MOOSIC, Pa – Gary Sanchez and Aaron Judge boomed long home runs, but the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders could not overcome an early hole in a 5-4 loss to the Columbus Clippers on Saturday night at PNC Field. The Clippers (60-48) snapped a three-game skid while ending the RailRiders’ (60-49) winning streak at four.
Kyle Haynes (0-1) shouldered the loss in his Triple-A debut, surrendering five runs on 10 hits over five innings. The damage came off the right-hander early as he settled in to fire three scoreless frames to finish the outing. Toru Murata (10-4) allowed four runs on five hits across six frames. Four of the five hits went for extra bases. Shawn Armstrong notched his 13th save with the Clippers thanks to a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
Trailing 5-0, Rob Refsnyder began the frame by bashing a triple into the left-center gap. A wild pitch by Murata plated Refsnyder. Sanchez launched a towering blast over the pedestrian bridge in left to close the deficit to three in the fourth.
After getting a double play in the sixth, Murata yielded a triple to Slade Heathcott. Judge followed with a thunderous round-tripper out to left-center, cutting the Clippers’ lead to 5-4.
Eric Wooten and Caleb Cotham combined to retire 14 straight Clippers to finish the game. Columbus had just two base runners from the third inning on.
The RailRiders look to capture the series from the Columbus Clippers (Cleveland Indians) on Sunday afternoon. First pitch at PNC Field is set for 1:05 p.m. Left-hander Chris Capuano (1-1, 2.53) makes his third start for SWB. He opposes right-hander Shaun Marcum (7-2, 2.22). The RailRiders return to PNC Field on Monday, August 10, for Bark in the Park, presented by VREC. For more information please call (570) 969-BALL (2255) or visit swbrailriders.com.
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