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MOOSIC &#8211; Having not lost a baseball game in more than two weeks, percentages would suggest the RailRiders were bound to drop a contest sooner rather than later.Unfortunately for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, that setback came on Tuesday night at PNC Field in the first game of the Governors&#8217; Cup Championship Series.Gwinnett scored six runs in the first inning off SWB starter Jordan Montgomery, then held on for a 7-4 win over the RailRiders to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series to decide the International League crown.Now, the RailRiders will have to try to beat history. In every playoff series in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre history since the Yankees became the affiliate in 2007, the first game has decided the team&#8217;s fate. The outcome of the first game of every playoff series has always ended the same way.No matter what happens, the final home game of 2016 will be on Wednesday night with veteran Phil Coke taking the ball for the RailRiders, looking to tie the series up before the teams head to Georgia to close out the series.&#8220;You wanna win the first game, it makes the rest of the series easier, but you gotta be realistic too. It&#8217;s tough in the playoffs and championship to sweep everybody,&#8221; said RailRiders outfielder Jake Cave, who finished 3-for-4 with a homer and two RBI. &#8220;It sucks. You wanna win the first game, but I think we&#8217;ll be able to (rebound).&#8221;Gwinnett came out swinging, with seven of the first nine batters in the game reaching base. And six of them scored.Montgomery, who went seven shutout innings against Lehigh Valley in last week&#8217;s series-opening win, didn&#8217;t have his best stuff on Tuesday night. The lefty struggled commanding his offspeed pitches. So the Braves waited for his fastballs, and jumped on them. Montgomery only lasted 2/3 of an inning.In a 25-minute top of the first, the G-Braves sent 12 batters to the plate and scored six runs, with the big blast being a three-run homer by Sean Kazmar Jr. &#8212; who clubbed his third homer of the playoffs.It didn&#8217;t help the RailRiders that second baseman Cito Culver made an error leading to three unearned runs. After the miscue, Braeden Schlehuber blooped a single to score two runs, and Emilio Bonifacio singled in one giving the Braves a 6-0 lead.&#8220;It&#8217;s gonna happen. A young pitcher, he&#8217;s been throwing the ball real well for us,&#8221; RailRiders manager Al Pedrique said. &#8220;One bad outing and it&#8217;s too bad it happened the first game of the finals.&#8221;Cave&#8217;s line drive homer to left that hit the foul pole in the second inning gave the RailRiders their first hit and run of the game. It also accounted for the first run that Braves pitcher Aaron Blair allowed in eight innings pitched during the playoffs.Blair, making his second rehab start with the G-Braves on loan from Atlanta while recovering from a knee strain, gave up six runs on 10 hits in his lone start against the RailRiders during the regular season. But on Tuesday night, he was nearly opposite from that outing in June. The right-hander pitched into the eighth inning allowing six hits, and was taken out with the bases loaded. All three of those runners scored after he left.&#8220;He had a big lead and then he threw strikes. And when any pitcher can do that, that&#8217;s what makes him successful,&#8221; Cave added. &#8220;He wasn&#8217;t afraid to throw strikes because he wasn&#8217;t scared about giving up a couple runs. That makes any pitcher effective. You throw strikes at this level or in the Big Leagues, good hitters get themselves out nine times out of ten. Not everybody&#8217;s gonna kill the ball on you.&#8221;After the first inning, the RailRiders relief corps of Eric Ruth, Crestwood High School grad Matt Wotherspoon, Mark Montgomery, Tyler Webb and Johnny Barbato went the rest of the way combining for 7 2/3 shutout innings before Gwinnett scored a run with one out in the ninth. The five relievers also totaled 12 strikeouts and only scattered seven hits to give the team some positives to take away from the tough loss.More positives moving forward for the team came when the RailRiders rallied for three runs in the eighth when Kyle Higashioka singled with the bases loaded to bring home a pair, while Cave singled in a run.&#8220;The guys didn&#8217;t drop their heads,&#8221; Pedrique said. &#8220;Nobody felt sorry in the dugout. We knew it was going to be a long game getting down six runs in the first inning. We battled. We played hard. And the bullpen kept us in the game. &#8230;Overall, I&#8217;m very pleased the way we played the game.&#8221;Governors&#8217; Cup Final Game 1Braves 7, RailRiders 4(Gwinnett leads best-of-five series 1-0)Gwinnett`AB`R`H`BIBonifacio lf`4`1`1`1Brignac ss`3`0`1`0Mustelier 3b`5`1`1`0Kazmar Jr. 2b`5`2`3`3Rojas Jr. rf`5`1`3`0Moore dh`4`1`2`1Ruiz pr/dh`0`0`0`0Tuiasosopo 1b` 5`1`0`0Lipka cf`5`0`1`0Schlehuber c` 4`0`1`2Totals`40`7`13`7RailRiders `AB`R`H`BIWilliams cf`5`0`0`0Frazier lf` 4`1`1`0Solano 3b`4`1`0`0Parmelee 1b`3`0`0`0Higashioka c`3`0`1`2Cave rf`4`1`3`2Culver 2b`4`0`0`0Kozma ss`4`0`3`0Rosario dh`4`1`1`0Totals`35`4`9`4Gwinnett`600`000`001` &#8212; `9RailRiders`010`000`030`&#8212;`4E &#8212; Culver (1). LOB: RailRiders 8; Braves 10. DP &#8212; RailRiders 0, Braves 1. 2B &#8212; Brignac (1), Moore (1), Cave (2), Kozma (1). HR &#8212; Kazmar (3), Cave (1). SB &#8212; Lipka (2). Outfield assists &#8212; Frazier (Brignac at third).Braves`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SOBlair (W, 1-0) `7.1`6`4`4`3`5Hursh (H, 1)`0.2`2`0`0`0`0Cleto (S, 2)`1.0`1`0`0`1`1RailRiders `IP`H`R`ER`BB`SOJMontgomery (L, 1-1) ` 0.2`6`6`3`1`1Ruth `3.1`2`0`0`2`4Wotherspoon`2.0`2`0`0`1`3MMontgomery`1.0`0`0`0`0`0Webb `1.0`0`0`0`0`3Barbato `1.0`3`1`1`0`2WP &#8212; CletoUmpires &#8212; HP: Ben May. 1B: Joe Born. 2B: Max Guyll. 3B: Derek MollicaT &#8212; 3:02. Att &#8212; 2,975<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Railriders first baseman Chris Parmelee jumps up to catch the ball before he tags Braves runner Matt Tuiasosopo for the second out in the top of the fifth inning at PNC Field in Moosic on Tuesday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_TTL091416Railriders1-1-.jpg</photo0><caption0>Railriders first baseman Chris Parmelee jumps up to catch the ball before he tags Braves runner Matt Tuiasosopo for the second out in the top of the fifth inning at PNC Field in Moosic on Tuesday. </caption0><photoCredit0>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_TTL091416Railriders2-1-.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Braves runner Tyler Moore slides into an out at second base as Railriders shortstop Pete Kozma tries to complete a doubleplay at PNC Field in Moosic on Tuesday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_TTL091416Railriders2-1-.jpg</photo1><caption1>Braves runner Tyler Moore slides into an out at second base as Railriders shortstop Pete Kozma tries to complete a doubleplay at PNC Field in Moosic on Tuesday. </caption1><photoCredit1>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_TTL091416Railriders3-1-.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Railriders relief pitcher Matt Wotherspoon, a Crestwood High School grad, pitches in his first Governors&#8217; Cup Championship Series game against the Gwinnett Braves at PNC Field in Moosic on Tuesday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_TTL091416Railriders3-1-.jpg</photo2><caption2>Railriders relief pitcher Matt Wotherspoon, a Crestwood High School grad, pitches in his first Governors&#8217; Cup Championship Series game against the Gwinnett Braves at PNC Field in Moosic on Tuesday. </caption2><photoCredit2>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Gwinnett&#8217;s six-run first inning dooms Scranton/Wilkes-Barre from the start of Governors&#8217; Cup Championship Series</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Dave RosengrantFor Times Leader</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta>Up NextWhat: Governors&#8217; Cup Final Game 2When: 6:35 p.m. Wednesday at PNC FieldProbable Pitchers: RailRiders LHP Phil Coke (1-0, 0.00) vs. Gwinnett RHP Chris Ellis (1-0, 0.00)On Deck: The series shifts to Coolray Field in Lawrenceville, Ga. for the rest of the series on Thursday.On Radio: All RailRiders games can be heard live on The Game Radio Network (100.7-FM, 106.7-FM, 1340-AM, 1400-AM, 1440-AM) with John Sadak and Darren Headrick.</factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Times Leader sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @TLSports</shirttailMeta></div>

RailRiders fall short in opener