The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (40-46) lost the game in extra innings 6-5 to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (50-32) Saturday night at PNC Field. Austin Ross made his IronPigs debut after Adonis Medina was called up to Philadelphia. Ross’s record in Reading was (7-2, 5.72 ERA).
With runners on second and third base in the bottom of the first inning, RailRiders right fielder Ryan LaMarre reached first base after the ball deflected off of IronPigs second baseman Sal Gozzo. This scored a run for a 1-0 lead.
In a questionable move, the IronPigs took out pitcher Austin Ross (1.0 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB). They put Julian Garcia in as the new pitcher for Lehigh Valley in the bottom of the second inning. With a runner on third base, Garcia threw a wild pitch that added another run for the RailRiders 2-0.
At the top of the fourth inning, with runners on first and second base, the IronPigs took a 3-2 lead on a three-run home run by third baseman T.J. Rivera to left field. It was Rivera’s first home run of the year.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre took a 5-3 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning on a three-run home run by first baseman Chris Gittens to center field.
Lehigh Valley made it a one-run game 5-4 at the top of the seventh inning after Arquimedes Gamboa’s grounded out to first base. Then RailRiders first baseman Chris Gittens made an error when he threw the ball that missed third baseman Brandon Wagner. This scored Sal Gozzo.
At the top of the eighth inning, the IronPigs tied the game 5-5 on a solo home run to left field by right fielder Matt Vierling. The IronPigs had a chance to take the lead with the bases loaded, but catcher Rafael Marchan struck out.
The game went into extra innings. The controversial final play happened when Cam Bedrosian threw what was called a wild pitch in the bottom of the tenth inning. When this happened, the RailRiders, who had the bases loaded, walked in for the win. Then there was confusion, no signal by the umpire, and center fielder Greg Allen scored from third base for a 6-5 win.
However, the umpires just stood there and made no signal about Allen. Was he safe? The replay showed that RailRiders right fielder Matt LaMarre made contact with the ball, which should’ve been a foul. Both dugouts were confused along with the fans and broadcasters, except for the umpires, who walked off the field, and the RailRiders celebrated the win. Rather than meet and discuss the play, they simply left a stunned team, crowd, and viewers.
The win went to RailRiders pitcher Greg Weissert (2.0 IP, 2 SO) and the loss went to IronPigs pitcher Cam Bedrosian (0.0 IP, 1 R, 2 BB).
The IronPigs finish the six-game series at PNC Field today at 1:05 pm. Cristopher Sanchez (3-4, 3.61 ERA) starts for Lehigh Valley versus Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s Deivi Garcia (2-5, 7.25 ERA).
