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Family first: Swisher cuts short a promising comeback attempt

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<p>You&#8217;ve probably heard of the Papa Slam promotion for a grand slam in Major League Baseball games.</p><p>But have you heard of the Papi Slam? Part of Tunkhannock grad Mike Papi&#8217;s big week for the Akron RubberDucks included his first career grand slam and a career-high six RBI as the outfielder starts to get a track in Double-A.</p><p>In his last seven games Papi has gone 7 for 20 to raise his batting average for the season with Akron nearly 20 points in that span. During the stretch, he also smacked his first two Double-A homers, including a grand slam and a triple in a game against Altoona.</p><p>Papi also has started to get on base with more authority. After his on base percentage was under .300, the lowest it&#8217;s been all season whether playing for the RubberDucks or High-A Lynchburg, he reached base 14 times in the last seven games as his OBP rose all the way to .341 before he didn&#8217;t get on base at all on Friday night.</p><p>His combined numbers between Double-A and Triple-A in Cleveland&#8217;s organization have him now with nine longballs, a .221 batting average and 36 RBI. But his OBP continues to be an asset. He has walked a total of 50 times to account for an OBP of .353.</p><p><strong>Ray Black</strong></p><p>The Coughlin product continues to fire shutout innings for Double-A Richmond (San Francisco).</p><p>The fireballer has allowed just one run in his last 12 appearances for the Flying Squirrels with 21 strikeouts in 10 2/3 innings in that span. He struggled a bit with his control last week walking three in just 1/3 over two outings, but still managed to keep opponents from scoring.</p><p>After allowing eight runs across three appearances and two innings pitched near the end of May that had his ERA at a season-high of more than 8.00, Black&#8217;s earned run average is down more than three runs to 5.28.</p><p>For the season, the 25-year-old has a 1-4 record and six saves in seven chances and has an astonishing strikeout rate of 50 in just 29 innings.</p><p><strong>Matt Wotherspoon</strong></p><p>The shuttle from Double-A Trenton to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre continues to get use for the Crestwood grad as he was promoted back to the RailRiders on Friday night and came through once again for the RailRiders.</p><p>Wotherspoon was transferred to Triple-A for the third time this season and fired 3 1/3 scoreless innings of relief for the RailRiders to grab his second career Triple-A victory and improve to 2-0.</p><p>Also last week, the right-hander pitched in a Double-A game for Trenton and notched a pair of shutout frames for the Thunder.</p><p>The 24-year-old has pitched in 23 games over two levels in the Yankees organization posting a 4-2 record with a 2.78 ERA and four saves in five opportunities. He&#8217;s struck out a total of 57 in 58 1/3 innings.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Papi </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_Papi-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Papi </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Dave Rosengrant</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Times Leader sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @TLsports</p></shirttailMeta></div>

WVC grads in the minors: Mike Papi has big week for Akron