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MOOSIC – Recently, the RailRiders have run into trouble holding leads of four runs.
After blowing a four-run advantage the last time out, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre was heading for the same outcome on Tuesday as it returned home for a brief three-game series with Rochester.
But the RailRiders held off the charge by the Red Wings and scored a handful of runs late to take the series opener with Rochester 9-3 at PNC Field.
With Rochester holding momentum having piled up three runs and 10 baserunners in a span of 3 1/3 innings heading to the bottom of the eighth, the team was closing in on overcoming an early four-run deficit.
Then the RailRiders stymied those hopes with a five-spot outburst in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Run-scoring hits by Donovan Solano, Dustin Fowler and Tyler Austin got the inning going, while a two-run single from Gleyber Torres capped the frame for enough insurance.
“It’s huge when you have a one-run ballgame and come up and put up (five) runs,” said Austin, who ended the game with two doubles. “It’s always big. It takes stress off of our bullpen and it was a good inning for us.”
Scoring started right out of the gate for the RailRiders as Dustin Fowler hit his minor league-leading eighth triple of the season to score Tyler Wade, then came home on a sac fly from Clint Frazier for a 2-0 lead after one inning.
The RailRiders kept adding runs in the second and third innings. Another triple, this time by Mason Williams, led to a run in the second, while a single by Kyle Higashioka scored Clint Frazier in the third.
Left-hander Caleb Smith (4-0) picked up the win for the RailRiders going 5 2/3 innings and allowing two runs on six hits.
He got off to a solid start, but the 25-year-old looked rusty in his last two innings. In the fifth inning with rain falling at a steady and hard pace, he retired the first two outs before walking the next two. But still got out of the frame without any damage.
In the sixth, he gave up a long homer on the first pitch of the inning when Niko Goodrum drilled it over the fence in left field.
Smith walked a batter and allowed a single later in the sixth before being pulled. JP Feyereisen gave up a RBI hit to Leonardo Reginatto for Rochester’s second run of the sixth charged to Smith.
Manager Al Pedrique said that the rain affected the end of Smith’s outing.
“Once you find a rhythm, you establish a fastball, you get ahead in the count, you have the lead, and all of a sudden the rain comes, and the mound gets wet it probably changes things a little bit, especially the mental part,” he said. “I’m glad he came back and finished the fifth inning, but you can tell from what I saw that he was a little bit off with the rain.”
A three-base error committed by SWB centerfielder Dustin Fowler led to a Rochester run in the eighth as it cut the lead to 4-3.
Game 2 of the three-game set with Rochester is tonight at 6:35 with SWB righty Brady Lail (3-2, 4.91) taking the hill against Red Wings right-hander Aaron Slegers (4-4, 4.23).
RailRiders 7, Red Sox 2
Rochester`AB`R`H`BI
Granite cf`5`0`3`0
Goodrum rf`5`1`1`1
Hague 1b`4`0`1`0
Field lf`3`1`1`0
Park dh`4`0`0`0
Murphy c`4`1`1`0
Reginatto 3b` 4`0`1`1
Vielma ss`3`0`0`1
Gonzalez 2b`3`0`1`0
Totals`35`3`9`3
RailRiders`AB`R`H`BI
Wade ss`5`1`1`0
Fowler cf`5`2`3`2
Bird dh` 3`1`0`0
Austin 1b`4`1`2`1
Frazier lf`4`1`1`1
Torres 3b`4`0`3`2
Higashioka c`5`0`3`1
Williams rf`4`2`1`0
Solano 2b`3`1`1`2
Totals`37`9`15`9
E: Fowler (4). DP: Red Wings 0, RailRiders 2. LOB: Red Wings 10 RailRiders 11. 2B: Granite (9), Fowler (16), Austin 2 (8), Solano (8), Higashioka (4). 3B: Fowler (8), Williams (1). HR: Goodrum (6). SF: Frazier, Solano. SB: Frazier 2 (9).
Rochester`000`002`010` —`3
RailRiders`211`000`05x`—`9
Rochester`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Heston (L, 0-1) `2.1`6`4`4`2`1
Melville `4.2`5`2`2`2`5
Chapman `1.0`4`3`3`1`1
RailRiders`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Smith (W, 4-0) `5.2`6`2`2`3`3
Feyereisen (H, 1) `1.0`2`0`0`2`0
Jones (H,3)`1.1`0`1`0`0`2
Graham `1.0`1`0`0`0`2
Melville pitched to 2 batters in the 8th
Umpires: HP: Eric Gillam. 1B: Brian Peterson. 3B: Alex Tosi.
Time: 3:28; Att: 4,529