Lawrenceville, Ga. – Cedric Hunter lined a two-out, two-run homer to right field that allowed the Gwinnett Braves to walk off with a 6-5 win over the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (Triple-A/New York Yankees) on Monday night. The loss snapped the RailRiders’ (9-10) season-best three-game road winning streak while the G-Braves (7-11) won for just the second time in five games.
SWB led the game 4-0 thanks in large part to a three-run second inning. Austin Romine drove in two runs with a double that frame before Jonathan Galvez doubled to bring Romine in. Cole Figueroa plated Nick Noonan with a single in the fifth that made it a four-run cushion.
Gwinnett notched a pair of runs in the fifth and seventh to tie it up. Matt Kennelly and Braeden Schlehuber earned the RBIs in the fifth while former RailRider Adonis Garcia’s single deadlocked it, 4-4.
In the eighth, leadoff man Slade Heathcott ignited a go-ahead rally with a double. Figueroa sacrificed him to third and Rob Refsnyder posted a run-scoring double for a 5-4 SWB lead.
That advantage evaporated in the ninth. The consensus No. 1 prospect for the Atlanta Braves, Jose Peraza, began the inning with a pinch-hit walk. Former New York Yankee Eury Perez sacrificed Peraza to second before Todd Cunningham flied out to shallow center. One out away from a one-run win, Hunter went deep off reliever Nick Rumbelow (2-1) for the walk-off winner.
Gwinnett’s Brandon Cunniff (1-0) posted the win.
