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The RailRiders hadn’t lost four games in a row all season. They made sure it didn’t happen on Wednesday.
Not that it was easy.
Shaking off six rough innings at the plate, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre rallied late to earn a 7-3 win over Worcester at PNC Field, scoring six times in the eighth inning to prevail.
It was a much-needed boost for the division-leading RailRiders (48-27), who were coming off a rough series against last-place Syracuse in which they lost three of five. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre lost on Friday and Saturday to the Mets before Sunday’s finale was canceled because of weather.
Returning home to Moosic, the RailRiders dropped Tuesday’s series opener 7-2 to the Red Sox, matching a season-worst skid from July in which they lost three straight to the Mets.
All signs were pointing to a fourth straight loss on Wednesday.
Worcester starter Connor Seabold dominated the RailRiders, retiring 18 of the 20 batters he faced, striking out 10. He allowed only a walk to Thomas Milone in the third before losing his no-hit bid in the fifth on a Rob Brantly single.
But Scranton/Wilkes-Barre hitters were happy to see Durbin Feltman take over for the seventh with the deficit at 2-0. Andrew Velazquez led off with a single and quickly scored after stealing second, coming home on a Socrates Brito single.
They got another chance against Brennan in the eighth as Milone led off with a single and moved into scoring position when rehabbing Yankees regular Luke Voit was hit by a pitch.
Estevan Florial, recently returned from New York, then came through, sending the first pitch he saw right through Brennan and into center field to tie the game.
Velazquez then followed with a single, with the go-ahead run coming in with the help of an error in left field. And then the dam burst.
Brito made it 4-2 with a sac fly. The RailRiders then loaded the bases with Velazquez coming home on a balk for a 5-2 lead.
That quickly became 7-2 in the same at-bat, as an Armando Alvarez single and another Sox error brought in two more runs.
RailRiders reliever Greg Weissert surrendered an RBI triple to Ryan Fitzgerald in the ninth before closing out the game.
Overshadowed was an impressive Triple-A debut on the mound for RailRiders starter JP Sears. The 25-year-old lefty allowed just one run in five innings, scattering six hits while striking out six without a walk.
Worcester had struck first in the top of the third on an RBI single by Yairo Munoz. The Sox added to their lead in the sixth when a fielding error by Alvarez extended the inning, later allowing a run to score on a Jhonny Pereda grounder that would have been the third out.
The unearned run came against Nick Nelson, who picked up the win with three innings of two-hit ball with five strikeouts. RailRiders pitchers finished the night with 12 strikeouts and no walks.
The series continues at 7:05 p.m. Thursday in Moosic.