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Showers, thunderstorms in the forecast this weekend

MOOSIC &#8212; Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders starter Caleb Smith got two and a half hours of sleep Wednesday night.But you wouldn&#8217;t have been able to tell Smith made his way from Akron, Ohio to Moosic starting at 3 a.m. Thursday if you just looked at his pitching line after the RailRiders&#8217; 2-1 win over the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. Smith, who was making a spot start and was up from Double-A Trenton, went five strong innings of one-run, one-hit baseball and stuck out five batters.The lefty made his way to the airport in Akron, flew Detroit and then to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport and arrived at PNC Field around noon.&#8220;I&#8217;m pretty impressed I wasn&#8217;t tired and dragging and I could get up for the game. It was nice,&#8221; Smith said. &#8220;I was definitely tired when I got here. I was thinking about taking a nap in the clubhouse, but I didn&#8217;t want to be that new guy that naps in the clubhouse.&#8221;Smith has had a busy first few months of the new year.The 6-foot-2 pitcher was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in December&#8217;s Rule 5 Draft only to be later traded to the Chicago Cubs.However, Smith registered a 4.26 ERA in 6.1 innings of work during Chicago&#8217;s big-league spring training and didn&#8217;t make the major league roster out of camp. Smith was sent back to the Yankees organization and started the season with Trenton before pitching for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Thursday.&#8220;I&#8217;m happy to be back, but it was just frustrating, just coming back and everything,&#8221; Smith said. &#8220;I&#8217;m glad to be here. I&#8217;m just trying to make the most of it.&#8220;(This spring training) was awesome. I haven&#8217;t been over to the big-league side with the Yankees, so it&#8217;s not really comparable from the minor league side to the big-league side over there. I can&#8217;t really compare the two, but I had a lot of fun.&#8221;Extra work pays offSlumping coming into Thursday night&#8217;s game, outfielders Rob Refsnyder and Mason Williams and infielder Cito Culver got in some early work with hitting coach P.J. Pilittere ahead of the 2-1 victory, and it paid off.Refsnyder was 2-for-3 with a run scored and a crucial ninth-inning walk. Williams went 2-for-4 with a ninth-inning double that gave the RailRiders a chance with two men in scoring position with only one out. Culver was 1-for-2 with a walk.&#8220;With Mason in particular, he&#8217;s been swinging the bat well,&#8221; Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders manager Al Pedrique said. &#8220;He&#8217;s been hitting the ball hard with no luck, but today he had that double in the ninth inning. He hit a line drive out to shortstop again. He&#8217;s been working real hard with P.J., our hitting coach, on his approach and it paid off tonight &#8212; the same with Refsnyder. They had early work today. He made some changes on his mechanics and got a couple hard hits, a ball to left field.&#8221;Walk-off can go a long withSporting an extremely young lineup on a nightly basis &#8212; with 22-year-olds often taking the first three spots in the batting order &#8212; the RailRiders&#8217; first walk-off win of the season can go a long way.The International League mean-average for position players currently sits at 26.3.&#8220;For our developmental part, it&#8217;s huge,&#8221; Pedrique said of the win. &#8220;We have a lot of young talent, this team. Playing games like this and coming through and winning, that&#8217;s a big learning process for them.&#8221;Odd moment in the 9thScranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders third baseman Donovan Solano had worked a 3-1 count with just one out and men on second and third.However, instead of Lehigh Valley reliever Pedro Beato throwing another pitch to Solano, working for a possible strike, he signaled for an intentional walk.Major League Baseball enacted a no-pitch intentional walk rule, in the offseason, that allows a manager to signal for an intentional walk at any point of an at-bat.&#8220;I&#8217;ve seen guys throw the ball into the backstop and I&#8217;ve seen teams winning games for the reason,&#8221; Pedrique said. &#8220;I think it should be declared (before the at-bat), and that&#8217;s what I understood the rule was. It surprised me that the umpire allowed it to happen &#8212; that he ended up giving the signal to walk the guy &#8212; but I respect the umpires decision and we just move on.&#8221;RailRiders 2, Lehigh Valley 1Lehigh Valley`AB`R`H`BIQuinn cf`4`0`0`0Crawford ss`4`0`0`0Alfaro c`4`0`1`0Cozens rf`3`0`0`0Hoskins 1b`2`0`0`0Williams dh`3`0`0`0Perkins lf`3`1`1`1Gomez 3b`3`0`0`0Valentin 2b`3`0`0`0Totals`29`1`2`1RailRiders`AB`R`H`BIWade ss`4`1`1`0Frazier dh`4`0`0`1Payton lf`4`0`0`0Refsnyder rf`3`1`2`0Williams cf`4`0`2`0Solano 3b`3`0`0`0Choi 1b`3`0`2`1Rodriguez c`3`0`0`0Culver 3b`2`0`1`0Totals`30`2`8`2E: Gomez (3, throw). LOB: IronPigs 2, RailRiders 6. 2B: Williams, M. (1). SF: Choi. SB: Alfaro (1). HR: Perkins (1).Lehigh Valley`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SOPinto`7.0`6`1`0`1`5Beato (L, 0-1)`1.2`2`1`1`3`6RailRiders`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SOSmith`5.0`1`1`1`0`5Mantiply`3.0`1`0`0`1`3Shreve (W, 1-0)`1.0`0`0`0`2`0WP: Shreve, ChasenUmpires: Ryan Additon, HP; Jeremie Rehak, 1B; Adam Beck, 3B.T: 2:13. Att: 3,153.<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders right fielder Rob Refsnyder takes a look over his shoulder after rounding second base to see where the ball hit by his teammate Mason Williams. Fred Adams | For Times Leader</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_RR-LV-4-2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders right fielder Rob Refsnyder takes a look over his shoulder after rounding second base to see where the ball hit by his teammate Mason Williams. Fred Adams | For Times Leader</caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By DJ Eberledjeberle@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach DJ Eberle at 570-991-6398 or on Twitter @ByDJEberle</shirttailMeta></div>

Observations from the SWB RailRiders’ 2-1 win over the Lehigh Valley IronPigs