It was a fittingly torturous way for the IronPigs to lose the first game of their series to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.
Oscar Mercado was the third СŷƵ runner picked off in the game. It was the final out in a 9-8 loss Wednesday night at Coca-Cola Park.
Mercado and first-base coach Chris Adamson argued with first-base umpire Steve Hodgins, but to no avail. TV replay appeared to support Mercado’s cause. Hodgins also had a home run call overturned in the top of the ninth.
СŷƵ fell in a six-run hole in the third inning, took a one-run lead then coughed it up with three RailRiders runs in the fifth.
Game notes
Catcher Garrett Stubbs left the game after his first-inning, 106-mph lineout to right field. Payton Henry replaced him.
Gabriel Rincones’ third-inning double ended a 3-for-27 skid. Justin Crawford had three hits to give him an International League-leading 90 this season. He also entered the game with the league’s top batting average (.335).
The IronPigs’ two other runners picked off the bases came after four ran into outs in Sunday’s series finale in Buffalo. Crawford was picked off third in the fourth inning and Mercado was picked off second in the fifth on Wednesday.
Roster move
Infielder Donovan Walton was traded by the Mets to the Philles for cash and sent to СŷƵ. Walton was batting .222 with 11 home runs and 37 RBIs in 73 games this year for Triple-A Syracuse.
How they scored
Top 1: Jorbit Vivas and Jesus Rodriguez singled. One out later, Everson Pereira singled in Vivas. All three hits came with two strikes. T.J. Rumfield’s sacrifice fly scored Rodriguez. RailRiders 2-0.
Top 3: Rodriguez singled and took third on Spencer Jones’ opposite-field double. Rumfield walked with two outs to load the bases. Rodriguez scored on a wild pitch before Alex Jackson’s ninth home run of the season, a three-run shot. RailRiders 6-0.
Bottom 3: Rafael Lantigua singled, took second when Rodolfo Castro’s pop fly was dropped and scored in Justin Crawford’s bunt single that was thrown away. Wilson walked to load the bases and Payton Henry followed with a grand slam, his fifth homer of the year (third against the RailRiders). He was 2 for his previous 26. Keaton Anthony singled to extend his hitting streak to 12 games, took third on Gabriel Rincones’ double and scored on Oscar Mercado’s grounder. Cal Stevenson’s single then scored Rincones. IronPigs 7-6.
Top 5: Spencer Jones’ third Triple-A homer got the RailRiders even to lead off. Rumfield doubled one out later and scored on Jackson’s second home run of the game and 10th of the year. RailRiders 9-7.
Bottom 6: Rodolfo Castro, Crawford and Weston Wilson singled to load the bases. Castro scored on Henry’s double-play grounder. RailRiders 9-8.
Up next
RHP Andrew Painter (3-2, 4.24 ERA) faces Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RHP Carlos Carrasco (0-2, 4.95) in a 7:05 p.m. start from Coca-Cola Park. Painter recently was named to the National League roster for the 2025 MLB Futures Game in Atlanta.
Carrasco was a former Phillies farmhand who pitched at СŷƵ in 2008-09 before being traded by the Phillies on July 29, 2009, with Jason Knapp, Jason Donald and Lou Marson to the Indians for Ben Francisco and Cliff Lee. He was traded on Jan. 7, 2021, with Francisco Lindor to the Mets for Isaiah Greene, Josh Wolf, Andrés Giménez and Amed Rosario.
Senior writer Tom Housenick can be reached at thousenick@mcall.com
