Jacksonville scored five runs in the third inning and two runs in the eighth to hand the RailRiders their second straight loss, 7-5, on Thursday at PNC Field.
The RailRiders (39-31) are now three games behind Rochester (43-29) and Indianapolis (43-29) in the International League second-half standings with three games to play. They are also 1½ games behind Syracuse (41-30), and tied with Worcester (39-31).
Jasson Domínguez homered to right center to give the RailRiders a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first.
The Jumbo Shrimp (31-40) answered with five runs in the third. Kemp Alderman blasted a grand slam to right, and Gage Miller grounded an RBI single to left for a 5-1 lead.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre clawed back, as Marco Luciano lifted a two-run homer to right center in the bottom half of the inning to cut the deficit to 5-3.
In the seventh, Domínguez lined an RBI double to left to get the RailRiders within one run.
However, Brendan Jones lined an RBI double to right, stole third and scored on a throwing error to push the lead to 7-4 in the eighth.
Ernesto Martinez Jr. grounded an RBI single to right in the bottom half of the inning to cut the deficit to 7-5, but the RailRiders couldn’t get any closer.
The series continues Friday at 7:05 p.m. with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s Xavier Rivas (1-2, 10.97) and Jacksonville’s Karson Milbrandt (0-7, 7.95) the probable pitchers.