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<p>MOOSIC &#8212; When fans caught wind Friday afternoon that Miguel Andujar would be out of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders lineup for a second straight day, panic and speculation set in on social media.</p><p>Where in the world is Miguel Andujar? Was he traded?</p><p>As it turns out, he went to New York for &#8220;family reasons,&#8221; according to RailRiders manager Al Pedrique.</p><p>&#8220;His girlfriend is expecting a baby, so he had to go to New York this morning and we&#8217;re just waiting to hear back from him,&#8221; Pedrique said before Friday&#8217;s game.</p><p>On the field, Andujar continues to take reps at first base during batting practice, especially on his off days. Prior to Thursday&#8217;s game, the natural third baseman fielded throws from his fellow infielders. He moved well in the foreign territory on Thursday.</p><p>Pedrique reiterated that it&#8217;s something they&#8217;re &#8220;going to play with&#8221; and aren&#8217;t making a commitment to it of any sort.</p><p>&#8220;He&#8217;s a kid that has talent. He&#8217;s a kid that probably shows he can handle first base as well as he does at third base,&#8221; Pedrique said. &#8220;I just told him (on Thursday), &#8216;Go to first, take some throws, help us when you&#8217;re not playing. That way you stay active and don&#8217;t get lazy or assume you&#8217;re getting a full day off.&#8217;&#8221;</p><p><strong>Diaz back in groove</strong></p><p>Jonathan Diaz was back in the lineup for the RailRiders on Friday, after taking a seat on the bench both Wednesday and Thursday.</p><p>The 32-year-old utility man has seen his bat come to life with the RailRiders. Diaz is batting .250 in six games with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, compared to .182 with Buffalo and .200 with Double-A New Hampshire.</p><p>Buffalo traded Diaz to the RailRiders on July 5. Diaz and the Bisons just happened to be in town at the time of the trade.</p><p>&#8220;I just attribute it to trying to stay consistent and getting good pitches to hit,&#8221; Diaz said of his recent success. &#8220;This is the first time I&#8217;m getting to work with (hitting coach) P.J. (Pilittere). He&#8217;s very thorough with his reports and analysis of the opposing pitcher. So it&#8217;s been fun to kind of pick his brain a little bit and understand how he sees the game.&#8221;</p><p>With the recent loss of utility man Rob Refsnyder, who was designated for assignment by the Yankees on July 19, Diaz adds another veteran presence in the infield. He was with the RailRiders last season and has spent parts of each season dating back to 2013 in the International League.</p><p>&#8220;He knows his role and that&#8217;s why he&#8217;s successful,&#8221; Pedrique said. &#8220;He takes ground balls in batting practice at different infield positions. He goes to third, he goes to short, he goes to second, he goes in the outfield and shags balls. He&#8217;s a valuable guy to have on the team because he can come out and play different positions, and defensively he does a good job with all three.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Wade back at third</strong></p><p>RailRiders utility man Tyler Wade played third base for the second straight game on Friday.</p><p>Prior to Thursday, the 22-year-old hadn&#8217;t played the position since June 23. But he looked comfortable at the hot corner and even made an impressive play in the shortstop hole to end the seventh inning.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll tell you what, he does a good job,&#8221; Pedrique said. &#8220;He gets good reads on slow rollers. Last night he showed some good reactions on lateral movement, especially to his right. He made two nice plays on slow rollers. He&#8217;s always ready. Pre-pitch, he&#8217;s set up where we want him to be on every pitch.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Culver doing damage</strong></p><p>Cito Cuvler hit his career-high-tying ninth home run of the season in Thursday night&#8217;s 13-2 win over the Charlotte Knights.</p><p>Culver said after the game that he&#8217;s felt he&#8217;s always had a power aspect to his game, but he&#8217;s just now starting to tap into it. The 24-year-old ranks third on the team with nine home runs, tied with outfielder Jake Cave. The duo are tied for first among active RailRiders. Dustin Fowler (13) had his season cut short due to injury and Clint Frazier (12) is currently up with the Yankees.</p><p>&#8220;I just try to hit the ball hard,&#8221; Culver said. &#8220;To me, in my head, if I hit the ball hard I win. I can&#8217;t control where it goes after that. So I&#8217;m not worried if I&#8217;m getting out or not, but if I&#8217;m hitting the ball hard consistently I figure hits will come.&#8221;</p><p><ins>For other RailRiders stories, <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/category/sports" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">click here</a>.</ins></p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Andujar </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_Miguel-Andujar-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Andujar </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By DJ Eberle</p><p>djeberle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach DJ Eberle at 570-991-6398 or on Twitter @ByDJEberle</p></shirttailMeta></div>

RailRiders Notebook: Miguel Andujar out Friday for ‘family reasons’