The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (21-25) were back at Coca-Cola Park for game five Saturday night against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (30-13). Lehigh Valley looked to win two in a row after winning 6-3 Friday night.
On the mound for Lehigh Valley was Adonis Medina (3-4, 5.36 ERA) to counter Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s Matt Krook (0-0, 0.00), who was making his Triple-A debut.
The IronPigs took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning on a solo home run by Ryan Cordell.
In the bottom of the third inning, with one out, RailRiders shortstop Andrew Velazquez hit an opposite-field home run to left field that tied the game 1-1.
Moving ahead to the bottom of the fifth inning with one out and runners on second and third, RailRiders center fielder Estevan Florial hit a two-run double to right field that gave Scranton/Wilkes-Barre a 3-1 lead.
The IronPigs brought in Mauricio Llovera as the new pitcher. Three batters later, with two outs and runners on the corners, RailRiders designated hitter Derek Dietrich crushed a three-run home run over the right-field wall that extended the RailRiders lead 6-1.
At the top of the sixth inning, with the bases loaded and two outs, Llovera walked RailRiders first baseman Chris Gittens for a 7-1 lead. Then, designated hitter Derek Dietrich hit a two-run RBI single to right field, blowing the game open 9-1.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, with a runner on first and one out, Lehigh Valley cut the RailRiders lead to 9-3 on a two-run home run to left field by shortstop Dalton Guthrie.
At the top of the eighth inning, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre added another run when first baseman Chris Gittens sent the ball over the center-field wall for a 10-3 lead. In the bottom of the eighth inning, with one out and runners on the corners, IronPigs right fielder Ryan Cordell’s RBI single made it a 10-4 game.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre sent Luis Garcia to the mound in the bottom of the ninth inning. He got all three outs that ended the game, and the IronPigs lose to the RailRiders 10-4.
The winning pitcher went to RailRiders reliever Reggie McClain (2.0 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 5 SO). The loss went to IronPigs starter Adonis Medina (4.2 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO).
Lehigh Valley are now 21-26, heading into the finale at Coca-Cola today at 1:35 pm with David Parkinson (0-4, 5.30 ERA) pitching for the IronPigs against Asher Wojciechowski (0-0, 0.00) of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
