RailRiders return to action, lose to Buffalo on wild pitch in 10th inning

The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders lost 1-0 to the Buffalo Bisons on Friday in 10 innings. A pitching duel ended with a wild pitch that won Game 1 of the series.

After the All-Star break, the RailRiders sent out Edgar Barclay for the match against Bowden Francis.

Agustín Ramírez drew a walk in the first inning, but the RailRiders couldn’t get anything else out of Francis. The starter worked four scoreless innings, striking out eight batters.

Barclay was equally dominant, striking out the team on eight pitches in the first inning. He didn’t allow a hit until the third inning, en route to five scoreless innings. Barclay allowed just two hits and three walks while striking out four batters.

Bisons reliever Nick Fraze had two clean walks and five strikeouts. He allowed a baserunner to tag Taylor Trammell with a pitch.

Jack Neely quickly led SWB into the sixth inning to keep the score at 0-0.

The RailRiders got their first hit in the seventh inning. Ramirez hit a fly ball to left field off Yerry Rodríguez. Oscar González drew a full-count walk, but the visitors couldn’t produce a run, keeping the game scoreless.

Scott Effross and Ron Marinaccio each pitched 1, 2 and 3 innings to calm Buffalo.

In the top of the ninth inning, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre had two hits but failed to produce a run, leaving two players out.

Victor Gonzalez allowed a hit to Addison Barger, but then shut down the Bisons to send the game into overtime.

The RailRiders had two runners on base in the 10th inning against Paxton Schultz (W, 3-3) but never sent a runner home. Duane Underwood Jr. (L, 2-1) led off the bottom half with Riley Tirotta as a ghost runner at second. Tirotta advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Rafael Lantigua. It was the first time Buffalo had a runner 90 feet from home all game.

With Brian Serven on the scoreboard at 2-2, Underwood’s curveball hit the ground and sailed away from the catcher. A wild pitch allowed Tirotta to cross for a 1-0 Bisons victory.

SWB batters struck out 19 times in the game, tying a franchise record for most strikeouts in a single inning set on May 19, 2023, at Syracuse.

The RailRiders will continue their series at the Buffalo Bisons with a first pitch at 6:35 p.m. Saturday.