The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders kept their slim playoff hopes alive with an 8-5 win over the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp on Friday night at PNC Field in Moosic.
Coupled with Gwinnett’s 8-7 comeback win in 10 innings over Indianapolis, the RailRiders trail the Indians and Rochester — who are tied atop the International League second-half standings — by two games with two games to play. The second-half winner faces first-half winner Memphis in a best-of-3 series beginning Tuesday for a chance to advance to the Triple-A National Championship Game on Sept. 26 in Las Vegas against the Pacific Coast League champion.
On Friday, three runs in the fourth and five in the fifth boosted the RailRiders behind six innings of shutout relief work from Adam Kloffenstein (W, 5-11), who held the Jumbo Shrimp to just three hits.
Jacksonville got on the board first with a run in the first inning, and added four more in the third. They walked the bases loaded off of Yankees No. 15 prospect Xavier Rivas. A sacrifice fly, RBI double, and RailRiders error made it a 5-0 deficit for the home team.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre fought its way back in the bottom of fourth.
Marco Luciano walked and Yanquiel Fernández launched his team-leading 27th home run of the season. Duke Ellis singled, stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch. Connor McGinnis roped an RBI double for his first Triple-A hit to score Ellis and make it 5-3.
In the fifth, the RailRiders batted around.
J.C. Escarra singled and scored on a Luciano double. Fernández walked and Tyler Hardman blasted a three-run homer for a 7-5 advantage.
SWB added one a run after Corona laid down a bunt single, stole second and scored on a wild pitch.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre continues its series with Jacksonville Saturday night at PNC Field. Alexander Cornielle (5-4) will face southpaw Patrick Monteverde (5-2). First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 p.m.