MOOSIC, Pa. — The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders rode the pitching of starter Luis Severino to beat the Gwinnett Braves by a 7-1 score on Saturday night in game two of the three-game series at PNC Field.
The game also saw the Triple-A debut of right-hander Chris Ellis, who made his first start with Gwinnett after going 8-2 with a 2.75 ERA in 13 starts with Double-A Mississippi.
But the RailRiders (40-30) gave Ellis a rude greeting in the bottom of the first inning. After one out, a single by Donovan Solano and a two-run homer by Aaron Judge (10) put Scranton ahead 2-0. A double by Gary Sanchez and a single by Jake Cave put runners on the corners, and Tyler Austin drilled a double to left to score Sanchez for a 3-0 lead. A sacrifice fly by Cesar Puello plated Cave to raise the lead to 4-0.
Still not out of the first, Ellis hit Pete Kozma with a pitch and walked Dan Fiorito to load the bases. Ben Gamel drew a bases-loaded walk to push across the fifth run of the inning. Ellis was then lifted in favor of Rob Wooten, who closed the inning with a strikeout of Solano.
The RailRiders added an unearned run off Wooten in the bottom of the second inning to push the lead to 6-0.
The G-Braves (31-38) had no answer for the hard-throwing Severino. The first Gwinnett hit came in the top of the sixth when Matt Lipka crushed a triple to right. Lipka scored on a ground out to short by Ozzie Albies to cut the deficit to 6-1.
Scranton scored the final run in the bottom of the seventh off Gwinnett reliever Stephen Janas. Sanchez doubled to right-center with one out and scored on a triple to left-center by Cave to make it 7-1.
Ellis (L, 0-1) pitched two thirds of an inning with five hits, five earned runs and two walks for the G-Braves. Wooten worked 4.1 innings with two hits, one unearned run, one walk and five strikeouts. Janas went 3.0 innings with three hits, one earned run and one strikeout.
Severino (W, 3-0) pitched 8.1 innings with three hits, one earned run, three walks and five strikeouts. Conor Mullee worked two thirds of an inning with one hit and one strikeout.
Rio Ruiz led G-Braves' hitters with a 2-for-4 night. Lipka was 1-for-3 with a triple and a run scored.
For the RailRiders, Cave was 3-for-4 with an RBI triple and a run scored. Sanchez went 2-for-3 with two doubles, one RBI and two runs scored. Judge's first-inning homer was his only hit in a 1-for-3 night.
The G-Braves conclude the six-game road trip with the finale of the three-game set at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Sunday afternoon. Right-hander Joel De La Cruz (1-1, 5.48) will start for the Gwinnett, while the RailRiders will counter with left-hander Phil Coke (3-1, 1.54). First pitch is set for 1:05 p.m. Tony Schiavone has the call of the action beginning at 12:35 p.m. on 97.7 FM.
