The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (10-6) returned to NBT Bank Stadium Saturday night against the Syracuse Mets (3-13). The starting pitchers for this game were Julian Garcia for the IronPigs and Thomas Szapucki for the Mets.
IronPigs second baseman Luke Williams started the top of the first inning reaching first base when J.D. Davis couldn’t secure the catch. Then Williams stole second base on a wild pitch from Szapucki. Left fielder Mickey Moniak was able to move Williams to third base on a groundout to first base.
The next batter up was right fielder Ryan Cordell. He grounded to third baseman David Thompson. Thompson’s throw forced Davis to come off the bag and miss the tag, scoring Williams for a 1-0 IronPigs lead.
Lehigh Valley’s offense went scoreless the next three innings. On the other hand, the Mets bats were alive and well. In the bottom of the second inning with one out, Mets third baseman David Thompson crushed a solo home run to right field that tied the game at one apiece.
In the bottom of the third inning, Mets center fielder Mason Williams doubled to left field. The next batter up was Mets catcher Nick Meyer. He doubled to left field that scored Williams to take a 2-1 lead.
The IronPigs made a pitching change in the bottom of the fourth inning. Ethan Evanko replaced Julian Garcia. Garcia finished the night pitching three innings, three hits, two earned runs, two walks, and three strikeouts. Evanko gave up a single to Mets third baseman David Thompson, followed by a strikeout to Drew Ferguson.
Then, Mets second baseman Drew Jackson hit a two-run home run out towards right field that extended the Mets lead 4-1. The Mets added one more run in the inning on a Mason Williams single that brought home Cody Bohanek for a 5-1 lead.
The IronPigs were able to cut the lead at the top of the fifth inning. Lehigh Valley’s second baseman Luke Williams tripled to right field with one out. Then Romain Quinn, who is on a rehab assignment, singled to right field that scored Williams to make it a 5-2 game.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, with one out, Mets first baseman J.D. Davis homered out towards center field to get the run back and a 6-2.
Moving ahead to the bottom of the sixth inning, the IronPigs made another pitching change going with JD Hammer. Mets second baseman Drew Jackson was up with one out to hit his second home run of the game out towards right field for a 7-2 lead.
At the top of the seventh inning, Lehigh Valley started to show some signs of life. IronPigs second baseman Luke Williams started the inning with a double. Three batters later, right fielder Ryan Cordell walked with two outs.
That led to a pitching change with Sam McWilliams in for the Mets. Lehigh Valley shortstop Ruben Tejada doubled to center field that scored one run. The IronPigs now trailed the Mets 7-3.
Then McWilliams threw a wild pitch to score Cordell to cut the Mets lead down to three 7-4. Moving to the top of the eighth inning, IronPigs catcher Edgar Cabral doubled to left field. Two batters later, Darick Hall was up with one out. Hall hit a two-run home run towards right field that cut the Mets lead to 7-6. Two batters later, Cornelius Randolph tied the game 7-7 with a solo home run out towards right field.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Mets David Thompson doubled, and Drew Ferguson singled to put runners at the corners. The Mets would retake the lead 8-7 on a sacrifice fly by Cody Bohanek.
At the top of the ninth inning, the Mets made brought in Cory Oswalt. Lehigh Valley right fielder Ryan Cordell faced him first. Cordell tied the game at eight apiece with a solo home run towards center field.
Moving into the bottom of the ninth inning, the IronPigs brought in Neftali Feliz. He walked Sebastian Elizalde. Then Feliz gave up a single to Nick Meyer, moving Elizalde to third base. Feliz’s ball bounced past Cabral that scored the game-winning run.
The IronPigs comeback fell short in a 9-8 loss to the Mets. The rest of the IronPigs pitchers went five innings, nine hits allowed, six earned runs, two walks, and ten strikeouts.
Lehigh Valley will close out the road trip at NBT Bank Stadium tomorrow at 1:05 pm on MiLB.com.
