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Penguins pushed to the brink of elimination after allowing 10 goals to Phantoms

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<p>Given one more chance to make some franchise history, Mike Ford didn&#8217;t disappoint.</p><p>The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre slugger had already homered in his first two at-bats on Sunday. With two outs in the ninth inning, he stepped in the box one last time and launched a ball out for a third time to put an exclamation point on the RailRiders&#8217; 10-2 dismantling of Buffalo.</p><p>In all, six of the RailRiders&#8217; 10 hits on the afternoon left the park.</p><p>Ford became the fifth Scranton/Wilkes-Barre player to ever hit three homers in a game and only the third who didn&#8217;t require extra innings, joining Zoilo Almonte (July 23, 2014 at Gwinnett) and Gary Bennett (Aug. 16, 1998 at Buffalo).</p><p>He finished Sunday&#8217;s win 3-for-5 with four RBI to help the RailRiders (2-2) salvage a season-opening split with the Bisons. And the first two round-trippers came against a well-known opponent.</p><p>Buffalo sent rehabbing Major Leaguer Clay Buchholz to the mound, and Ford and the rest of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre lineup tagged him for four homers for five runs in five innings. Ford went deep in the first and third innings &#8212; the latter being a two-run blast &#8212; while Ryan Lavarnway and Mandy Alvarez (2-for-3) both added solo shots in the fourth.</p><p>Leading 6-2 in the ninth, Cliff Pennington (2-for-4, four RBI) hit a three-run homer before Ford put the capper on the day.</p><p>On the mound, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre alternated good and bad performances from the rotation during the series. Where Gio Gonzalez and Chance Adams struggled, Nestor Cortes Jr. and David Hale were strong. On Sunday it was Hale who took charge, throwing 5.2 innings of four-hit ball while allowing one run and two walks while striking out two.</p><p>Cale Coshow surrendered a solo home run to Cavan Biggio in the eighth, but the Bisons couldn&#8217;t scrape together any more offense.</p><p>Prior to the game, Thairo Estrada reported to the team after being optioned back to Triple-A from the New York Yankees. He started at shortstop and batted third with fellow infielder Gio Urshela promoted to New York earlier in the weekend. Pitcher Jake Barrett also joined the team after being claimed off waivers from the Pittsburgh Pirates.</p><p>The RailRiders&#8217; road trip continues with a three-game set at Lehigh Valley. Drew Hutchison is scheduled to start Monday&#8217;s opener with first pitch set for 7:05 p.m. The home opener is 7:05 p.m. Thursday against Buffalo at PNC Field.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div>

Ford makes history with three homers in RailRiders’ rout of Buffalo