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Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders catcher Gary Sanchez impressing with bat, arm

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Former SWB Yankee Brandon Laird wins beer for a year

<p>Coughlin alum <strong>Ray Black</strong> has continued his scoreless inning streak with the Double-A Richmond Flying Squirrels last week.</p><p>The 25-year-old had not allowed a run in seven straight frames spanning as many appearances before having a rough outing on Friday night.</p><p>In those seven scoreless games, Black has seen a drop in his walk rate allowing just three free passes and two hits in those outings to go with a 11 strikeouts.</p><p>The right-hander has given up a run in just two of his 12 games this season with the last time he gave up a run being nearly a month ago on April 19. During the streak, his ERA dropped from 9.64 all the way to the current mark of 3.86.</p><p>But on Friday night he was lit up by Altoona allowing four runs on two hits and three walks in just 2/3 of an inning as he took the loss.</p><p>For the season, Black, who is on the Giants&#8217; 40-man roster, is 0-3 and is 4 for 5 in save chances, while whiffing 22 in 12 1/3 innings.</p><p><strong>Mike Papi</strong></p><p>The Tunkhannock product played in four games last week going 3 for 15 as his average continues to dip slightly. He&#8217;s also had just one extra-base hit in his last 10 games. But he&#8217;s started to show signs of breaking out of the slump going 2 for 3 on Friday night.</p><p>For the season, the 23-year-old, who was drafted by Cleveland in 2014 out of Virginia is batting .232 in 27 games for High-A Lynchburg with five homers and 14 RBI.</p><p><strong>Matt Wotherspoon</strong></p><p>A graduate from Crestwood, Wotherspoon has started his Triple-A and RailRiders career with six scoreless innings in three games, allowing just three hits and one walk while striking out six.</p><p>Last Sunday, Wotherspoon made Scranton/Wilkes-Barre history becoming the first Wyoming Valley Conference grad non-position player to ever pitch in a game at PNC Field for the hometown club.</p><p>In front of dozens of friends and family, including his mom on Mother&#8217;s Day, the 24-year-old tossed 2 2/3 shutout innings against Lehigh Valley.</p><p>Despite the solid outings, later in the week, Wotherspoon was transferred back to Double-A Trenton when the RailRiders and Yankees made moves and a roster spot was needed.</p><p>But RailRiders manager Al Pedrique gave some insight on what his right-hander needs to accomplish to stay in Triple-A or even advance to the Majors.</p><p>&#8220;We know he has a good live fastball, a good breaking ball, but he needs to have a third pitch (changeup) to have better command with and that&#8217;s one of the reasons he went down,&#8221; Pedrique said. &#8220;We&#8217;re not sure if he&#8217;s going to jump in the rotation or be working out of the pen, but definitely that&#8217;s one of the objects with him is working with the changeup. Helping him throw it in fastball counts. And if he can establish that, I&#8217;m sure he&#8217;ll be back soon.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_Black.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Black </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_Black.jpg</photo0><caption0>Black </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_Papi.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Papi </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_Papi.jpg</photo1><caption1>Papi </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_Wotherspoon-1-1-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wotherspoon </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_Wotherspoon-1-1-2.jpg</photo2><caption2>Wotherspoon </caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Dave Rosengrant</p><p>drosengrant@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Dave Rosengrant at 570-991-6398 or on Twitter @tldrosengrant</p></shirttailMeta></div>

WVC GRADS IN THE PROS: Ray Black’s scoreless streak reaches seven