RailRiders bow out of first half with loss
Jun. 25—MOOSIC — Bases loaded, nobody out, with a scoreless game possibly speeding along because of sharp pitching, impending weather, a looming long weekend or some combination of all three — the fourth inning Sunday was a golden opportunity for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre's offense.
Yet, the RailRiders came away with nothing and, two innings later, Buffalo had the only two runs it would need to take the series finale.
Otto Lopez lofted a two-run home run just over the wall in left-center field to supply the only blemish on SWB starter Randy Vásquez's line as the Bisons beat the RailRiders, 2-0, at PNC Field in the final game of the first half of the season.
Facing another Buffalo bullpen day, it was another struggle at the plate for the RailRiders (34-40), who had two outs on the board two batters into an inning seven times. They managed just three singles, and though they worked seven walks, three double plays killed any shot at a rally.
Their best chance came in the fourth inning, when two walks and a single loaded the bases against Yosver Zulueta, who was firing fastballs close to 99 mph. Jesús Bastidas had the first crack with the bases full and worked a full count, but Zulueta turned to his slider rather than the heater and got Bastidas to chase.
"The 3-2 slider to Bastidas with the bases loaded — 3-2, no outs, slider, chase pitch — it's a real gutsy call right there," RailRiders manager Shelley Duncan said. "It's a tough pitch, too, to lay off. But that's one where we hope we get to a point sometime this season where we can. But it was a good pitch. It was a good pitch, it was an easy spot to be aggressive in as a hitter."
Josh Breaux got jammed on the next pitch and hit a soft liner to second base, and Elijah Dunham was doubled off to end the inning. Breaux was on the wrong side of all three double plays, erasing Bastidas' leadoff single in the seventh and then ending the game with the tying runs on base in the ninth.
"Groundballs, you hope in those spots we can find a way to get the ball in the air," Duncan said. "But they know that. It's eating them up. He's not trying to smash a ball into a double play. So, he'll make adjustments. And it's tough because he hasn't gotten a whole lot of at-bats lately, and he also needs to figure out how to put together solid at-bats while having at-bats spaced out like this. So those are learning moments right there."
Outside of Paxton Schultz, who went three hitless innings and struck out four in a spot start for Buffalo, each of the other six Bisons relievers got just three outs.
It countered another strong start by Vásquez, who earned the win in the first game of the series with 5 1/3 innings of scoreless ball Tuesday. He didn't allow a hit until Davis Schneider led off the fourth inning with a double, but three groundballs after that kept him anchored at second and started a stretch of six up, six down for the 24-year-old righty.
Buffalo broke up that run when Karl Ellison ripped a double to left on the second pitch of the six inning, then Lopez hit the next one — a 96.1-mph sinker dotted in the top, inside corner of the zone — just barely over the outfield wall and into the Buffalo bullpen for his first home run of the season and a 2-0 lead.
"Outside of that, he was absolutely outstanding today," Duncan said of Vásquez, who allowed four hits and walked two while needing just 85 pitches to work 6 1/3 innings. He struck out five.
"It seemed like he was really aggressive today and he could've gone really deep in the game."
Outside of the home run, Buffalo didn't get a runner past second base all afternoon. Still, it was enough for the Bisons to earn a split in a six-game series where they scored just 14 runs. The RailRiders didn't fare much better, getting just 17 across, with seven of those scoring Saturday.
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