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With all eyes on New York Yankees All-Star Gary Sanchez, it was the other catcher in the lineup, Erik Kratz, who knocked in the RailRiders’ only runs of the night.
And it wasn’t nearly enough to beat Charlotte.
The Knights took an early lead and stayed in front the rest of the night, ruining Sanchez’s return to PNC Field with a 12-2 win over Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Wednesday.
Suiting up for the first of two games in a rehab stint from a strained groin, Sanchez played catcher and batted second, finishing the night 1-for-3 with a single and two errors.
With Sanchez behind the plate on Wednesday, Kratz stepped in as the designated hitter and gave the RailRiders (64-51) some life in the bottom of the fourth with a two-run single that cut the deficit to 3-2.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre had no outs at the time and look poised for more. But Knights starter Donn Roach rebounded to get Mandy Alvarez to fly out and Billy Burns to ground into an inning-ending double play.
It was as close as the RailRiders would get, as Ramon Torres answered with his first home run of the season in the fifth, and Charlie Tilson drove in another run on a groundout in the sixth to make it 5-2.
In a fight with division rival Durham for the IL wild card spot, Charlotte (61-53) jumped on top in the second inning against RailRiders starter Daniel Camarena. A wild pitch opened the scoring and Torres knocked in two more runs with a single.
Sanchez, playing in his first Triple-A game since he spent four games with the RailRiders at the end of last August, fouled out in his first at-bat on Wednesday.
He had a chance to get Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on the board in the third, stepping in after former Yankees teammate Clint Frazier laced a ground rule double with one out. But Sanchez went down looking on a full count, and Tyler Wade couldn’t bring home the run either, flying out to center.
Sanchez’s hit came in the fifth inning with one out and no one on, singling to right off the first pitch he saw from Roach.
Things got tougher for him in the top of the seventh.
Sanchez was charged with his first error while trying to throw out Nick Madrigal on a steal of second base. That allowed Madrigal to move to third — where he would have ended up anyway after two walks by reliever David Sosebee.
With the bases loaded and two outs, Sosebee was one strike away from escaping the jam without any damage. But Seby Zavala came through with a double that drove in two more runs.
Now down 7-2, Sanchez was called for catcher’s interference for his second error of the frame, extending the inning and loading the bases back up. Facing his first batter of the night, Kaleb Ort won a tough battle with Tilson, finally retiring him on his ninth pitch when Sanchez held onto a foul tip for the strikeout.
That was it for Sanchez, who exited in the top of the eighth and was replaced by Francisco Arcia.
The wheels fully came off that inning as Yermin Mercedes and Danny Mendick drove in three runs with singles against Ort. Brady Lail was then welcomed into the game with a two-run shot by Zavala, pushing the lead to 10 runs.
Camarena took the loss, giving up five earned runs on five hits through six innings, adding five walks against four strikeouts.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre fell to 2-3 on the nine-game homestand and will look to avoid a sweep by the Knights when Thursday’s game opens at 7:05 p.m. Sanchez is again expected to be behind the plate before rejoining the Yankees for the weekend.
The RailRiders’ lead atop the IL North was cut to five games thanks to a win by second-place Buffalo.