RailRiders’ Spencer Jones fields the ball during the home opener against Durham at PNC Field in Moosic on Wednesday, April 08, 2026. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Durham’s Jacob Melton bats during the game at PNC Field in Moosic on Wednesday, April 08, 2026. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
RailRiders’ Yerry De Los Santos pitches during the home opener against Durham at PNC Field in Moosic on Wednesday, April 08, 2026. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
RailRiders’ Ernesto Martinez Jr. bats during the home opener against Durham at PNC Field in Moosic on Wednesday, April 08, 2026. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
RailRiders’ Seth Brown bats during the home opener against Durham at PNC Field in Moosic on Wednesday, April 08, 2026. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
RailRiders’ Max Schuemann throws the ball during the home opener against Durham at PNC Field in Moosic on Wednesday, April 08, 2026. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Crews prep the field for the first RailRiders home game of the season against Durham at PNC Field in Moosic on Wednesday, April 08, 2026. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Daniel Police snaps a photo of his daughter Cozette, 6, as she shares a hug with the RailRiders’ mascot, Champ, before the baseball game at PNC Field in Moosic on Wednesday, April 08, 2026. The pair come watch the RailRiders every year and are excited to be back for the 2026 season. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
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RailRiders’ Spencer Jones fields the ball during the home opener against Durham at PNC Field in Moosic on Wednesday, April 08, 2026. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
MOOSIC — It would have been easy, even understandable, for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders to give up. Cold April night. Down six runs.
Instead, they kept battling and capitalized on numerous miscues by the Durham Bulls to rally for a 7-6 victory in their home opener Wednesday night at PNC Field before a crowd of 2,191.
Oswaldo Cabrera’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth inning capped the comeback for the RailRiders (7-3) to give them a win in the first game of a six-game series and extend their winning streak to five.
“This shows us that we can win a game when we’re down and flip the script,” RailRiders infielder Paul DeJong said. “I’ve been on plenty of teams where, you’re down 6-0, it’s cold, it’s easy to mail it in. This team didn’t do that tonight.”
There wasn’t one big hit or play, but rather a lot of little moments that highlighted the comeback:
Catcher Payton Henry throwing out a base stealer to end the top of the sixth inning after Durham had successful swiped four bases before that.
Reliever Bradley Hanner bouncing back from allowing a run in the top of the sixth to pitch a perfect top of the seventh.
Fellow reliever Danny Watson, after hitting and walking the first two batters he faced, getting a strikeout and a double play in the top of the eighth.
Manager Shelley Duncan said it is these types of games that can define the character of a team.
“The energy these guys had. A lot of teams would sometimes implode, give up,” Duncan said. “But these guys stayed locked in every pitch. They went out there and continued to have good at-bats, just chipping away. Not trying to do too much, not trying to force that big inning, not trying to force the comeback in one inning. They kept grinding and it ended up paying off. They had trust in themselves that things would happen. It’s something special.”
Durham starter Logan Workman blanked the RailRiders for five innings on two hits with three walks and eight strikeouts. The Bulls built a 6-0 lead by scoring two runs in the top of the fourth on a RBI triple by Dom Keegan and a sacrifice fly by Jacob Melton; three runs in the fifth on a RBI fielder’s choice by Gavin Lux, a RBI single by Raynel Delgado and a balk; and one run in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Logan Davidson.
“I thought he was effectively wild,” DeJong said. “He had a live arm, but was missing all over and using his misses to set up his next pitch. We were just a little off-balance. He wouldn’t thrown the same pitch twice in a row. He was kind of crafty out there with some decent stuff. He pitched pretty well.”
Workman exited to start the bottom of the sixth and the RailRiders began their comeback against Cam Booser.
Spencer Jones led off with a walk, advanced to third with one out on a hit-and-run single by Seth Brown. With two outs, DeJong doubled to score Brown and cut the deficit to 6-2.
“He (Booser) threw two sliders in the dirt and I got to 2-0. I got to 2-0 a lot tonight,” DeJong said. “I was glad I was able to get a fastball down in the zone. I think that’s more my strength than up in the zone. Just kind of reacted to it and I think that kind of put us in striking distance. I have to say the bullpen closed the door great down the stretch.”
In the bottom of the seventh against Trevor Martin, the RailRiders got two more runs without the benefit of a hit. Jasson Dominguez started the inning by reaching on an error and moved to second on a groundout by Cabrera. Max Schuemann walked. After he and Dominguez pulled off a double steal, Dominguez scored on a wild pitch. Jones walked and Yanquiel Fernandez lofted a sacrifice fly to left to score Schuemann and make it 6-4.
Finally in the bottom of the eighth, reliever Luis Guerrero was extremely late getting to the mound from the Durham bullpen and perhaps that rattled him. After a pitch timer violation led to ball one, he threw three more to walk Ernesto Martinez Jr. DeJong then reached on an error, sending Martinez to third. Martinez scored on a balk to make it 6-5 and DeJong moved to second. Henry singled to put runners at the corners. After a groundout by Dominguez advanced pinch-runner Duke Ellis to second, another balk by Guerrero plated DeJong with the tying run. Cabrera then hit a 1-1 pitch out to left field for a sacrifice fly that scored Ellis with the go-ahead run.
“Toward the end we got some momentum,” DeJong said. “We took our walks, they kicked the ball around a little bit. And the balks, honestly, I would attribute to our base-running threats. We got guys who are looking to steal and putting pressure on them. That helps us as an offense. The pitcher is worrying about guys stealing, so he might throw you a nice pitch to hit or maybe he’s out of the zone because he can’t find it. I thought it was a textbook comeback. Very fun to be a part of.”
Kerwin Castro came on in the ninth and worked around a one-out single to Victor Mesa Jr. to earn his second save. Watson (1-0) was the winning pitcher.
“That’s a really big win,” Duncan said. “It says a lot about who they are as a team and what they’re doing right now. You saw a lot of team at-bats, some sac flies, guys just putting the ball in play when they needed to. Base runners maintain their aggressiveness on the bases. It was a fun game to watch. Fun to watch those guys scratch and claw and pull out a victory.”