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Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Crispell celebrate 59 years

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Texas Gulf Coast assesses damage from Hurricane Harvey

<p>Greg Bird backed up his manager&#8217;s words in Friday night&#8217;s blowout against the Syracuse Chiefs.</p><p>Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders manager Al Pedrique told reporters Friday afternoon that he thought the New York Yankees first baseman looked ready to return to the bigs.</p><p>Five hours later, Bird collected a pair of hits as the RailRiders&#8217; designated hitter in a 9-1 victory over the Chiefs.</p><p>Bird was pinch hit for by Mark Payton in the bottom of the fourth.</p><p>&#8220;I feel great. It&#8217;s been fun playing on this team, so I&#8217;ve been enjoying it,&#8221; Bird said prior to Friday&#8217;s game. &#8220;I look for a certain pitch and I try to put a good swing on it. I keep things simple. I try to drive the ball and stick to that. It&#8217;s kind of what I&#8217;ve always done and it&#8217;s worked for me.&#8221;</p><p>Bird has been red-hot at the plate as of late.</p><p>Going 2 for 2 with a runs scored, Bird boosted his average to .423 during his rehab stint, heading into Friday&#8217;s tilt. He has two doubles, three home runs, four walks, eight runs scored and six RBI in nine games with the RailRiders.</p><p>WFAN Yankees beat reporter Sweeny Murti reported after Bird was pulled that the first baseman will be with the Yankees on Saturday.</p><p>&#8220;Bird, he&#8217;s been swinging the bat well. I think he&#8217;s 100 percent healthy,&#8221; Pedrique said. &#8220;Very calm. Great, great, great plate discipline. He knows the strike zone real well. So I&#8217;m not surprised (he&#8217;s getting deep into counts). He&#8217;s the type of hitter who&#8217;s not afraid to hit with two strikes, he doesn&#8217;t change his approach and he hits the ball where it&#8217;s pitched. He&#8217;s been very impressive since I&#8217;ve had him in 2013 with his plate discipline.&#8221;</p><p>While he didn&#8217;t play in the field on Friday, Bird has been happy with his play at first throughout his rehab stint. He hasn&#8217;t committed an error in five games during his Major League rehab assignment.</p><p>&#8220;My work feels good. Generally when my work feels good I feel good in the game,&#8221; Bird said. &#8220;I feel like I&#8217;m moving well. I haven&#8217;t done a whole lot in the field, but I had a throw early here that I liked. I got a couple balls (Thursday) so that was good. I feel like I&#8217;m playing my position, which is good.&#8221;</p><p><strong>A chance to clinch</strong></p><p>The RailRiders did their job Friday night, beating the Chiefs. But in order to clinch a spot in the International League playoffs, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre needed the Lehigh Valley IronPigs to lose as well.</p><p>Trailing to Pawtucket after six frames, the IronPigs scored a pair of runs in the top of the seventh inning to take a 4-3 lead, which proved to be the final score.</p><p>The RailRiders will now have to wait until Saturday to clinch a playoff spot.</p><p>&#8220;We know we have a chance to clinch pretty soon,&#8221; Pedrique said. &#8220;Our goal is to go out and compete and then win games. I guess you have to be lucky too. Sometimes you win games because you&#8217;re lucky, but for the most part I feel the chemistry, the heart, what this team is made of has rubbed off on the guys when they come up from A-ball, Double-A.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Higgy update</strong></p><p>Pedrique provided an update on catcher Kyle Higashioka before Friday&#8217;s game.</p><p>The second-year manager said that the MRI results on Higashioka&#8217;s shoulder came back negative. He was placed on the disabled list Aug. 19, just day after coming off of the DL with a back injury that kept him out for more than a month.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a strained muscle. They&#8217;re going to take their time, make sure he&#8217;s healthy, but the good thing is the MRI was negative,&#8221; Pedrique said.</p><p>There&#8217;s no timetable for Higashioka&#8217;s return.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Cave </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_Jake-Cave-CMYK.jpg</photo0><caption0>Cave </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_Greg-Bird-CMYK.jpg">
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<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>

Yankees’ Greg Bird records 2 hits in final game with SWB RailRiders, a 9-1 win