CHARLOTTE, NC (August 15, 2019) - The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders finish the midweek series- and the season series- against the Charlotte Knights without a win, falling Thursday night 7-5 before 9,652 fans at BB&T Ballpark.
CHARLOTTE, NC (August 15, 2019) - The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders finish the midweek series- and the season series- against the Charlotte Knights without a win, falling Thursday night 7-5 before 9,652 fans at BB&T Ballpark.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre began the scoring in the top of the first inning. After consecutive outs to begin the night, Tyler Wade and Trey Amburgey notched consecutive doubles off Charlotte starting pitcher Justin Nicolino to put the RailRiders ahead 1-0. They nearly doubled the lead when Trey Amburgey stole third base and the throw from Seby Zavala was wild and sailed into left field. Amburgey popped up and came home, but the home plate umpire ruled he himself had interfered with the throw and sent Amburgey back to second base. The RailRiders settled for a 1-0 lead after a half inning of play.
Charlotte began the scoring shortly thereafter with a run in the bottom of the first inning off starting pitcher Nick Nelson. Nick Madrigal walked to begin the game for the Knights, stole second base and then jogged home on Luis Robert's double.
Nelson tossed 5.0 innings in his Triple-A debut, allowing a run in four of the five innings he pitched. Charlotte methodically added to its lead using solo home runs by Seby Zavala and Luis Robert in the early innings, before Zack Collins cracked a home run off Josh Maciejewski in the bottom of the sixth. The southpaw, Maciejewski, pitched at BB&T Ballpark as an undergrad when he attended UNC-Charlotte from 2015-2018.
Trailing 6-1 entering the seventh inning, the RailRiders used a pair of home runs from Mandy Alvarez (3) and Zack Zehner (9) to rally back to within a pair of runs at 6-4. They trailed 7-5 entering the ninth inning and received a leadoff single from Erik Kratz, but the next three men were retired in order as the RailRiders offense ran out of steam down the stretch.
The RailRiders pile on the bus immediately following Thursday's game and head to Gwinnett, Ga. For the first time this season as they ready to take on the Gwinnett Stripes Friday night at Coolray Field. RHP Michael King (Triple-A Season Debut) was added to the RailRiders roster prior to Thursday's game in Charlotte and is expected to take the ball for the RailRiders against Gwinnett's LHP Tucker Davidson (0-0, 0.00). Pregame coverage with Adam Giardino begins at 6:35 p.m. on the RailRiders Radio Network before a scheduled 7:05 p.m. first pitch.
