J.C. Escarra homered twice and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders had 17 hits in winning their sixth straight, defeating Buffalo, 9-1, on Friday at Sahlen Field.
Escarra led off the game with a home run to right off Bisons’ starter Grant Rogers. The RailRiders added a run on a fielder’s choice for a 2-0 lead after one.
Escarra homered again in the second — a solo shot to left — to extend the lead to 3-0.
Buffalo answered in the home half of the inning with a pair of doubles to cut the edge to deficit to 3-1.
Tyler Hardman led off the sixth with a solo home run to center off Rogers — his fourth of the series and ninth with this season.
The RailRiders expanded the lead with two runs in the seventh, two runs in the eight and one in the ninth.
Yanquiel Fernández and Hardman singled in runs in the seventh. In the eighth, Duke Ellis doubled in Kenedy Corona, and Escarra added a sacrifice fly, scoring Ellis.
In the ninth, Corona singled in Hardman.
Elmer Rodriguez (5-3) worked the first five innings, allowing one run on five hits with six strikeouts and two walks. Brad Hanner, Yerry De Los Santos, Brad Hanner, and Dom Hamel combined to shut down the Bisons the rest of the way, allowing five baserunners over four shutout innings.
Rogers (2-8) allowed the first four runs over 5.2 innings in the loss.
Escarra, Spencer Jones, Fernández and Hardman had three hits each.
The RailRiders and Bisons will play two on Saturday. Kyle Carr and Adam Kloffenstein are slated to start for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, squaring off against Simeon Woods Richardson and Jake Bloss for Buffalo. First pitch is set for 4:35 P.M.