García, bullpen shut down Lehigh Valley in home opener

May 12—MOOSIC — Manager Doug Davis noted earlier this week that while his Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders hitters had a field day in their opening series against the Syracuse Mets, it was a bit of a grind for his pitchers.

In four of the games, Syracuse managed at least five runs against the RailRiders, including an 11-run output the last time Deivi García was on the mound.

After their first off day of the season, and back in front of a home crowd for the first time since Sept. 7, 2019, García and the pitchers wiped the slate clean.

The New York Yankees' top pitching prospect looked more like his old self Tuesday, carving up the Lehigh Valley IronPigs' lineup over five scoreless innings and the RailRiders won their sixth straight, 6-0, in front of a socially distanced crowd of 2,910 at PNC Field.

"Tonight, he commanded the ball," Davis said. "I think Robinson (Chirinos, SWB's catcher) back there helps. He kept him really focused. They got on a roll. He got the ball. He threw whatever Robinson called. And I think that was a good matchup for him tonight."

García walked seven in just 3 1/3 innings in his start against Syracuse. That wasn't the guy on the mound at PNC Field.

This García went right at Lehigh Valley's hitters, who were very familiar with the 21-year-old righty after many matched up against him during alternate site exhibition games in April. He zipped fastballs by them and buckled their knees with big, bending curveballs.

Travis Jankowski started the game with a double that left fielder Miguel Andújar misplayed a bit, then García retired 14 of the final 17 batters he faced. He struck out Ronald Torreyes in the first, rang up C.J. Chatham in the second then punched out two in the fourth and fifth innings.

Over five innings, he allowed three hits, walked just one and struck out three.

"Throughout the game, he did, he threw strikes, commanded all of his pitches and mixed things up," Davis said. "He threw a lot of fastballs, and threw some good sliders."

After García walked the leadoff man in the sixth inning, Nestor Cortes Jr. relieved him and didn't miss a beat. The veteran southpaw retired the first eight batters he faced, striking out five. After No. 9 hitter Luke Williams singled with two outs in the eighth, Cortes got Jankowski to ground out to wrap up his night.

Albert Abreu, in his RailRiders debut, worked a three-up, three-down ninth to complete the shutout.

Top Philadelphia Phillies pitching prospect Spencer Howard started for Lehigh Valley and faced the minimum over his three innings, the only blemish being a walk by Andrew Velazquez that was quickly erased by a double play.

But once reliever Ramón Rosso came into the game for the fourth inning, the RailRiders offense went to work.

They sent 11 batters to the plate in the inning, capitalizing on a wild night from Rosso. He hit two batters, walked two in the inning and allowed a run to score on a wild pitch, but the big hit ended up being a blow for both sides.

With the bases loaded and the game still scoreless, Trey Amburgey — one of the RailRiders' hottest hitters who entered the game with a 1.476 OPS — ripped a double off the wall in left field that scored two runs. But Amburgey struggled to get into second, limping most of the way after rounding first base, then immediately motioned to the dugout that he was done for the game.

Davis said he pulled a muscle in his leg, but couldn't be more specific as he had yet to talk to the team's trainer.

obviously for him, I feel bad. He was red hot. One of one of the hottest hitters in the lineup and with power. He hit some home runs in Syracuse and had a big hit in that inning tonight for us to drive in a couple. So, you know, yeah it's hard on our offense, but I feel much worse for him personally, because I know he was really excited about getting an opportunity to play here and he got that opportunity and he's making the most of it by putting together a lot of good at-bats and being very productive with his at-bats."

After the wild pitch made it 3-0, Velazquez was hit by a pitch to force in another. Armando Alvarez added a sacrifice fly, then Andújar capped the rally with a broken bat single to make it 6-0. It was the fourth time in the first seven games that the RailRiders sent at least nine batters to the plate in one inning.

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