SWB RAILRIDERS: Pitching helps take series opener against Norfolk – Scranton Times-Tribune

By Holden Mostofsky

Correspondent

MOOSIC — Adam Kloffenstein and the bullpen helped the Scranton-Wilkes-Barre RailRiders win a pitchers’ duel Tuesday night.

Kloffenstein allowed one run and two hits in five innings with three walks and five strikeouts. Zach Messinger and Carson Coleman then came on in relief to help close out the RailRiders’ 3-2 victory over the Norfolk Tides in the opening game of a series at PNC Field before a crowd of 3,790.

“Pitching staff is the story of the day,” RailRiders manager Shelley Duncan said. “Kloff did a good job grinding. He had that one inning where he had a couple walks, but got out of it without a run. Messenger did an amazing job coming in and going two innings and Carson was outstanding.”

It was the RailRiders who went on top in the bottom of the second inning.

Payton Henry started the rally with a one-out single, and Duke Ellis reached on a catcher’s interference. Then with two outs, Jonathan Ornelas hit a ground-rule double to score Henry. The team caught a tough break on the play since Ellis easily would have scored had the ball not bounced into the stands.

However, the Tides responded with a run in the top of the third inning. Mike Siani led off with a walk. Luis Vázquez then singled to center field and tried to make it to second base, but Ellis threw it to Ornelas in time to prevent the double. Enrique Bradfield Jr. was next and hit a ball to first base, where Ernesto Martinez Jr. overthrew catcher J.C. Escarra for a run-scoring fielder’s choice.

It stayed 1-1 thanks to Kloffenstein and Norfolk starter Trace Bright, who retired 10 straight RailRiders at one point and allowed one unearned run and four hits in six innings with no walks and five strikeouts.

But when Enoli Paredes relieved Bright in the bottom of the seventh, the RailRiders were able to reclaim the lead.

Henry was hit by a pitch. Paredes then threw a base on balls to Ellis, and Kenedy Corona hit a sacrifice bunt to send Henry to third base and Ellis to second.

Ornelas then walked to make it bases loaded, and Paredes threw four balls again to walk Escarra, sending Henry home. Marco Luciano hit a sacrifice fly, which scored Ellis and gave the RailRiders a 3-1 lead.

“That’s one thing this offense has done really well all season long,” Duncan said. “If they’re not scoring runs, they’re not giving up. They are going up there, making adjustments, figuring stuff out. They’re going up there still trying to do the other good at-bats, and that’s one thing that I trust in those guys.”

Messinger (5-1) relieved Kloffenstein in the sixth inning and threw two perfect innings with two strikeouts.

But in the eighth, Vázquez and Bradfield opened the inning with singles. Coleman relieved, and his first pitch was to Heston Kjerstad, who hit a perfect bunt single up the third-base line to load the bases. Christian Encarnacion-Strand followed with a sacrifice fly to score Vázquez and cut the deficit to 3-2.

Coleman fanned Creed Willems for the second. Bradfield and Kjerstad then tried a double steal, but Escarra was able to throw Kjerstad out and end the Tides’ threat.

“I was ready to throw the second on that play,” Escarra said. “He got a really bad jump. I was actually going to go to third base because he didn’t go at first, and I saw Bradfield go to third base. But in the corner of my eye, he (Kjerstad) had a bad jump and went late, so it just gave me instincts to throw to second base and get that free out before he was able to score. That was a huge out, because we had two outs and we got out the inning.”

Johnathan Rodríguez walked to kick things off in the top of the ninth, and José Barrero hit a one-out single. Mike Siani hit a comebacker that Coleman fielded and threw to third to get the second out. Vázquez then fouled out to Martinez to end the game and earn his second save.

“Our bullpen has been solid for the most part, and there aren’t a lot of guys in that bullpen that you don’t have faith in,” Kloffenstein said. “When you turn around, and you see who’s coming in, you’re like, ‘Okay, I feel like we’ve got a good shot.’ I really liked Mess’s stuff tonight, and I have somewhat similar stuff to some degree, so I knew he would be a good candidate, and Carson Coleman’s got an almost unhittable fastball, so whenever he comes in the game, and if he’s throwing strikes, we know that we’re in a pretty good spot.”

Duncan added that while the past few games haven’t gone the team’s way, the RailRiders will try to keep their momentum going.

“Tomorrow’s going to be a brand new day. We take the energy from winning a close game, knowing that we got the team, talent, tools and the ability to win these close games; that gives you confidence if we happen to be in another one tomorrow,” he said. “More than anything, we’re facing a new pitcher; we got a new one on the mound. It’s a whole new ball game. We don’t know what’s going to happen; we just got to be ready for it.”