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

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The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders dropped a 1-0 decision to the Buffalo Bisons on Friday in 10 innings. A pitcher’s duel through and through ended with a walk-off wild pitch in game one of the series.

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

Agustín Ramírez earned a walk in the first inning but the RailRiders were not able to get anything else off of Francis. The starter worked four scoreless frames striking out eight batters.

Barclay was just as dominant, setting down the side on eight pitches in the first inning. He didn’t allow a hit until the third en route to five scoreless frames. Barclay gave up just a pair of hits and three walks while striking out four.

Bisons reliever Nick Fraze worked two clean, with five punch outs. He allowed one base runner as he hit Taylor Trammell with a pitch.

Jack Neely took SWB quickly through the sixth to keep the 0-0 tie.

The RailRiders got their first hit in the seventh. Ramírez lined a ball into left off of Yerry Rodríguez. Oscar González worked a walk on a full count, but the visitors could not produce a run keeping the game scoreless.

Scott Effross and Ron Marinaccio each tossed 1-2-3 frames to quiet Buffalo.

In the top of the ninth, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre had a pair of hits but couldn’t drive in a run, stranding two.

Victor González gave up a lead off base hit to Addison Barger, but then shut down the Bisons to send the contest to extras.

The RailRiders had two baserunners in the 10th off of Paxton Schultz (W, 3-3) but never sent a runner home. Duane Underwood Jr. (L, 2-1) took the bottom half with Riley Tirotta as the ghost runner on second. Tirotta moved to third on a sacrifice bunt from Rafael Lantigua. It was the first time Buffalo had a runner 90 feet from home the entire game.

With a 2-2 count to Brian Serven, Underwood’s curveball hammered the dirt and skipped away from the catcher. A wild pitched allowed Tirotta to cross for a 1-0 Bison win.

SWB batters struck out 19 times in the contest, tying a franchise record for most K’s in a single frame set back on May 19, 2023 at Syracuse.

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