The Syracuse Chiefs, the Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, lost 8-1 to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees on Saturday night at Alliance Bank Stadium. The game was considered a home contest for the Yankees, whose stadium is under rennovation. The loss for Syracuse extended its losing streak to six games.
After a scoreless first inning, the Yankees surged for six runs in the bottom of the second off of Chiefs starter Tanner Roark. Gustavo Molina kicked the inning off with a single. Roark responded by inducing a fielder's choice groundout against Cole Garner. The next six Scranton/Wilkes-Barre batters, however, all reached base with either a single or a walk. Ray Kruml collected the first run-scoring hit of the frame to plate Molina and put the Yanks up 1-0. Corban Joseph and Ronnier Mustelier also knocked runs with RBI singles, while Kevin Russo drove in a pair with a hit to help give the Yankees a 6-0 lead. The "home" team sent 10 batters up in the inning, tallying five hits and benefiting from one error and two walks.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (51-43) stretched its lead to 7-0 in the third inning. Garner led off with another single and moved to second base when Ramiro Pena followed with a single of his own. A Kruml fielder's choice grounder allowed Garner to get to third, putting him in position to score on a sacrifice fly by Russo.
Syracuse (44-49) turned to Austin Bibens-Dirkx out of the bullpen in the fourth. The right-hander threw a season-high four innings of relief for the Chiefs and also matched a season-best with four strikeouts.
Although Bibens-Dirkx allowed only four hits and walked none, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre manufactured a run in the home seventh. Pena singled with Garner at second base to put the Yankees ahead 8-0.
The Chiefs struck for their only run of the night in the top of the eighth. After Scranton/Wilkes-Barre starter David Phelps threw six and two-thirds innings without allowing a run, Juan Cedeno came on in relief. With one out and no one on base in the eighth, Jim Negrych launched his sixth home run of the season to straightaway center field. Negrych's homer, which made the score 8-1, gave the Chiefs their first run since Sunday at Pawtucket. Neither side put up a run after the Negrych blast.
Courtesy: Syracuse Chiefs
