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MOOSIC — Billy McKinney is at his best when he uses the center of the field.
Each of the last two nights, when the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders outfielder has collected hits, they’ve either dropped somewhere in center field or gone over the center-field fence.
But despite his three-run homer in Wednesday night’s 10-5 loss to the Durham Bulls, McKinney isn’t satisfied, as he’s yet to find his swing after returning from the disabled list on May 24. And if you ask any of the RailRiders , they aren’t satisfied either, after dropping the tilt with Durham.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (26-31) has lost four of its last six games.
“I’m doing alright. I’ve had a few good swings but definitely have a lot of work to do and definitely need to do more to help the team right now,” McKinney said. “We just need to turn the page quickly and get after it tomorrow. Definitely, tomorrow’s a big game, new day. Try to forget it and just go one the next one and hopefully we get a big win tomorrow.”
After an impressive outing from the pitching staff on Tuesday, collecting 18 strikeouts, Wednesday was a different story.
RailRiders starter Erik Swanson got off to a quick start by retiring the side in the first inning before giving up a lead-off home run to Brandon Snyder in the second frame and two more runs in the third inning off a two-run single from Jason Coats before being pulled in favor of Cale Coshow. But the right-handed reliever’s struggles at PNC Field continued as Coshow gave up four runs in 1.2 innings.
Coshow has given up 11 runs over his last two outings at home.
“He looked good at first,” RailRiders manager Bobby Mitchell said of Swanson. “This is a good hitting team. They came out and got on a couple fastballs. I think the first home run he gave up was a fastball, but, you know, we talk about us getting two-out RBI. They had, I think, five two-out RBI with two strikes — and that hurt, you know — off of Swanson (and Coshow).”
Reliever Tommy Kahnle made his RailRiders debut, pitching a scoreless ninth. He did give up a hit, but struck out a pair as his fastball topped out at 96 mph.
He was a bright spot for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre bullpen that gave up seven runs in the loss to the Bulls (32-25). Brady Lail allowed two runs to cross the plate in 1.2 innings and Raynel Espinal saw another score during his two innings of work.
“I love him. The way he gets out there and competes and throws,” Mitchell said of Kahnle. “He’s got good stuff. Made it tough on them to hit and you just see it in their at-bats. It seems like they’re battling from the very beginning and don’t feel too comfortable in there. He looked great. He looked really good.”
Bulls 10, RailRiders 5
Durham`AB`R`H`BI
Wong 2b`6`1`2`0
Adames ss`6`0`1`3
Coats lf`5`0`2`2
Snyder 1b`4`2`2`1
Williams rf`5`1`1`0
Ciuffo c`5`1`3`2
Velazquez cf`5`2`3`2
Hazelbaker dh`5`1`2`0
Russell 3b`5`2`3`0
Totals`46`10`19`10
RailRiders`AB`R`H`BI
Wade ss`5`0`1`0
Frazier cf`4`1`3`0
Drury 3b`2`0`0`0
Ford 1b`5`1`0`0
Torreyes lf`4`1`0`0
McKinney rf`3`1`1`3
Payton dh`4`1`1`0
Mazzilli 2b`4`0`0`0
Totals`35`5`7`4
PB: Ciuffo (1), Castillo (1); E: Poche (1), Russell (1) ; LOB: Bulls 10, RailRiders 8; 2B: Wong (9), Snyder (8), Hazelbaker (9), Coats (11), Ciuffo (1); 3B: Adames (4); HR: Snyder (6), Velazquez (6) McKinney (4); CS: Frazier (2); SB: Coats (2).
Durham`012`330`010 — 10
RailRiders`000`301`001 — 5
Durham`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Poche`2.1`1`0`0`0`6
Weber (W, 2-2)`4.1`4`4`1`4`2
Kolarek`1.1`2`1`1`1`2
Schultz`1`2`1`1`1`2
RailRiders`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Swanson (L, 0-1)`2.2`4`3`3`1`5
Coshow`1.2`5`4`4`0`2
Lail`1.2`4`2`2`0`1
Espinal`2`5`1`1`0`3
Kahnle`1`1`0`0`0`2
WP: Schultz, Lail.
Balk: Schultz.
Umpires: Rich Grassa, HP; Adam Beck, 1B; Shane Livensparger, 2B; Skyler Shown, 3B.
Time: 3:23; Attendance: 5,188.
