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Nestor Cortes and two relievers combined on a one-hitter as the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders defeated Toledo 5-0 Monday night.
Cortes surrendered a leadoff double to Leonys Martin, on a rehab assignment from the Detroit Tigers, and then shut down the Mud Hens for six innings. He finished with 10 strikeouts while walking one.
Reliever Raynel Espinal pitched the next two innings, striking out three, and Tommy Kahnle pitched a perfect ninth inning.
The last seven starts have featured glowing numbers for Cortes. He has allowed three earned runs over 38.1 innings (0.70 ERA) which has lowered his season ERA from 6.75 to 3.11. Also during that time opponents are hitting just 23-for-138 (.167) off of the southpaw.
It was the second straight game with a shutout for the RailRiders, extending their scoreless-inning streak to a season-best 18 innings. Meanwhile, it was only the third time this season the Mud Hens have been shutout, but the second time in four games after being shutout just once in the first 89 games of the year.
SWB took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Toledo starter Kyle Funkhouser walked Bill McKinney with the bases loaded.
Rehabbing New York Yankee catcher Gary Sanchez drilled a line-drive home run out over the 406-foot mark in center field in the ninth inning to cap the scoring for SWB. It was his second in as many days on rehab, and he is now 2-for-8 with a pair of homers.
The RailRiders and Mud Hens continue their three-game series Tuesday afternoon. RHP Chance Adams (3-4, 4.65) takes the ball for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre while RHP Jacob Turner (1-2, 4.19) toes the rubber for Toledo. First pitch is scheduled for 12:05 p.m.