RailRiders' game smoked out because of haze from wildfires
Jun. 7—MOOSIC — Not long into the second batting practice group, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre players were sent back into the clubhouse Tuesday as a cloud of smoke continued to choke the air around PNC Field.
The hitters would finish batting practice inside, but ultimately, they wouldn't need to come back out to the field. Instead of pitchers throwing smoke, or hitters smoking pitches, the game would not be played because of smoke.
With about 20 minutes to go before the scheduled first pitch time, the RailRiders' series opener against International League juggernaut Norfolk was postponed because of unhealthy air quality stemming from the migrating smoke of wildfires burning in Canada. No date was set for the makeup game, likely because the team will want to know the status of Wednesday night's game before finalizing the rest of the schedule for the six-game series. For now, Wednesday's game is still on for a 6:35 p.m. start.
"Never been smoked out," RailRiders manager Shelley Duncan said.
Duncan said postponing the game was a collaborative process with health experts, meteorologists, Major League Baseball and personnel from the RailRiders and Norfolk Tides. They monitored the air quality index, a scale that measures the level of air pollution where a number 0-50 is considered good, 51-100 is moderate and 101 and above starts to get into unhealthy territory. Between the RailRiders being pulled off the field at around 4 p.m. and the time when the game was supposed to start, the AQI in Moosic skyrocketed to over 200, which falls into the "very unhealthy" range.
"I don't think anybody couldn't notice a difference," Duncan said of the air quality. "Noticing it is different than being able to play in it. You notice a difference in the air quality when it's a severely humid day, or a very clear day, a very dusty day, air pollen in the sky, whatever it is. But what is the impact going to be on bodies? We don't know. That's something that's new to us. So I think when the health experts came in, I think we made a smart decision."
The RailRiders (27-30) weren't the only ones who had to postpone their game. In Syracuse, New York, the Mets were set to host Lehigh Valley, but called it off. They were also supposed to play Wednesday morning, but they rescheduled that game for a 6:35 p.m. start time.
Blowing into town
Mitch Spence was supposed to start Tuesday's game for the RailRiders, so he'll be pushed back to Wednesday, where he'll have the first crack at the International League's best team and will try to snap SWB's four-game skid.
At 40-17 (.702), Norfolk had a seven-game lead on the next closest IL teams (Durham, 33-24; and St. Paul, 32-23) heading into Tuesday, and trailed only Oklahoma City (41-16) for the most wins in Triple-A. The Tides own a run differential of plus-121, the best such mark in the minor leagues and 44 runs better than Oklahoma City.
"You never know if people pay attention to where other teams are in the standings or how good they are," Duncan said. "For this one, I brought it to their (the RailRiders') attention today, just because I kind of want to see how they react with the hope that it does bring a little buzz. Hopefully, we go out there with some energy."
Norfolk's lineup for Tuesday was supposed to feature six of the Baltimore Orioles' top seven prospects according to MLB.com, only missing the best overall, High-A shortstop Jackson Holliday. All six also rank in the top 100 in the sport.
Outfielder Colton Cowser, the fifth overall pick in the 2021 draft, is the Orioles' No. 2 prospect and owns a 1.074 OPS this season with nearly as many walks (37) as strikeouts (41). Infielder Jordan Westburg (Orioles' No. 3) is right behind him with a .988 OPS and has 15 home runs in 51 games. Heston Kjerstad, the No. 2 overall pick in 2020 who didn't play his first pro game until two years later after being diagnosed with myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle), was set to make his Triple-A debut against the RailRiders. There's also starting pitcher DL Hall (No. 5), infielder Joey Ortiz (No. 6), infielder/outfielder Connor Norby (No. 7) and outfielder Hudson Haskin (No. 13).
Grayson Rodriguez, who was one of the top pitching prospects in the game, is also back with Norfolk after struggling to a 7.35 ERA in 10 starts with the Orioles this year. In his first outing back in the minors, Rodriguez tossed six shutout innings against Gwinnett, allowing just one hit. He's lined up to start Friday against the RailRiders.
Third look
The RailRiders lineup including almost their full complement of outfielders — center fielder Estevan Florial, left fielder Elijah Dunham, right fielder Franchy Cordero and Billy McKinney, who was set to start at first base — offered fans on social media a momentary glimmer of hope as they awaited a medical update on Aaron Judge's barking big toe following his collision with the outfield wall at Dodger Stadium.
Also on the lineup card, however, was Oswald Peraza getting his seventh overall start at third base. Normally the team's stalwart shortstop, it would've been just the second time Peraza played the hot corner for the RailRiders.
Going forward, the plan is to see more of him at the position.
"He's going to spend his regular time at shortstop, but we need to get him in there at third here and there," said Duncan, who figured Peraza might play third base once or twice a series. "We also need to get him in there at second here and there. But we're going to try to get him in there at third a little more than he has been in the past."
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