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Injuries in New York have already played havoc with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s lineup in the early going. But its the RailRiders’ rotation that has had issues rather than the bats.

On Saturday, it was Chance Adams who had a tough 2019 debut, lasting just three innings in a 10-8 loss at Buffalo. The RailRiders saw an early 8-3 lead in the fourth inning quickly disappear, unable to scrape anything together against the Bisons bullpen.

Adams surrendered six runs (five earned) on six hits while walking four and striking out four in 80 pitches. Reliever Raynel Espinal didn’t fare much better, giving up four earned runs on three hits with three walks as Buffalo rallied for seven runs in the fourth and fifth innings. In Thursday’s opener, it was Gio Gonzalez who got knocked around, though Nestor Cortes Jr. turned in a pristine performance in between.

Bisons starter Sean Reid-Foley fared worst of all on Saturday, getting touched for all eight earned runs on six hits and four walks. That included a two-run homer by Mike Ford and a three-run shot by Gosuke Katoh.

Trey Amburgey continued a hot start to his Triple-A career with a 4-for-5 showing, including an RBI single in the fourth. Mandy Alvarez drove in two runs on a pair of sacrifice flies, the second of which put Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (1-2) in control with a five run lead heading to the bottom of the fourth.

It didn’t last.

Eric Sogard hit a three-run homer off of Adams in the home half of the inning and a sac fly against Espinal made it 8-7 after four.

Espinal tossed a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game and Jordan Patterson followed with what proved to be a game-winning two-run double.

The RailRiders managed just one hit over the final six innings against the Buffalo bullpen to close out the game. They threatened in the eighth on a Billy Burns walk and an Amburgey two-out single to put the tying run on with runners at the corners. But on a 2-0 count, Ford grounded out to short and the RailRiders went down in order in the ninth to seal the loss.

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre closes the four-game opening series at 1:05 p.m. Sunday.

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Times Leader