On Friday night at Coca-Cola Park, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs returned from the All-Star break to battle the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders in a three-game series.
Michael Plassmeyer (2-0, 2.28 ERA) was on the mound for Lehigh Valley, while the RailRiders started Hayden Wesneski (5-7, 3.51 ERA).
IronPigs starter Michael Plassmeyer gave up two hits in the first three innings; he didn’t run into trouble until the top of the fourth inning. On a 1-2 count, Plassmeyer gave up a home run to RailRiders’ second baseman Oswaldo Cabrera that was crushed into the IronPigs’ bullpen in left field for a 1-0 lead.
After getting RailRiders’ third baseman Miguel Andujar to pop out, Plassmeyer gave up a single to Josh Breaux and walked Ben Rortvedt. Plassmeyer got the last two outs on a pop-out by Jake Bauers, and a forceout from Phillip Evans retired the side.
At the top of the fifth inning, IronPigs starter Michael Plassmeyer walked Tyler Wade. Then, during Estevan Florial’s plate appearance, Plassmeyer threw a wild pitch, moving Wade to second base. Florial flied out on a 2-2 count, and next was Oswald Peraza. Peraza singled over Nick Maton’s head and into center field, scoring Wade for a 2-0 lead.
Up next to bat was Oswaldo Cabrera. During his at-bat, Plassmeyer threw his second wild pitch, moving Peraza to second base. Then, Cabrera doubled to the corner of right field, scoring Peraza, and it was 3-0 RailRiders. After a mound visit, Plassmeyer gave up a two-run home run to Miguel Andujar into the IronPigs’ bullpen at left field for a 5-0 lead. That was it for Plassmeyer, who went 4.1 innings, allowing seven hits, five runs, two walks, and two strikeouts on 83 pitches. Zach Warren was the new IronPigs pitcher and struck out both Josh Breaux and Ben Rortvedt to end the inning.
The IronPigs batters had four hits and one walk in the first four innings but could not get on the board. In the bottom of the fifth inning, with one out, IronPigs’ second baseman Scott Kingery hit a home run just over the fence at left field, cutting the RailRiders’ lead 5-1. IronPigs’ shortstop Nick Maton flied out, and designated hitter Donny Sands struck out to end the inning. The IronPigs batters only had two hits for the rest of the game.
Ryan Sherriff was the new IronPigs pitcher at the top of the sixth inning. He went one inning, allowing one hit, no runs, no walks, and one strikeout in 19 pitches. The other pitchers the IronPigs used were Mark Appel (1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 13 pitches), Jace Fry (1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO, 17 pitches), and Tyler Cyr (1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, ten pitches).
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Greg Weissert closed out the game for the RailRiders. He threw nine pitches to get the last three outs of the game, and the IronPigs lost 5-1. Lehigh Valley is now 49-42, while the RailRiders improve to 45-46.
This was not the way to start the second half of the season. There are only eleven weeks left in the season, and every win counts if they are going to have a shot at making the playoffs.
The win went to RailRiders pitcher Hayden Wesneski (5.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 4 SO), while the loss went to IronPigs starter Michael Plassmeyer, his first loss of the season.
The series continues tonight at 6:35 pm. Tickets for the game can be purchased on StubHub, and pick up IronPigs merchandise at Fanatics.com.
