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As it turned out, injuries in New York did more damage to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s roster than the trade deadline did.
Heading into Wednesday’s 6-1 loss in Rochester, the RailRiders saw reliever Joe Harvey leave the team, sent to the Colorado Rockies in a trade for Single-A teen pitcher Alfredo Garcia.
But it was a relatively quiet day in the Yankees organization, with no blockbuster deals for the likes of Madison Bumgarner materializing.
Indeed, the RailRiders lost, at least temporarily, two pieces before the deadline as pitcher Jonathan Holder and infielder Breyvic Valera were called up to the Bronx because of injuries to Luke Voit and David Hale. Mandy Alvarez was promoted from Double-A Trenton to replace Valera.
When the game finally rolled around, the first-place RailRiders (62-47) managed just six hits — all singles — in the loss to the Red Wings.
Batting leadoff, Clint Frazier had two of the hits with Wendell Rijo adding two of his own. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s lone run of the night came on a wild pitch in the fourth inning that brought home Thairo Estrada. He had reached on a shot to right-center that hit off the glove of the outfielder and was ruled a three-base error.
But that only made it 5-1, as Rochester came out firing against 20-year-old RailRiders starter Deivi Garcia. Wilin Rosario’s two-run double was followed by a two-run homer from Alejandro De Aza that made it 4-0 after one inning.
Rosario tacked on a third RBI with a homer in the bottom of the third and former RailRiders outfielder Jake Cave came up with an RBI single in the fourth.
Neither team scored over the final five innings.
Garcia took his second loss in four starts in Triple-A, going five innings while allowing six earned runs on eight hits while striking out four and walking two.
Relievers Will Carter and Rex Brothers didn’t allow a hit between them in the last three innings.
The RailRiders stranded eight baserunners and went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre finishes the short series on Thursday with a 12:35 p.m. start in Rochester. Daniel Camarena is set to take the mound.