On Wednesday night at Coca-Cola Park, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs took on the Worcester Red Sox for the final series of the year. The series was supposed to start on Monday, but it was rained out. The IronPigs came into this game trailing the Durham Bulls by 4.5 games out of first place and tied with Jacksonville and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre for second place.
There were a couple of transactions that took place on September 5th, as pitchers Noah Skirrow and Griff McGarry were assigned to the IronPigs from the Reading Fightin Phils. Next, the IronPigs placed pitcher Mark Appel on the 7-day injured list.
Noah Skirrow (0-0. 0.00 ERA) was on the mound for Lehigh Valley, making his debut. He was 5-8 with a 4.65 ERA and 115 strikeouts in 21 games for the Fightin Phils. Meanwhile, the Red Sox started Connor Seabold (7-1, 3.18 ERA).
IronPigs’ catcher Rafael Marchan singled to center field with one out in the bottom of the second inning. Unfortunately, Jorge Bonifacio flew out to center field, and Daniel Robertson flew out to right field, ending the inning.
Moving ahead to the bottom of the fourth inning, IronPigs’ designated hitter Yairo Munoz and first baseman Darick Hall singled with Dustin Peterson coming to the plate. Then, Red Sox’s pitcher Connor Seabold threw a wild pitch, moving both runners up a base.
Peterson grounded out, and Rafael Marchan was next. He grounded towards shortstop Ryan Fitzgerald, who got the ball and threw it over to first baseman Bobby Dalbec for the second out as Munoz scored, and the IronPigs were up 1-0. Jorge Bonifacio had a chance to add another run, but he struck out swinging, ending the inning.
Noah Skirrow had an impressive debut, going six innings, allowing three hits, no runs, two walks, and four strikeouts in 79 pitches, 47 of them were strikes. Griff McGarry was the IronPigs pitcher at the top of the seventh inning. McGarry walked Christin Stewart with two outs, followed by a double from Jaylin Davis, moving Stewart to third base.
Red Sox’s shortstop Ryan Fitzgerald was next. He hit an opposite-field ground-rule double to left field, scoring Stewart and Davis to take a 2-1 lead. After McGarry walked Deivy Grullon, he got Nick Sogard to fly out to Dustin Peterson, ending the inning.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Jorge Bonifacio reached first base on a fielding error by Ryan Fitzgerald with one out. Two batters later, Red Sox’s pitcher Hirokazu Sawamura walked Scott Kingery, moving Bonifacio to second base. However, Chris Sharpe grounded out to third baseman Nick Sogard, who threw the ball over to first that ended the inning.
At the top of the eighth inning, IronPigs pitcher Griff McGarry gave up a solo home run to Bobby Dalbec that went into the Capital Lawn at left-center field for a 3-1 lead with one out. McGarry struck out Enmanuel Valdez and got Pedro Castellanos to fly out, ending the inning. That was it for McGarry, who went two innings, allowed three hits, three runs, two walks, and two strikeouts in 39 pitches, 21 of them were strikes.
Darwinzon Hernandez was the Red Sox’s pitcher at the top of the eighth inning. He walked Ali Castillo. Three batters later, Dustin Peterson doubled to left field, moving Castillo over to third base. It was Peterson’s 20th double of the season. Unfortunately, Rafael Marchan flew out to right fielder Jaylin Davis, ending the inning.
Chris Devenski was the new IronPigs pitcher at the top of the ninth inning. First, he gave up two straight singles to Christian Stewart and Jaylin Davis. Then, Devenski got a pop-out from Ryan Fitzgerald, a lineout by Deivy Grullon, and struck out Nick Sogard to retire the side.
Andrew Politi was the new Red Sox’s pitcher in the bottom of the ninth inning. He needed 11 pitches to get the final three outs as the IronPigs lost their fourth game in the row, 3-1. The IronPigs had five hits and dropped to 69-61 for the season.
Meanwhile, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders beat the Durham Bulls 7-6 to take over second place, while the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp lost to the Iowa Cubs 3-1. The IronPigs remain 4.5 games behind Durham for first place while tied with Jacksonville for third place.
The win went to Worcester pitcher Connor Seabold. It’s Seabold’s eighth win of the year, while the loss went to Griff McGarry.
The series continues today with a doubleheader starting at 5:05 pm. Game two starts 30 minutes after game one. Tickets for the games can be purchased on StubHub, and pick up IronPigs merchandise today at Fanatics.com.
