On Friday night at Coca-Cola Park, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs were looking for a bounce-back win against the Gwinnett Stripers after being shut out Thursday night 2-0. The IronPigs trailed the Durham Bulls by one game for first place in the International League East Division.
Before the game started, there were several transactions. First, the Philadelphia Phillies recalled pitcher Bailey Falter and sent down Yairo Munoz. Falter started the game for the Phillies against the Pittsburgh Pirates, and Munoz was in the lineup for the IronPigs playing second base.
Meanwhile, the IronPigs placed pitcher Jace Fry on the 7-day injured list and called pitcher Brian Marconi from the Reading Fightin Phils. Marconi is 4-6, with a 4.53 ERA, 18 saves, and 57 strikeouts in 43 games with the Fightin Phils this year.
Bubby Rossman (3-1, 3.18 ERA) was on the mound for Lehigh Valley, while the Stripers started Ian Anderson (1-0, 0.00 ERA).
IronPigs pitcher Bubby Rossman began the top of the first inning by walking Delino DeShields. Then, Taylor Motter grounded to shortstop Daniel Robertson, moving DeShields to second base with Hernan Perez coming to the plate. During Perez’s plate appearance, Rossman threw a wild pitch, moving DeShields to third base.
After Perez walked, Stripers’ designated hitter Rylan Bannon hit a sacrifice fly to second baseman Yairo Munoz. Munoz and Dalton Guthrie nearly collided as neither one called for the ball, and Munoz eventually caught it, and the Stripers took a 1-0 lead. Finally, Rossman got Tyler White to ground out, ending the inning.
IronPigs pitcher Bubby Rossman started the top of the third inning by giving up a single to Delino DeShields with Taylor Motter coming to the plate. During Motter’s plate appearance, DeShields stole second and third base before Rossman walked Motter. Hernan Perez was up to bat. He singled on a sharp line drive to center field, scoring DeShields for a 2-0 lead.
That was it for Rossman, and Braeden Ogle came in to pitch against Rylan Bannon. Bannon hit a ground-rule double to left-center field for a 4-0 lead.
The runs were charged to Rossman, and his final stats were pitching two innings, allowing two hits, four runs, four earned runs, and three walks in 43 pitches. Finally, Ogle got Tyler White to pop out, Ryan Casteel to fly out, and Yariel Gonzalez to fly out, ending the inning. That was it for Ogle, who went one inning, allowing one hit, no runs, no walks, and no strikeouts in nine pitches.
IronPigs’ left fielder Chris Sharpe started the bottom of the third inning with a double, followed by another double from Daniel Robertson, scoring Sharpe as the IronPigs cut the Stripers’ lead, 4-1. IronPigs’ center fielder Brandon Marsh was up next. He singled on a ground ball to center field, scoring Robertson, and it was now 4-2 Stripers.
IronPigs’ right fielder Dalton Guthrie was up next. He doubled over Delino DeShields at center field, scoring Marsh for a one-run game, 4-3. Two batters later, a balk was called on Gwinnett pitcher Ian Anderson, and IronPigs’ catcher Donny Sands drove Guthrie home with a sacrifice fly to right field, tying the game 4-4. IronPigs’ third baseman Will Toffey struck out swinging that ended the inning.
Ofreidy Gomez was the new IronPigs pitcher to start the top of the fourth inning. Gomez started the inning by getting back-to-back strikeouts from Joe Dunand and Greyson Jenista. Then, he walked Delino DeShields, followed by a double from Taylor Motter, scoring DeShields for a 5-4 lead. After walking Hernan Perez, Gomez gave up a single to Rylan Bannon, scoring Motter, and it was 6-4 Gwinnett.
Gomez exited the game, and Brian Marconi was the new pitcher. He got Tyler White to fly out, and that ended the inning. Gomez’s final numbers were 0.2 innings, allowing two hits, two runs, and two walks in 35 pitches.
Rafael Marchan singled in the bottom of the fourth inning with one out, followed by Chris Sharpe reaching first base on a fielding error by Hernan Perez when the ball bobbled off Perez. Daniel Robertson was up next but lined out to Tyler White, who caught the ball and tagged Chris Sharpe for the double play, ending the inning.
Moving ahead to the bottom of the fifth inning, IronPigs’ center fielder Brandon Marsh started the inning with a single; then Dalton Guthrie came to the plate. During Guthrie’s at-bat, Marsh stole second base, and Guthrie drove Marsh home with an RBI single to center field, cutting Gwinnett’s lead 6-5.
Unfortunately, the IronPigs were unable to get Guthrie home after Darick Hall struck out, Donny Sands grounded out that moved Guthrie to third base, and Will Toffey struck out swinging, ending the inning.
Mark Appel was the new IronPigs pitcher at the top of the sixth inning. Brian Marconi went 1.1 innings, with no hits, no runs, and one walk in 18 pitches. Appel started the inning by walking Delino DeShields, followed by a single from Taylor Motter. Hernan Perez was up next and grounded into a forceout at second base.
Rylan Bannon was up next and singled to right field, scoring DeShields for a 7-5 lead. Three batters later, Yariel Gonzales grounded into the direction of Yairo Munoz, who picked up the ball and threw it wide past Darick Hall and into the IronPigs dugout. Gonzales was safe at first base, and two more runs scored for a 9-5 lead.
Finally, Appel struck out Joe Dunand to end the inning. That was it for Appel, who went an inning, allowing three hits, three runs, two walks, and one strikeout in 29 pitches.
IronPigs’ second baseman Yairo Munoz started the bottom of the sixth inning with a single. Two batters later, Chris Sharpe drew a walk, and Gwinnett took out Ian Anderson for Seth Elledge. Daniel Robertson was up next and drew a walk, loading the bases for Brandon Marsh.
Marsh hit a two-run single to center field, scoring Munoz and Sharpe to make it a two-run deficit, 9-7, with Dalton Guthrie up to bat. Then, Elledge threw two straight wild pitches, and a run scored, making it 9-8.
Guthrie worked a walk, and Darick Hall hit a sacrifice fly to center field, tying the game 9-9 with Donny Sands up to bat. Then, Donny Sands hit a two-run home run in front of the KLYR Bar sign at right field, giving the IronPigs an 11-9 lead. Will Toffey struck out swinging, ending the inning.
Michael Kelly was the new IronPigs pitcher to start the top of the seventh inning. Kelly walked Delino DeShields with one out. Two batters later, he walked Hernan Perez with two outs.
After a mound visit, Kelly gave up a three-run home run to Rylan Bannon as Brandon Marsh nearly caught the ball at center field, but a fan reached over the wall to catch the ball, and the Stripers were back in the lead, 12-11. Kelly walked Tyler White, followed by getting Ryan Casteel to ground into a forceout at second base, ending the inning. That was it for Kelly, who went an inning, allowing a hit, three runs, three walks, and one strikeout in 36 pitches.
Danny Young was the new pitcher for the Stripers to start the bottom of the seventh inning. IronPigs’ designated hitter Rafael Marchan singled with one out, followed by Chris Sharpe getting hit by a pitch with Daniel Robertson coming to the plate.
Robertson doubled on a fly ball to left field, scoring Marchan that tied the game, 12-12. It was Robertson’s ninth double of the year. Dustin Peterson was up next and singled to left field, scoring Sharpe that put Lehigh Valley back in the lead, 13-12.
Dalton Guthrie was up next and singled on a line drive to center field, scoring Robertson for a 14-12 lead. Guthrie tried to steal second base but got caught, and Darick Hall struck out that ended the inning.
Jakob Hernandez was the new IronPigs pitcher to start the top of the eighth inning. Hernandez gave up a double to Joe Dunand with one out. After Greyson Jenista grounded out, moving Dunand to third base, Delino DeShields singled to center field, bringing Dunand home, and it was 14-13 IronPigs.
The inning would end when DeShields was picked off trying to steal second base but quickly tried to get back to first base and was tagged out by Darick Hall. That was it for Hernandez, who pitched an inning, allowing two hits, one run, no walks, and no strikeouts in 19 pitches.
Francisco Morales closed out the game for the IronPigs. Morales needed 13 pitches to get the last three outs as the IronPigs beat the Stripers in slugfest 14-13. There were 26 hits in the game, and the IronPigs had 16 hits.
The IronPigs improved to 67-54, and with the Durham Bulls losing 11-8 to the Nashville Sound, Lehigh Valley is now tied for first place.
The win went to IronPigs pitcher Michael Kelly. It was his first win of the year, and the loss went to Stripers pitcher Danny Young. Francisco Morales earned his second save 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 today at Fanatics.com.
