The grounders kept finding the right side, each one pushing the RailRiders further from a comeback they had spent six innings constructing. One skipped off Ernesto Martinez Jr.’s glove. Another went underneath it. By the time Jacksonville finished the eighth, a tie game had become a four-run hole and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s postseason chase had taken another hit.
The Jumbo Shrimp answered Jarred Kelenic’s game-tying home run with four runs against the RailRiders’ bullpen, handing Scranton/Wilkes-Barre a 9-6 loss Wednesday night at PNC Field. The RailRiders fell two games behind Indianapolis with four games remaining.
Bullpen coach Pete Larson had described before the game how the staff plans for late-inning situations.
“We usually have an idea of one or two guys that if this situation comes up, it’s going to be one or the other.”
— Pete Larson, RailRiders Bullpen Coach
On Wednesday, those situations unraveled quickly. Eli Morgan entered a 5-5 game in the seventh and allowed a leadoff double to Cam Cannarella. After a walk and a strikeout, Brayden Taylor sent a drive toward the right-center gap. Kelenic could not make the diving play, and the ball hopped over the wall for a ground-rule double that scored Cannarella and restored Jacksonville’s lead.
Morgan struck out the next two hitters, but the damage left him with his first loss of the season. He fell to 4-1 after allowing one earned run in one inning.
Justin Topa took over in the eighth and faced three hitters before recording an out. Bennett Hostetler doubled, Brendan Jones sent a grounder off Martinez’s glove and into right to score him, and Brandon Compton followed with another ball under Martinez’s glove for an RBI double. Jonathon Long’s groundout brought home Compton, completing a three-run inning that stretched Jacksonville’s advantage to 9-5. Topa was charged with all three runs in his inning.
That collapse erased a steady recovery from a 5-1 deficit after two innings.
Jasson Domínguez began the climb in the first, turning on a 3-1 pitch and driving it an estimated 430 feet to left-center for his eighth home run. He was at the center of nearly everything the RailRiders generated, finishing 3-for-3 with a walk and a hit by pitch.
Marco Luciano’s sacrifice fly scored Domínguez in the third. An inning later, Kenedy Corona doubled, Kelenic walked and Domínguez grounded an RBI single into right, trimming the deficit to 5-3.
The comeback reached its peak in the sixth. Abrahan Gutierrez singled with two outs, and Kelenic launched his eighth homer high toward the right-field cantina. The ball left his bat at 102 mph and carried out, pulling the RailRiders even at 5-5.
For a team fighting through the final week, Larson said the combination of development and winning had kept the season engaging.
“Yeah, I think my third year in AAA now in success is, you know, you go and compete every night. So winning record in AAA keeps it fun and keeps it engaging.”
— Pete Larson, RailRiders Bullpen Coach
The RailRiders still made Jacksonville finish the game. Domínguez and J.C. Escarra opened the ninth with singles, and Luciano lined an RBI single into right to bring the tying run to the plate. Max Schuemann grounded into a double play, however, and Tyler Hardman’s flyout ended the threat.
Luciano went 2-for-4 with two RBIs, while Corona finished 2-for-3 with a double, a walk and a run. The RailRiders collected 12 hits but committed two errors.
Brendan Beck allowed four earned runs over 4⅓ innings, striking out five and walking one. Carlos Lagrange supplied a scoreless inning with two strikeouts in his return from the injured list.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre had done the difficult part, climbing all the way back after Jacksonville’s five-run opening burst. The bullpen could not hold the game there, leaving little room for another recovery and even less room in the standings.