LAWRENCEVILLE -- Gwinnett Braves’ right-handed starter Matt Wisler gave up nine hits Wednesday, including seven for extra bases in an 8-5 loss to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders at Coolray Field. Despite the loss, the G-Braves won two of three games in the series.
The RailRiders (10-11) drilled six doubles and a triple, plating seven runs off of Wisler (L, 0-3). He struck out four batters over 4.1 innings, but also walked two and threw a wild pitch.
Wisler worked around an error and a walk to get through the first inning scoreless, but Scranton/Wilkes-Barre began its assault in the second with three runs on four hits, all of which went for extra bases.
Austin Romine started the rally with a one-out double, and Nick Noonan also doubled with two outs to give the RailRiders a 1-0 lead. Ben Gamel ripped a triple into left-center field to score Noonan, and Ramon Flores added an RBI double scoring Gamel to make it 3-0.
Their second big inning came in the fifth. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre sent eight batters to the plate in a frame that produced five runs and three more doubles. Cole Figueroa drove in the first two runs with a one-out double. Jonathan Galvez drove in another two runners with a two-out double to left off of G-Braves’ left-handed reliever Greg Smith. Galvez scored Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s final run on a single to center by Noonan.
The G-Braves (8-12) recovered from their early 3-0 deficit with a run in the second and two in the fourth to tie the game at three against RailRiders’ right-handed starter Kyle Davies. Elmer Reyes accounted for the first two runs with a sacrifice fly that scored Pedro Ciriaco in the second and a single that scored Todd Cunningham in the fourth.
After falling behind 8-3, Gwinnett scored twice more in the sixth on an RBI double by Joe Benson and RBI single by Braeden Schlehuber. Davies (W, 2-1) exited after 5.1 innings having allowed five earned runs on 10 hits.
Gwinnett, now trailing 8-5, could not crack the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre bullpen. The G-Braves had two runners reach base against RailRiders’ righty Diego Moreno in the seventh, but they went hitless the rest of the night. Right-hander Nick Rumbelow (H, 1) set them down in order in the eighth, and a walk to Eury Perez was Gwinnett’s only baserunner in the ninth against righty Jose Ramirez (S, 2), although Perez did pick up his International League-leading 12thstolen base of the year.
Smith went 2.2 innings in relief for Gwinnett with two strikeouts and one run allowed on four hits. Righty Mitchell Boggs threw a perfect eighth inning that included one strikeout, and right-hander David Carpenter allowed a hit and struck out one batter in the ninth.
Cunningham finished 2-for-4 with two stolen bases to extend his team-best hitting streak to nine games, and Sean Kazmar moved his hit streak to eight games by going 3-for-4 with two doubles.
The teams combined for 27 hits, including 11 for extra bases. Gwinnett tied a season high in the hits department with 13 but also allowed a season-high 14. Gamel, Flores, Roller, Figueroa and Noonan all had two-hit games for the RailRiders.
The G-Braves begin a four-game series with the Toledo Mud Hens on Thursday with a 6:35 p.m. start at Coolray Field. Right-hander Chien-Ming Wang (0-1, 6.23 ERA) will start for Gwinnett. The Mud Hens will go with left-hander Mike Belfiore (0-3, 7.04 ERA). Tony Schiavone has the play-by-play call on 97.7 FM and WSBRadio.com beginning at 6:00 p.m.
Thursday night is a “Triple Play Thursday” when fans can purchase a four-pack of tickets with four hot dogs and four soft drinks for $40. The offer is available only at the Coolray Field Ticket Office. To purchase tickets, call the Coolray Field Ticket Office at 678-277-0340 or visit GwinnettBraves.com/tickets.
