Brendan Beck pitched 6.1 shutout innings, allowing three hits, no runs and one walk and striking out seven, to lead the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders to a 2-0 win over the Syracuse Mets on Thursday at PNC Field.
The RailRiders got a run in the second and a run in the third to give Beck and the bullpen all they needed.
Ernesto Martinez Jr. hit a sacrifice fly to left to score Yanquiel Fernández for a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second.
In the bottom of the third, Spencer Jones tacked on a single to left that scored Kenedy Corona for a 2-0 advantage.
Beck retired the side in the first, third, fifth and sixth innings, and didn’t allow a runner to get past second base.
Beck got Ronny Mauricio to fly out to right to start the top of the seventh, but Zach Messinger replaced him after Beck gave up a single to Christopher Morel and a walk to Ryan Clifford. Facing a 3-2 count, Messinger threw a fastball to Eric Wagaman on the outside corner that was ruled a ball by the umpire. However, catcher J.C. Escarra challenged the call, which was overturned by the ABS system for the second out of the inning. Then, Messinger got Christian Arroyo to ground out to third to get out of the inning.
In the eighth, Messinger struck out Hayden Senger and Zack Short before Nick Morabito reached on catcher’s interference. Will Brian relieved Messinger, and struck out MJ Melendez to end the eighth.
Then, Brian retired the side in the ninth to lock down the save.
The RailRiders (15-7, 52-44) lead Syracuse (10-13, 48-50) in the six-game set, 2-1.
The series continues Friday at 7:05 p.m. with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s Adam Kloffenstein (2-6 record, 4.92 ERA) and Syracuse’s Jonah Tong (2-5, 5.83) the probable pitchers.