RailRiders rally from 6-0 down to stun Bulls in home opener

Down 6-0 and staring at a flat start to the long-awaited home opener, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre turned PNC Field into a late-night scramble and beat Durham 7-6 on Wednesday in one of the early Triple-A season’s wildest reversals.

The Bulls had every reason to feel in control after Logan Workman carved through five shutout innings, allowing two hits and three walks while striking out eight. Durham built its cushion with Dom Keegan’s RBI triple, a sacrifice fly, three more runs in the fourth and another sacrifice fly in the sixth, leaving the RailRiders with a six-run hole after Tuesday’s scheduled opener had already been pushed back by cold weather.

Then the game bent. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s first run came on a wild pitch, the kind of free base that can start a rally before the home crowd fully realizes it. Paul DeJong followed with an RBI double, Jasson Domínguez reached on an error, and the RailRiders kept forcing Durham to make one more throw, one more play, one more clean inning than the Bulls could manage.

That pressure broke the game open. Two balks and two errors helped fuel the comeback, with Durham’s late defense unraveling at second base. Gavin Lux was charged with two errors, Raynel Delgado added another misplay, and reliever Luis Guerrero took the loss after the eighth-inning meltdown. By then, the RailRiders had turned traffic into production and refused to let the inning die.

Oswaldo Cabrera delivered the swing that put Scranton/Wilkes-Barre ahead for good with a sacrifice fly in the eighth, completing a run of chaos that transformed a 6-0 deficit into a 7-6 lead. Kervin Castro closed the door with a scoreless ninth for the save, finishing a comeback that was as much about composure as it was about opportunity.

The most revealing number from the night may have been this: every player in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s starting nine recorded either an RBI or a run scored. That kind of lineup-wide involvement is what makes a Triple-A club dangerous, especially when it can survive a slow start, keep the ball in play and punish mistakes without needing a barrage of homers.

The opener also landed in front of a crowd that felt ready for baseball again, with first-timer fans and longtime season-ticket holders back at PNC Field and early attendance reportedly giving the RailRiders their largest opening-week mark since 2019. For a club trying to establish a tough late-game identity, the night delivered a loud answer: this lineup can stay alive long enough to turn a dead game into a statement.