night, defeating the Syracuse Mets 7-5 at NBT Bank Stadium. In the top of the third inning Luke Voit and Miguel Andújar connected
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (May 5, 2021) – The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders clubbed three home runs and never trailed as they scored their first win of the season on Wednesday night, defeating the Syracuse Mets 7-5 at NBT Bank Stadium.
In the top of the third inning Luke Voit and Miguel Andújar connected for back-to-back home runs, and Trey Amburgey added another in the fifth. Voit played five innings at first base and went 2-for-3 with a two-run home run in his second rehab game with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
After Voit’s two-run blast to center field off Jesus Reyes (0-1) opened the scoring in the top of the third, Andújar followed with his big fly to left to give the Baby Bombers a 3-0 lead. Amburgey led off the fifth with an opposite-field home run, and an Andújar sacrifice fly four batters later extended the advantage to 5-0.
Brody Koerner took the ball for the RailRiders and was terrific in his first start of the season. The right-hander allowed only one hit and struck out four in 4.0 shutout innings. Kyle Barraclough allowed a grand slam to Jake Hager in the fifth to cut the RailRiders lead to 5-4, but Adam Warren and Trevor Lane combined for 3.1 scoreless frames out of the bullpen.
SWB rallied for two runs in the seventh without a hit when two bases loaded walks forced in two runs to extend the lead to 7-4. In the bottom of the ninth, Syracuse got a run on a Martin Cervenka double against Brooks Kriske to narrow the gap to 7-5. The Mets put the tying run at second base and had the winning run at the plate with two outs when Kriske struck out Andrew Ferguson to end the game.
For the second straight night, RailRiders pitchers struck out double digits, fanning 13 Mets batters, with Warren and Lane combining to fan five in a row at one point. Warren (1-0) earned the win for the RailRiders in relief, while Kriske earned his first save of the season.
The RailRiders continue their six-game series with the Mets on Thursday night at NBT Bank Stadium in Syracuse. The game can be heard on the RailRiders Baseball Network with first pitch at 6:35 p.m. and pregame coverage beginning at 6:15.
The RailRiders 2021 home opener at PNC Field is scheduled for Tuesday, May 11 against Lehigh Valley at 6:35 p.m. For tickets and more information, call (570) 969-BALL or slide to www.swbrailriders.com/tickets.