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A star-spangled day created by Kelsey Kolojejchick, Paige Selenski and Kat Sharkey

Back Mountain National falls in state opener

MOOSIC &#8212; For three straight starts Kyle Davies took a no-decision. One way to stop that is to pitch deep enough into the game to assure it doesn&#8217;t happen again.That&#8217;s exactly what the right-hander did on Sunday at PNC Field. Davies tossed eight innings of two-hit ball, Cito Culver laced a go-ahead RBI-single for his first Triple-A hit and the RailRiders defeated Toledo 2-1 for their fifth straight win.&#8220;It&#8217;s good to get a win. That&#8217;s why you pitch. You want to win a ballgame, you want to go as deep as possible,&#8221; Davies said. &#8220;But I feel like I&#8217;ve been pitching well.&#8221;The win also marked the first series sweep of the Mud Hens in a series of three games or more for the first time since the franchise changed affiliations to the Yankees in 2007. The SWB Yankees won a rain-shortened, two-game set against the Mud Hens in June of 2009, but the franchise also picked up its first series win over Toledo since 2012.&#8220;Everything&#8217;s clicking. Our pitching&#8217;s doing well. Our bullpen&#8217;s coming in closing the door. Our hitters are getting timely hits strung together,&#8221; said outfielder Aaron Judge, who finished 2 for 3. &#8220;It&#8217;s fun to be a part of and this is the part of the season when you want to be getting hot. It&#8217;s cool to be a part of this.&#8221;Davies, who became the second RailRider to pitch into the eighth inning this season joining Bryan Mitchell, who did so on May 29 against Norfolk, retired 20 of the last 21 batters he faced. He was on his game as he didn&#8217;t allow a hit after a leadoff homer in the second inning by Manny Pina to account for Toledo&#8217;s only run.The 31-year-old Davies (7-6) pitched into the eighth inning for the first time since he pitched in the majors for Kansas City on Sept. 22, 2010 against the Tigers. He walked three and struck out three on Sunday.&#8220;It just feels like you keep going out there, but that&#8217;s what we train for: you want to be a starting pitcher, well let&#8217;s go eight innings every time,&#8221; Davies added. &#8220;And that&#8217;s my goal. It hasn&#8217;t happened a lot, but that&#8217;s my goal every single time.&#8221;After Toledo took the lead in the top of the second on Pina&#8217;s homer, the RailRiders answered in the third inning led by Ben Gamel (2 for 4).The centerfielder tripled with one out in the stanza for his International League-leading 12th of the season. The liner went to the gap in left-center and Mud Hens outfielder Daniel Fields nearly made the diving catch but couldn&#8217;t hang on as Gamel raced to third.The next batter, Jose Pirela, who has been red-hot with eight multi-hit games in his last 12 to raise his batting average to .336, hit a grounder to score Gamel and tie the score at 1-1.Having struck out twice in his first two time up of the afternoon versus Toledo righty Thad Weber, Culver came through in his third career Triple-A at-bat.Weber appeared to have talked himself into pitching to Kyle Roller and Culver in the seventh inning after Aaron Judge reached on an infield single, advanced to second on a throwing error, and Gary Sanchez grounded out. But Roller drew a full-count walk before Culver laced a single up the middle to score Judge for the 2-1 lead.&#8220;I&#8217;m trying to focus on what&#8217;s in front of me, not what happens in the past so I&#8217;m just trying to get a good pitch to hit and hit it hard,&#8221; Culver said. &#8220;Having two at-bats against him earlier in the game and seeing what he was trying to do to me really helps. He was trying to get that curveball over the plate and he got into a count where he had to throw a fastball and I was ready for it.&#8221;Caleb Cotham pitched the ninth for his first save of the season. He allowed a leadoff single and a stolen base to Dixon Machado, who got to third on a groundout. But with a runner on third and one out, Cotham fanned cleanup hitter Mike Hessman and No. 5 batter Steven Moya to end the game.RailRiders 2, Mud Hens 1Toledo`AB`R`H`BIFields lf`4`0`0`0Machado ss`4`0`1`0Collins cf`3`0`0`0Hessman 3b`4`0`1`0Moya rf`4`0`0`0Pina c`3`1`1`1Green 1b`3`0`0`0Jones dh`2`0`0`0Casilla 2b`2`0`0`0Totals`29`1`3`1RailRiders`AB`R`H`BIGamel cf`4`1`2`0Pirela 3b`4`0`0`0Flores lf`3`0`0`0Refsnyder 2b`4`0`0`0Bird 1b`4`0`0`0Judge rf`3`1`2`0Sanchez c`2`0`0`0Roller dh`2`0`0`0Culver ss`3`0`1`0Totals`29`2`6`2Toledo`010`000`000`&#8212;`1RailRiders`001`000`10x` &#8212;2E: Hessman (6). DP: Mud Hens 0, RailRiders 1. LOB: Mud Hens 4, RailRiders 6. 3B: Gamel (12). HR: Pina (2). SB: Machado (13), Judge (2). CS: Gamel (4).Toledo`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SOWeber (L, 6-7)`6.1`6`2`2`3`6Gorzelanny `1.2`0`0`0`0`1RailRiders`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SODavies (W, 7-6)`8.0`2`1`1`3`3Cotham (S, 1) `1.0`1`0`0`0`2Umpires: HP: Joey Amaral. 1B: Dave Soucy. 3B: Shane LivenspargerT: 2:16. Att: 5,557<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Toledo Mud Hens&#8217; Mike Hessman watches his drive against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_rr1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Toledo Mud Hens&#8217; Mike Hessman watches his drive against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_rr2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders manager Dave Miley, left, fist bumps center fielder Ben Gamel after Gamel&#8217;s triple against Toledo at PNC Field in Moosic on Sunday afternoon. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_rr2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders manager Dave Miley, left, fist bumps center fielder Ben Gamel after Gamel&#8217;s triple against Toledo at PNC Field in Moosic on Sunday afternoon. </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_rr3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">RailRiders&#8217; Rob Refsnyder dives back safely to first base against Toledo at PNC Field in Moosic on Sunday afternoon. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_rr3.jpg</photo2><caption2>RailRiders&#8217; Rob Refsnyder dives back safely to first base against Toledo at PNC Field in Moosic on Sunday afternoon. </caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_rr4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">RailRiders&#8217; starter Kyle Davies delivers a pitch against Toledo at PNC Field in Moosic on Sunday afternoon. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_rr4.jpg</photo3><caption3>RailRiders&#8217; starter Kyle Davies delivers a pitch against Toledo at PNC Field in Moosic on Sunday afternoon. </caption3><photoCredit3></photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Dave Rosengrantdrosengrant@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta>The T.L. ExpressGame Highlights: Kyle Davies pitched a season-high eight innings to pick up his first win since July 3 as he allowed just two hits and retired 20 of the last 21 batters he faced. &#8230;Caleb Cotham relieved Davies in the ninth and allowed a leadoff single and a stolen base. After the runner got to third on a groundout, Cotham struck out Mike Hessman and Steven Moya to end the game. &#8230;Making his Triple-A debut, shortstop Cito Culver hit a go-ahead, RBI single in the bottom of the seventh. &#8230;Ben Gamel hit his league-leading 12th triple of the season, his third in as many games, then scored on a groundout by Jose Pirela for SWB&#8217;s other run.Attendance: 5,557Time of Game: 2:16Riding the Rails: Catcher Austin Romine was activated off the disabled list, while fellow catcher Juan Graterol was transferred to Double-A Trenton. Right-hander Branden Pinder also was added to the roster after reporting to the club from his option last week.Today&#8217;s Game: The RailRiders start a two-game set with Lehigh Valley at PNC Field tonight at 7:05.Today at PNC Field: Bring your appetite because tonight you can get hot dogs for just a dollar.Today&#8217;s Probables: RailRiders RHP Esmil Rogers (1-0, 3.38) vs. IronPigs lefty Anthony Vasquez (6-3, 4.06)On Deck: After the two-game series with the IronPigs at PNC Field, the teams head to Allentown for two games at Coca-Cola Park.On the Radio: All games can be heard on NEPA Sports Radio WYCK 1340-AM, 1400-AM, 1440-AM, 100.7-FM, 106.7-FMOn TV: The next live telecast by MyTV (WQMY) will be for the game on Friday, July 31 versus Columbus at 7 p.m.HOW THEY SCOREDTOLEDO SECOND: Manny Pina homered. Dean Green flied out. Corey Jones walked. Alexi Casilla grounded into a doubleplay. MUD HENS 1-0RAILRIDERS THIRD: Cito Culver struck out. Ben Gamel tripled. Jose Pirela grounded out, Gamel scored. Ramon Flores grounded out. TIED 1-1RAILRIDERS SEVENTH: Aaron Judge singled and advanced to second on a throwing error. Gary Sanchez grounded out. Kyle Roller walked. Culver singled scoring Judge. Gamel struck out. Pirela flied out. RAILRIDERS 2-1</factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Dave Rosengrant at 570-991-6398 or on Twitter @tldrosengrant</shirttailMeta></div>

Holy Toledo! Kyle Davies pitches deep as RailRiders sweep