MOOSIC — As the high, arcing drive smacked off his bat, Erik Kratz dropped his head under a feeling of failure.

Moments later, he was standing at second base with a two-run double.

And the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders were at the top of the International League North standings, headed back to the Governors’ Cup Playoffs.

Kyle Higashioka hit two home runs to trigger two improbable — if not impossible — late-inning comebacks, Kratz crushed a two-out, two-run double to complete the winning explosion Tuesday and the RailRiders rallied past Syracuse with a wild 14-13 victory in a playoff for the IL North title at PNC Field.

“I never saw anything like it,” Kratz said.

The 39-year-old veteran of seven major league teams — including stints during divisional championship seasons with the 2011 Philadelphia Phillies and 2017 New York Yankees — watched the RailRiders rally within a run two times after facing a five-run deficit in the seventh inning and a six-run mountain in the eighth.

He came to the plate with two men on and two outs, and blasted a ball that went well wide of Syracuse left fielder Gregor Blanco, skipped off the warning track in left-center field and sent Mandy Alvarez and pinch-runner Terrance Gore racing home with the tying and go-ahead runs.

That started the engines on the buses that almost immediately headed to Durham, where the RailRiders will begin a first-round best-of-five playoff series with the IL wild card Bulls at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday.

Pretty neat for the biggest swing of the RailRiders season, which left Kratz a bit cranky off the bat.

“When I hit it, I didn’t think it was getting down,” Kratz said in a champagne-soaked RailRiders clubhouse. “I thought we were going to have to go get it in the ninth. I thought it was just a long fly ball to left. But it wasn’t. I looked up and (Blanco) was running with his glove glove up in the air. I was more surprised (standing) at second base than my teammates were excited. I was thinking a million things.

“How did that happen? How did I not get thrown out at second?”

In a game that produced 24 hits, 12 walks, 27 runs and ran through 12 pitchers, perplexity was running rampant on both sides.

The RailRiders, held through one hit over six innings by two-time major league all-star Ervin Santana, nearly completed a magical comeback in the seventh.

Trailing 7-1, a big RailRiders rally started with a big shot, as Higashioka hammered an impressive blast onto the catwalk in left field to begin the seventh.

It pulled the RailRiders within 7-2, and signaled the beginning of the end for Santana.

Kratz, Gosuke Katoh and Wendell Rijo all followed with singles to fill the bases and knock Santana out of the box. Former Scranton/Wilkes-Barre reliever Nick Rumbelow came on for Syracuse, but couldn’t duplicate his old form as a Yankees farmhand on a mound he knew so well.

Zach Zehner and Brandon Wagner greeted Rumbelow with RBI singles, then Billy Burns drew a bases-loaded walk to force home Rijo with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s fourth run of the frame.

Zehner scored the fifth when Mandy Alvarez grounded into a double play, pulling the RailRiders within 7-6 and sending Wagner to third base as the potential tying run.

“All of a sudden, it’s like we’ve got a chance,” RailRiders manager Jay Bell said.

Then Breyvic Valera stepped up and put a real charge into the crowd, not to mention the ball, nearly send a go-ahead homer over the wall. But Syracuse right fielder Aaron Altherr gloved it to end the inning.

After that, it appeared as if the RailRiders playoff hopes ended for good.

Blanco delivered the third straight single and his fourth RBI of the game to open a Syracuse eighth inning that also included a wild pitch that sent Ali Sanchez home, along with back-to-back two-run doubles from Jason Krizan and ex-Mets infielder Ruben Tejada.

When that latest Syracuse eruption was finished, the RailRiders were facing a bigger deficit at 13-6 than when their own inspiring rally began in the seventh.

“Talk about deflation,” Kratz said. “You’re deflated.”

And nearly out of options.

“It was a strange day,” Bell said. “We get back within a run, then give up six. And you’re like, ‘Now what?’ “

What happened next shocked both teams.

For the second straight inning, Higashioka led off with a long homer — this time halfway up the bank in front of the black in center field — to open the RailRiders eighth.

Just like the previous inning, the RailRiders followed his blast by loading the bases, as Kratz was hit by a pitch and Katoh and Rijo both drew walks.

“Ha! You don’t really think of a leadoff home run as a rally starter,” Higashioka said. “But it just happened that way. I think it’s about seeing good pitches, having good at-bats. You just kind of have to stick to your approach.”

It’s one that worked for the RailRiders in a dazzling way.

Zack Zehner and Breyvic Valera delivered sacrifice flies, Brandon Wagner Mandy Alvarez had RBI singles and Billy Burns scored on a wild pitch.

“Higgy hits the home run, that’s what Higgy’s done all year,” Kratz said. “And if he was doing that all year, we said, ‘Let’s do what we’ve done all year.”

Suddenly, Kratz was at the plate for the second time in the inning, driving his winning double where no one could catch it and delivering a shot of joy to the RailRiders.

“The dugout just erupted,” Higashioka said. “It was awesome.”

It was the only time the RailRiders led in the game.

And the most critical time.

Rehabbing Yankees reliever Ben Heller worked a perfect ninth inning for the save — “We had not intention of putting him in to pitch,” Bell said, “but we were in a position where we needed him.”

And the RailRiders were on their way to the playoffs.

“It doesn’t get much more exciting than that,” Kratz said. “It’s a lot of fun.”

RailRiders 14, Syracuse 13

Syracuse`AB`R`H`BI

Alcantara 2b`6`1`1`0

Lowrie dh`4`1`2`0

Taljeron dh`0`1`0`0

Espinosa ss`4`2`2`1

Krizan 1b`4`2`2`3

Tejada 3b`4`1`1`3

Altherr rf`4`1`0`0

Lee cf`5`1`1`1

Sanchez c`3`1`1`0

Liriano ph`1`0`0`0

Blanco lf`5`2`3`4

Totals`40`13`13`12

RailRiders`AB`R`H`BI

Alvarez 3b`5`1`1`1

Valera ss`3`1`0`1

Higashioka c`4`2`3`2

Gore pr-cf`0`1`0`0

Kratz 1b-c`4`2`2`3

Katoh rf-lf`3`2`1`0

Rijo 2b`4`2`1`0

Zehner rf-lf`3`1`1`2

Wagner dh`4`1`2`2

Burns cf-rf`2`1`0`1

Totals`32`14`11`12

Syracuse`501`000`160 — 13

RailRiders`000`100`58x — 14

2B — Krizan 2 (9), Lowrie (1), Espinosa (27), Tejada (20); Higashioka (13), Kratz (10). HR — Blanco (13); Higashioka 2 (20).

Syracuse`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO

Santana`6`5`5`5`1`6

Rumbelow`0`2`1`1`1`0

Nogosek, H (10)`1`1`4`4`2`0

Pounders`0.2`2`3`3`1`0

Hanhold, L (3-4), BS (3)`0.1`1`1`1`2`0

RailRiders`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO

Rosa`0.2`3`5`2`2`0

Mantiply`2.1`2`1`1`1`0

Garcia`3`1`0`0`0`2

Lail`1`5`4`4`0`2

Hernandez`0.1`1`3`3`2`0

Coulombe, W (3-2)`0.2`1`0`0`0`1

Heller, S (1)`1`0`0`0`0`1

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By Paul Sokoloski psokoloski@timesleader.com

Reach Paul Sokoloski at 570-991-6392 or on Twitter @TLPaulSokoloski