Strong Start: SWB topples Lehigh 11-4

ALLENTOWN, PA (August 23, 2019) - The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders fell behind in the first inning against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, but starting in the fourth inning the RailRiders bats exploded for four runs and controlled the pace the rest of the way en route to an 11-4 victory Friday night.

Before a sellout crowd of 10,100 at Coca-Cola Park, the IronPigs struck for three runs on back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the first inning of RailRiders starting pitcher Adonis Rosa. The right-hander settled-in after the bumpy first inning to finish 5.0 innings and surrender just the three early runs as he improved to 6-0 with the RailRiders this season in 11 appearances. Dating back to his time in Double-A with the Trenton Thunder he has won nine straight decisions since the start of May.

The offense meanwhile got into gear in the top of the fourth inning using a pair of walks and an infield single to load the bases with one out. Ryan McBroom followed with a sac fly to plate Mandy Alvarez and put the RailRiders on the board, trailing 3-1. The next man up was Breyvic Valera, and he deliverer the go-ahead three-run home run to cap a four-run frame and put SWB on top 4-3.

With runs in the fourth, sixth, seventh and eighth the RailRiders grew their lead to 11-4 to make in comfortable for the bullpen. The four relief arms of Ryan Dull, Ben Heller, David Hernandez and Kaleb Ort combined to allow one run on one hit over 4.0 innings while fanning four batters to prevent the IronPigs from even considering a rally.

Five RailRiders finished with multi-hit performances including Wendell Rijo, Valera, Trey Amburgey, Gosuke Katoh and Alvarez.
 
Around the rest of the International League scoreboard, the RailRiders maintained their 1.5-game lead over the Syracuse Mets for first place in the division after the Mets defeated the Rochester Red Wings 5-1. The Buffalo Bisons fell to the Pawtucket Red Sox and dropped to 4.0 games out of first place for first place in the I.L. North division with 10 games remaining in the regular season.

The RailRiders and IronPigs return to action Saturday night at Coca-Cola Park for the middle game of a three-game set. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. with pregame coverage set for 6:05 p.m. with Adam Marco and Adam Giardino on the RailRiders Radio Network.