The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders finished a six-game series sweep by winning 5-2 against the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp on Sunday at 121 Financial Ballpark.
The RailRiders gathered a season-high 14 hits on their way to their second series sweep of the season. The pitching staff even had a no-hitter until the eighth inning, allowing only three hits overall.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre is currently in first place in the International League with a 23-9 record after a 10-2 road trip.
Starters Yoendrys Gómez and Yonny Chirinos each pitched two shutout innings. Gómez went on to pitch four hitless, scoreless innings, despite five walks. He struck out four.
The RailRiders scored first in the third inning. Greg Allen was hit by a pitch and Kevin Smith’s single moved him into scoring position. After a double play got Allen to third, Caleb Durbin batted him in for a 1-0 lead.
After a quiet fourth, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre scored in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings. First, Kevin Smith placed a bunt single to reach base. Luis González pushed him to third with a base hit to left.
Then Everson Pereira followed with a hit of his own and Smith scored on a subsequent error. In the next inning, Jose Rojas hit his fifth home run of the season.
In the seventh, T.J. Rumfield hit a double to right to get into scoring position. Carlos Narvaez then had an RBI single, making it 4-0.
Meanwhile, Cody Morris (W, 1-0) pitched two quiet frames to keep Jacksonville from scoring. He also did not allow a hit during his time on the mound.
But the Jumbo Shrimp finally got a hit and scored two runs in the eighth. A fielding error allowed a runner on base and Victor Mesa Jr. got their first single.
With runners on the corners, Alex Mauricio replaced Oddanier Mosqueda. Javier Sanoja got a sacrifice fly and Troy Johnson had an RBI base hit. The runs were attributed to Mosqueda, although they were unearned due to a RailRiders error.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre added can and insurance when Narvaez batted in another run. Pereira walked to get on base and moved over on Rumfield’s single. Narvaez hit a line drive to right for a 5-2 lead. Mauricio (S, 1) kept the Shrimp from scoring with a 1-2-3 9th inning.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre will return to PNC Field on Tuesday to start their first series of the year against the Rochester Red Wings
