On Friday night at NBT Bank Stadium, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs (41-35) snapped a three-game losing streak against the Syracuse Mets (31-44).
Before the game started, Bailey Falter, who was supposed to start for Lehigh Valley, was called up and started the game for the Phillies. Jake Newberry (1-1, 4.09 ERA) was on the mound for the IronPigs, while the Mets started Tim Adleman (1-0, 5.85 ERA).
The action started at the top of the second inning. First, Donny Sands singled. Then Josh Ockimey hit the ball that went off the glove of first basemen Mark Vientos, resulting in a fielder’s choice. IronPigs’ left fielder Jorge Bonifacio was up next and doubled to left field, scoring Sands for a 1-0 IronPigs lead.
Then, Rafael Marchan was hit by Adleman, loading the bases. The next batter, Daniel Robertson, grounded into a double play, scoring a run for a 2-0 lead. IronPigs’ second baseman Scott Kingery came to the plate but popped out to end the inning.
Moving ahead to the bottom of the third inning, Jeff Singer replaced Jake Newberry. Newberry went two innings, allowing one hit, no runs, no walk, and no strikeouts. Jeff Singer got Luke Ritter to ground out, followed by striking out Nick Plummer for two outs. Then, Singer walked Khalil Lee before Mark Vientos hit a two-run home run just over the center field wall, tying the game, 2-2. Jeff Singer got Travis Blankenhorn to fly out for the third out.
At the top of the fourth inning, with one out, Jorge Bonifacio doubled, followed by a single from Rafael Marchan, moving Bonifacio to third base. Then, a Daniel Robertson sacrifice fly put the IronPigs back up 3-2 with two outs. The IronPigs could not add any more runs as Scott Kingery popped up for the final out.
The Mets battled back in the bottom of the fourth inning, starting with a single from Patrick Mazeika, followed by a Kramer Robertson groundout that moved Mazeika to second base. Then, Nick Dini singled to center field, scoring Mazeika that tied the game, 3-3.
Syracuse would take the lead on a two-run home run by Gosuke Katoh near the Salt City Deck at right field for a 5-3 lead with one out. That would be it for Jeff Singer, who went 1.1 innings, allowing four hits, five runs, one walk, and one strikeout. Ofreidy Gomez was the new IronPigs pitcher and got the last two outs that retired the side.
Moving ahead to the top of the sixth inning, the IronPigs tied the game 5-5 on back-to-back home runs by Jorge Bonifacio and Rafael Marchan.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Jakob Hernandez replaced Ofreidy Gomez. Gomez went 1.2 innings, allowing two hits, two runs, no walks, and two strikeouts. Hernandez quickly got Kramer Robertson to fly out and back-to-back strikeouts on Nick Dini and Gosuke Katoh.
At the top of the seventh inning, the IronPigs regained the lead on a wild play. First, Dalton Guthrie doubled with one out. Then, Will Toffey singled, moving Guthrie to third base.
During Dustin Peterson’s plate appearance, Will Toffey attempted to steal second base. Once he started to run, Mets catcher Nick Dini threw the ball to second baseman Gosuke Katoh. Toffey stopped, and Katoh got distracted when Dalton Guthrie took off for home plate, allowing Toffey to steal second base. Then Dalton Guthrie stole home for a 6-5 IronPigs lead. Dustin Peterson struck out, followed by a fly-out from Donny Sands that ended the inning.
The IronPigs got an insurance run at the top of the eighth inning. IronPigs’ first baseman Josh Ockimey started the inning with a triple, followed by a walk to Jorge Bonifacio. Bonifacio stole second base, and Rafael Marchan struck out for the first out. Then, during Daniel Robertson’s plate appearance, Bryce Montes de Oca threw a wild pitch scoring Ockimey, and the lead was now 7-5 IronPigs. Unfortunately, Robertson and Scott Kingery struck out to end the inning.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Jace Fry replaced Jakob Hernandez. Hernandez went two innings, allowing no hits, no runs, no walks, and three strikeouts. Fry got back-to-back groundouts from Mark Vientos and Travis Blankenhorn, followed by striking out Patrick Mazeika to end the inning.
Moving ahead to the bottom of the ninth inning, Tyler Cyr closed out the game. He struck out Kramer Robertson, followed by back-to-back groundouts from Nick Dini and Gosuke Katoh, ending the game, and the IronPigs snapped a three-game losing streak with a 7-5 win.
This was a much-needed win after the IronPigs blew two straight games with a lead of four runs or more. Having Hernandez and Cyr in the game makes a difference. If the IronPigs manager uses them as a one-two combo from here on out, you can put a win in the column.
The win went to Jakob Hernandez for his second win of the season, while the loss went to Yoan López (1.1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 2 SO).
The series continues today at 6:35 pm. Tickets for the game can be purchased on StubHub, and pick up IronPigs merchandise at Fanatics.com.
