web1_Michael-Molinaro-WBPD.jpg

Police capture alleged burglar injured by machete

web1_TTL021618KeystoneGames3.jpg

Costello: Keystone Games to be in Luzerne County through 2021

<p>Appropriately, some Scranton/Wilkes-Barre home run history was made on a grand slam. And it came from the swing of an unlikely bat.</p><p>With the bases loaded and two outs in the fifth inning on Thursday in Columbus, reserve Wendell Rijo got a hold of a pitch near the middle of the strike zone and launched it out to left-center. The grand slam not only fueled a 10-6 win and a sweep of the IL West-leading Clippers, but it tied the franchise record for home runs in a season at 164.</p><p>An inning later, Mike Ford&#8217;s two-run shot to right set a new high mark of 165.</p><p>With 37 games left to go.</p><p>There&#8217;s breaking a record, and then there&#8217;s obliterating a record. The previous mark was held by the 1998 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons.</p><p>The contributions have come from up and down the lineup. For Rijo, who made his Triple-A debut earlier this season, it was his second home run in 17 games with the team.</p><p>In all, 26 different players have homered for the team this year with the production well spread out, from Ford&#8217;s team-leading 21 to one apiece from New York Yankees outfielders Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Hicks. In setting the previous record, the &#8216;98 Red Barons got home runs from just 16 players, led by 24 from Wendell Magee.</p><p>Trey Amburgey also went deep in Thursday&#8217;s win, hitting a solo shot in the third. In all, the RailRiders smashed 12 long balls in a three-game sweep of the Clippers, outscoring them 29-14 on their home field. This came after taking three out of four from Columbus last week at PNC Field.</p><p>As it was, the Clippers had entered the series with the best record in the International League. After Thursday&#8217;s matinee, the RailRiders (60-43) moved a half-game ahead of Columbus (59-43), with Gwinnett (60-42) narrowly atop the overall standings heading into the evening schedule.</p><p>In a pivotal moment on Thursday, Rijo made sure his team would keep climbing.</p><p>Scranton/Wilkes-Barre had already reached nine hits on the day with no outs in the fifth inning. But the lead was just 2-0 and a Columbus pitching change produced two quick strikeouts.</p><p>Francisco Arcia helped turn the tide with a four-pitch walk that brought home a run. Rijo then stepped in and got ahead of Clippers reliever Jon Edwards 3-0. He took the next pitch for a strike before taking advantage of a 3-1 offering and parking it for four runs and a 7-0 RailRiders lead.</p><p>Ford then set the new franchise record with one out in the sixth on the first pitch he saw from Edwards. It was his first swing of the day, having taken over at first base for Ryan McBroom, who left the game early with an apparent injury.</p><p>Starting pitcher Adonis Rosa, who was promoted from Double-A Trenton a day earlier, threw five scoreless innings for the win, allowing five hits and two walks with three strikeouts.</p><p>Columbus ended the shutout bid in the bottom of the sixth on Adam Rosales&#8217; three-run homer off of reliever Will Carter. Back-to-back RBI singles by Mark Mathias and Dioner Navarro in the seventh against Carter and David Sosebee cut the lead to 9-5.</p><p>Before exiting, McBroom opened the scoring with an RBI double in the first inning. Nine different players recorded at least one hit for the RailRiders, led by three from Tyler Wade. Yankees outfielder Cameron Maybin went 2-for-6 with an RBI double as the designated hitter in the third game of his rehab stint.</p><p>Nine-hitter Terrance Gore was the lone starter without a hit, but he drew three walks.</p><p><strong>Notes</strong></p><p>&#8226; Arcia appeared in his first game with the RailRiders in five years, having been scooped up by the Yankees earlier in the week. He was released by the Chicago Cubs after playing 51 games for Triple-A Iowa.</p><p>Arcia, 29, got his start in the Yankees organization back in 2007 and appeared in 38 games for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in 2014 behind Austin Romine and John Ryan Murphy. The Yankees were in need of another catcher this week after Gary Sanchez went on the injured list and RailRiders starter Kyle Higashioka was recalled to New York.</p><p>Batting seventh on Thursday, Arcia picked up a hit and an RBI in his latest debut, singling in the second inning before the bases-loaded walk in the fifth.</p><p>&#8226; Scranton/Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s road trip continues with a weekend visit to Louisville, beginning with a 7 p.m. start on Friday. Despite residing in the cellar of the IL West, the Bats took two out of three games from the RailRiders last weekend in Moosic.</p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/web1_RR-logo-14.jpg">
<div class="neCaption"></div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/web1_RR-logo-14.jpg</photo0><caption0></caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Derek Levarse</p><p>dlevarse@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div>

RailRiders smash franchise single-season home run record in sweep of Clippers