Trio of bats powers RailRiders again
Jun. 30—MOOSIC — Buffalo needed to use its bullpen to cover all of Wednesday's game against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. For the top of the RailRiders order, that meant facing three pitchers over their four at-bats.
It didn't seem to matter who was on the mound, however.
Leadoff hitter Estevan Florial, No. 2 man Oswald Peraza and cleanup slugger Miguel Andújar all reached base three times and were responsible for scoring and driving in all of the RailRiders' runs in a 5-3 victory over the Bisons at PNC Field.
The RailRiders (32-42) have won three in a row and climbed to within 10 games of .500 for the first time since May 26 when they were 17-27, and in these first two games against Buffalo, that trio played a big role in the team's success.
On Wednesday, Florial walked, singled, stole a pair of bases and blasted a 111-mph home run off the facing of the Budweiser sign atop the RailHouse Bar in right field. Peraza extended his hitting streak to 11 games with an infield single in the first inning, then boomed a game-tying double in the third — it died a couple feet short of clearing the wall — and was hit by a pitch in the fifth. Andújar ripped a double down the line in his first at-bat, put the RailRiders ahead with a base hit in the third and smashed a 105-mph line drive up the middle for another RBI single in the fifth inning.
So far this series, Florial, Peraza and Andújar are 12 for 21 (.571) with nine runs, eight RBIs, three walks, three homers and two doubles.
"Tonight was a lot of fun. Yesterday was a lot fun," RailRiders hitting coach Trevor Amicone said. "Last week — with those three guys going like they've been going, it's been fun to watch. We know at any given moment, we're going to see a ball hit hard. It's really nice. It just makes life difficult on the opposing starter when that's the top of the order and those guys are capable of hitting a ball out of the yard, and they know they're at risk of any ball that leaves their hand being hit out. Right now, with them all going, it's a lot of fun."
The guy that started, Mike Ellenbest, had the least damage inflicted upon him. He let up Peraza's infield single with two outs in the first, and Peraza was then caught stealing second. Andújar started the second with a double, but Ellenbest stranded him there.
"The bullpen games are always a significant challenge, because the second, third time through the order advantage for the hitter is a real thing," Amicone said. "So, when you see a guy one time, and then it's another guy and then it's another guy and you're four at-bats into the game and you haven't seen the same guy twice, that's an advantage for the team that's using it."
On Wednesday, the deeper they got into the Buffalo bullpen, the better things went for the RailRiders.
Buffalo led, 1-0, after the top of the first, with Jordan Goshans doubling home a run off starter Ken Waldichuk. But the RailRiders took a 2-1 lead in the third after Peraza's double and Andújar's single and never gave it up.
In the fifth inning, with Bowden Francis on the mound, Florial at second and Peraza at first, Andújar scorched a single to center. Florial scored easily and Peraza came around, too, when center fielder Chavez Young's throw got away in the infield, making it 4-1.
Waldichuk labored against Buffalo, but never gave in after the first inning. He needed 96 pitches to go 4 1/3 innings, scattered four hits and walked four more. But the southpaw dialed up strikeouts when he needed to, finishing with seven.
Buffalo crept closer when Eric Stamets started the seventh inning with a homer off reliever Braden Bristo, but the RailRiders got the run back quickly.
"You have to adjust quickly to the next pitcher," Florial said. "You have to know what he throws and get your plan set up for this specific pitcher."
Watching changeup after changeup float in from Buffalo reliever Gabriel Ponce, Florial finally found one he liked, turned on it and banged it off the top of the bar in right field.
"It feels good any time you can square the ball up," Florial said.
It was his seventh homer of the year — and second this series — and this one even got the normally even-keeled center fielder to toss in a little bat flip.
"Flo's very confident right now, and it's hard to blame him," Amicone said. "With how well he's been hitting, Flo's just — he's doing a lot of things he's never done before and it's exciting."
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