Chiefs Overcome Quick "De-Railment," Split Modified Doubleheader at NBT Bank Stadium

BY PETER SWEENEY

Game One (RailRiders 7, Chiefs 6)

It was a peculiar night last Tuesday at NBT Bank Stadium. There wasn’t one game. There were two. You could call it a doubleheader, but then again, you couldn’t. The first game only lasted two innings.

In a makeup of a suspended game from July 12th, the Syracuse Chiefs hosted the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, beginning action in the top of the 12th inning. But this was not your average makeup game either. In Triple-A baseball, if two teams need to play a makeup game and the visiting team is not scheduled to come back to the stadium before the end of the season, the game is made up on the road. So when the game resumed at 6:00, the visiting RailRiders took the field.

The Chiefs’ biggest chance to score in the game came in the top of the 12th. With runners on first and third and two outs, veteran Will Rhymes came to the plate. He flew out to the right fielder.

The game ended in the bottom of the 13th when Alberto Gonzalez broke the tie, hitting a game-winning single. And in the most bizarre sight of the entire night, the visiting team walked off with the win.

Game 2 (Chiefs 3, RailRiders 2)

In a game where runs were hard to come by, Josh Johnson doubled on a deep fly ball to left field in the fourth inning to give the Chiefs a 3-2 lead for good. 

 “I just was looking for a pitch I could handle [and] got something elevated,” Johnson said after the game. 

Yunesky Maya (W, 7-7) started for the Chiefs and was outstanding. His only blemish on the scorecard was a two-run home run to Melky Mesa in top of the 3rd inning. Maya pitched eight strong innings for the Chiefs, giving up two runs on five hits while striking out five. Maya has now given up less than four runs in his last four straight starts. 

His counterpart, David Huff (L, 4-6), wasn’t so bad himself, but still ended up receiving the loss for the RailRiders. Huff pitched five innings for Scranton/WB, allowing three runs on six hits and striking out six. Huff turned the ball over to Yoshinori Tateyama in the 6th. The loss marked Huff’s second in a row. 

In the top of the ninth, Chiefs’ closer Erik Davis made quick work of the RailRiders, delivering a 1-2-3 inning for the save. The save was Davis’ 12th of the year. But even with his great performance, he was simply happy to get the win. 

 “Whether you leave the bases loaded or get them 1-2-3, as long as your put that zero up, that’s really all that matters,” he said. 

Corey Brown had the only multiple-hit night for the for the Chiefs, going 2 for 3 with a strikeout. Randy Ruiz hit the ball extremely well in the losing effort for the RailRiders, gathering 3 of their 5 hits on the night before flying out to the right fielder in his 4th and final at bat.

The Chiefs finish their series with the RailRiders tonight at NBT Bank Stadium. Danny Rosenbaum (6-7, 3.95) will be on the mound for the Chiefs.

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