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The excitement this week, understandably, was for the Triple-A debut of 20-year-old Deivi Garcia on Monday.
At 26, fellow Scranton/Wilkes-Barre pitcher Daniel Camarena is well past any prospect hype, with an ERA hovering around 6.00 this season, to boot.
Facing the International League’s top team on Tuesday, however, Camarena followed up Garcia’s success with a gem of his own.
Camarena sparkled in 6.2 innings of work, striking out 10 with no walks in the RailRiders’ 3-1 win over Columbus at PNC Field. He allowed just four hits and blanked the Clippers through six before surrendering an earned run in the seventh.
The IL North-leading RailRiders (55-40) have now taken the first two of a four-game set against Columbus (56-38) following Garcia’s win on Monday.
On Tuesday, it was the Clippers’ turn to debut a pitcher in Eli Morgan, who kept the game scoreless through four innings. He got some help from his defense, as the Clippers gunned down Clint Frazier at the plate when he tried to score from first on a Thairo Estrada double in the third inning.
But Estrada wasn’t done hitting for the RailRiders, breaking the scoreless tie in the fifth, slashing a two-run triple to right field and then scoring on a Tyler Wade sac fly.
Camarena made it stand up, giving up just two hits through six innings. He nearly shook off a Yu Chang leadoff double in the seventh, but Ka’ai Tom delivered a two-out RBI single to end the RailRiders’ shutout bid.
Domingo Acevedo took over and got out of the seventh and left a runner stranded in the eighth before turning it over to Stephen Tarpley for the save in the ninth. Frazier did his part in the field with a long run and a leap at the fence in left for the first out of the eighth.
Frazier and Estrada had two hits apiece. The rest of the lineup had just two hits total, with Mike Ford and Billy Burns each picking up one.
The RailRiders played their third game of the season as the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Vejigantes as part of minor league baseball’s Copa de la Diversion initiative. They’ll be back in their usual threads on Wednesday as the series against the Clippers continues with a 12:05 p.m. start in Moosic.