On Tuesday night at Norfolk Tides Baseball Club at Harbor Park Stadium, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs began a six-game road trip against the Norfolk Tides. In their previous meeting at Coca-Cola Park, the IronPigs won the series 4-2 over the Tides.
Coming into this game, the IronPigs were tied with the Durham Bulls for first place in the International League East Division. Before the game started, there were a couple of transactions. First, the Philadelphia Phillies signed pitcher Chris Devenski and assigned him to the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. Devenski was 2-1 with a 7.59 ERA with the Arizona Diamondbacks this year.
Meanwhile, the IronPigs called up Trevor Bettencourt (1-2, 2.74 ERA) from the Reading Fightin Phils. Bubby Rossman (3-1, 5.40 ERA) was on the mound for Lehigh Valley, while the Tides started Bruce Zimmerman (3-2, 4.18 ERA).
The game was scoreless in the first two innings. IronPigs pitcher Bubby Rossman gave up a single to Greg Cullen to start the bottom of the third inning. Three batters later, Rossman gave up another single to Gunnar Henderson with two outs.
Then, IronPigs’ catcher Rafael Marchan attempted to get Henderson stealing second base, but Yairo Munoz threw to home plate as Cullen was safe to put Norfolk up 1-0. Rossman got Joseph Ortiz to pop out, ending the inning. That was it for Rossman, who went three innings, allowing three hits, one run, no walks, and three strikeouts in 48 pitches.
Trevor Bettencourt was the new IronPigs pitcher in the bottom of the fourth inning. Bettencourt walked Jacob Nottingham with Kelvin Gutierrez coming to the plate. Gutierrez grounded to Scott Kingery, who tossed the ball to Yairo Munoz at second base but made a throwing error past Darick Hall, and Gutierrez advanced to second base. It was the IronPigs’ second error of the game.
Then, a wild pitch by Bettencourt moved Gutierrez to third base before Brett Phillips brought him home with a sacrifice fly to left field for a 2-0 lead. After giving up a single to Yusniel Diaz, Bettencourt got Greg Cullen to fly out, ending the inning. That was it for Bettencourt, who went one inning, allowing one hit, one run, one walk, and no strikeouts in 24 pitches.
Michael Kelly was the new IronPigs pitcher in the bottom of the fifth inning. He gave up a single to Gunnar Henderson with two outs. Then, Tides’ shortstop Joseph Ortiz doubled over Dalton Guthrie’s head at center field, scoring Henderson for a 3-0 lead. The inning ended when Kelly struck out Jacob Nottingham. Kelly went another inning, and his final stats were two innings, allowing two hits, one run, two walks, and four strikeouts in 44 pitches.
Ofreidy Gomez was the new IronPigs pitcher in the bottom of the seventh inning. He gave up a single to Gunnar Henderson with one out and Joseph Ortiz coming to the plate. Then, Gomez threw a wild pitch, moving Henderson to second base. Ortiz singled on a ground ball to center field, scoring Henderson for a 4-0 lead.
Gomez got out of the inning by striking out Jacob Nottingham and getting Kelvin Gutierrez to ground out, ending the inning. That was it for Gomez. He went an inning, allowing two hits, one run, and two strikeouts in 28 pitches.
Erik Miller was the IronPigs pitcher in the bottom of the eighth inning. He gave up a solo home run to Brett Phillips that went off the scoreboard at right field, extending Norfolk’s lead 5-0. After giving up back-to-back walks, Miller got back-to-back strikeouts from Colton Cowser and Jordan Westburg before getting Gunnar Henderson to fly out, ending the inning.
D.L. Hall closed out the game at the top of the ninth inning. He walked Scott Kingery but needed 18 pitches to get the last three out, and the IronPigs were shut out by Norfolk 5-0. It was the second time this season the IronPigs were shut out. The last one happened on July 10th, in a 2-0 loss to Rochester.
The IronPigs had three hits and only had one runner in scoring position in the sixth inning on a Dalton Guthrie double. It was not a good night for the hitters. The IronPigs drop to 68-56 and are a half-game back behind Durham for first place. The Bulls game was rained out.
The win went to Norfolk starter Bruce Zimmermann, his fourth win of the season, while Lehigh Valley pitcher Bubby Rossman lost his second game of the season.
The series continues today at 6:35 pm. Tickets for the game can be purchased on StubHub, and pick up IronPigs merchandise today at Fanatics.com.
