Spencer Jones powers RailRiders split with Bulls in doubleheader showdown

Spencer Jones turned a rain-delayed Saturday into a statement day, driving in five runs as the RailRiders split a doubleheader with Durham at PNC Field. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre dropped the opener 4-2, then answered with a 9-5 win in Game 2, a split that left the RailRiders at 9-5 and the Bulls at 4-10.

The opener belonged to the arms early, and Jones quickly gave the home club a lead. Jasson Domínguez worked a walk and stole second before Jones lined an RBI single for a 1-0 edge. Durham flipped the game in the fourth when Logan Davidson launched a two-run homer, then added more breathing room when Gavin Lux, on a rehab assignment from a right shoulder injury, ripped a two-run double in the sixth. Lux reached base in all four plate appearances before leaving in the fifth after a ground-ball misplay.

Even in defeat, Carlos Lagrange looked like a pitcher forcing his way into future conversations. The 6-foot-7, 248-pound right-hander from Bayaguana, Dominican Republic was in just his third Triple-A start, but he struck out eight while allowing two runs on two hits in 3.1 innings. MLB Pipeline tracked him throwing triple digits on 27 of 38 fastballs and touching 102.4 mph three times, a power package that gave the Yankees another glimpse of why the 22-year-old has become one of the system’s most electric arms.

Game 2 flipped the script. Durham starter Jonny Cuevas retired the first nine hitters he faced, but the RailRiders broke through with a six-run fourth that changed the night. Domínguez and Oswaldo Cabrera started the rally, Jones brought in a run, Seth Brown crushed a three-run homer, and Duke Ellis added another RBI hit to blow the game open. Jones later added a solo homer, finishing the doubleheader with three hits and five RBIs.

For Jones, a 2022 first-round pick out of Vanderbilt and the Yankees’ No. 6 prospect in MLB Pipeline and Baseball America, the twin bill offered the kind of all-fields, all-purpose production that keeps a call-up conversation alive. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre even used third-string catcher Edinson Duran to pitch the final inning of Game 2, a reminder of how quickly Triple-A games can turn into roster puzzles. Chase Solesky earned his first win in the Tampa Bay organization with five innings of one-run ball in the opener, and the teams were set to finish the series Sunday at 1:35 p.m. ET.