On Tuesday night at Frontier Field, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs began their final six-game road trip of the season against the Rochester Red Wings. They had a 51 minutes rain delay. The IronPigs are 11-7 against the Red Wings this year. They last played each other in July and split the series, 3-3.
Coming into the game, the IronPigs trailed the Durham Bulls by 2.5 games out of first place. Lehigh Valley’s game was rained out on Sunday and will not be made up.
Several transactions have happened since the IronPigs’ last game. First, the IronPigs placed outfielder Chris Sharpe on the 7-day injured list. Next, the Philadelphia Phillies optioned pitchers Cristopher Sanchez and Vinny Nittoli to Lehigh Valley and called up pitcher Mark Appel. Then, shortstop Madison Stokes was assigned to Lehigh Valley from the Reading Fightin Phils. Finally, The Phillies activated pitcher Zach Eflin from the 15-day injured list.
Noah Skirrow (0-0, 0.00 ERA) was on the mound for Lehigh Valley, while Rochester started Patrick Murphy (2-3, 5.66 ERA).
The game was scoreless through two innings until Red Wings’ catcher Taylor Gushue hit a solo home run over the wall at right field for a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning. Then, IronPigs pitcher Noah Skirrow gave up back-to-back singles to Jecksson Flores and Andrew Stevenson. Two batters later, Skirrow walked John Nogowski, loading the bases for Jake Alu. Alu hit a grand slam over the wall at right field for a 5-0 lead with one out.
Two batters later, Skirrow gave up another single to DJ Peters with two outs before getting Jack Dunn to ground out towards seconds baseman Ali Castillo, who made the throw over to first baseman John Nogowski to retire the side. The Red Wings had nine batters come to the plate with five hits in the inning.
IronPigs’ left fielder Dustin Peterson started the top of the fourth inning with a triple to right field. Then, IronPigs’ catcher Rafael Marchan doubled on a fly ball to center field, scoring Peterson that cut Rochester’s lead 5-1.
It should’ve been a sacrifice fly, but Andrew Stevenson and Jack Dunn were after the ball, and both players missed it. Then, after Josh Ockimey walked, the IronPigs were unable to add any more runs when Scott Kingery and Madison Stokes struck out, and Jorge Bonifacio flew out to center field, ending the inning.
IronPigs’ second baseman Ali Castillo started the top of the fifth inning with a single. Three batters later, IronPigs’ left fielder Dustin Peterson walked with two outs before Rafael Marchan flew out to left fielder Jack Dunn, ending the inning.
IronPigs’ designated hitter Josh Ockimey started the top of the sixth inning with a double, but the IronPigs were unable to bring him home. Jonathan Hennigan was the new IronPigs pitcher in the bottom of the sixth inning. He replaced IronPigs starter Noah Skirrow, who went five innings, allowing six hits, five runs, two walks, and six strikeouts in 86 pitches, of which 55 were strikes. Hennigan gave up a double to Taylor Gushue with two outs before striking out Jecksson Flores, ending the inning.
IronPigs’ second baseman Ali Castillo started the top of the seventh inning with a single. Two batters later, with one out, IronPigs’ first baseman Darick Hall hit a two-run home run over the scoreboard at right field, cutting Rochester’s lead 5-3.
It was Hall’s 25th home run of the season and his 82nd RBI of the season. Hall is four home runs away from tying Rhys Hoskins’s home run record (29) set in 2017. The inning would end when both Dustin Peterson and Rafael Marchan grounded out.
Erik Miller was the new pitcher for the IronPigs in the bottom of the seventh inning. First, he gave up a single to Andrew Stevenson. Two batters later, with one out, Miller walked John Nogowski before getting a fly out from Jake Alu. Then, Miller walked Daniel Johnson before striking out DJ Peters, ending the inning.
Chris Devenski was the new IronPigs pitcher in the bottom of the eighth inning. He walked Jecksson Flores with two outs before getting Andrew Stevenson to fly out, ending the inning.
The IronPigs had one more chance to get back into the game as they faced Reed Garrett. Unfortunately, Jorge Bonifacio and Ali Castillo struck out, and Yairo Munoz grounded out to end the game. The IronPigs lost 5-3 and dropped to 72-63 for the season. They had eight hits in the game and 4-6 in their last ten games.
The IronPigs can’t afford to lose any more games with two weeks left in the season. They need to get a winning streak going if they are going to have a chance at making the playoffs. Lehigh Valley also needs to adjust its fielding. The Red Wings’ batters found open holes in the outfield, and Lehigh Valley needs to be 50/50. The game could’ve been worse for Lehigh Valley.
In other scores, the Durham Bulls lost 5-4 to the Gwinnett Stripers, while Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders beat the Worcester Red Sox 5-4. Meanwhile, Jacksonville beat Nashville 4-1 and moved into a tie with the RailRiders for second place and a half-game behind Durham for first place, while Lehigh Valley remains 2.5 games out of first place.
The win went to Rochester pitcher Alberto Baldonado, and the loss went to IronPigs starter Noah Skirrow. It was Skirrow’s first loss of the season.
The series continues today at 1:05 pm. Tickets for the game can be purchased on StubHub, and pick up IronPigs merchandise today at Fanatics.com.
