On Wednesday afternoon at Frontier Field, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs took on the Rochester Red Wings in game two of the series. The IronPigs were looking to even the series after dropping game one 5-3 on Tuesday night.
Lehigh Valley started with being 2.5 games out of first place behind the Durham Bulls and two games behind Jacksonville and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre for second place.
One transaction took place. The Philadelphia Phillies claimed pitcher Taylor Scott off waivers from San Diego and optioned him to Lehigh Valley. Scott is 2-1, with a 3.76 ERA in 33 games with El Paso. To make room for him, Kent Emanuel was called up and placed on the 60-day disabled list with a left shoulder strain, ending his season.
The IronPigs went with a bullpen game as Jack Perkins (0-1, 14.73 ERA) was on the mound for Lehigh Valley, while the Rochester started Joan Adon (1-2, 4.61 ERA).
At the top of the first inning, with one out, IronPigs’ first baseman Darick Hall crushed a solo home run that hit the Rochester Regional Health sign in center field for a 1-0 lead. It was Hall’s 26th home run of the season and 83rd RBI of the year. It was also the third straight game that Hall hit a home run. The last time an IronPig hit a home run in three consecutive games was Collin Cowgill in 2018.
The home run tied Andy Tracy for third all-time and is three home runs away from tying the all-time home run record set by Rhys Hoskins in 2017. Dustin Peterson struck out, and Will Toffey flew out to left fielder DJ Peters, ending the inning.
IronPigs pitcher Jack Perkins began the bottom of the first inning giving up a single to Andrew Stevenson. Then, Lucius Fox reached first base on a fielder’s choice after IronPigs’ shortstop Daniel Robertson got Stevenson out at second base with John Nogowski coming to the plate. During his plate appearance, Perkins threw a wild pitch, and Fox stole second but tried to steal third base and got caught for the second out. Nogowski walked, and Jake Alu was next.
Alu singled on a line drive to left field, moving Nogowski to second base for Daniel Johnson. Johnson singled to right field, scoring Nogowski that tied the game 1-1. DJ Peters was next and flew out to right fielder Jorge Bonifacio, ending the inning.
IronPigs’ right fielder Jorge Bonifacio started the top of the second inning with a triple, followed by a Johan Camargo sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Bonifacio for a 2-1 lead. IronPigs’ shortstop Daniel Robertson was next. He hit a solo home run over the yellow line in center field for a 3-1 lead. Scott Kingery grounded out, and Vito Friscia flew out to center fielder Andrew Stevenson, ending the inning.
IronPigs’ left fielder Yairo Munoz tripled to center field to start the top of the third inning. Darick Hall was next and struck out, while Dustin Peterson flew out to left fielder DJ Peters. Munoz tagged for home but was out by a mile with a head-first dive, ending the inning.
Brian Marconi was the new IronPigs pitcher to start the bottom of the third inning. Jack Perkins went two innings, allowing three hits, one run, one walk, and two strikeouts in 26 pitches, of which 16 were strikes.
Marconi walked John Nogowski with two outs, followed by a single from Jake Alu. Daniel Johnson was next and hit a three-run home run over the wall at left field to put Rochester up 4-3. DJ Peters lined out to IronPigs’ second baseman Scott Kingery, ending the inning. That was it for Marconi, who went an inning, allowing two hits, three runs, one walk, and no strikeouts in 29 pitches, of which 14 were strikes.
At the top of the fourth inning, Will Toffey and Jorge Bonifacio hit singles with no outs. Two batters later, Daniel Robertson walked, loading the bases for Scott Kingery. Unfortunately, Kingery lined out to Rochester shortstop Lucius Fox, and catcher Vito Friscia struck out, ending the inning.
Bubby Rossman was the new IronPigs pitcher in the bottom of the fourth inning. He gave up a single to Wilmer Perez with two outs, followed by a two-run home run by Andrew Stevenson in front of the scoreboard at right field, extending Rochester’s lead 6-3.
After walking Lucius Fox, Rossman got John Nogowski to fly out to Dustin Peterson, ending the inning. That was it for Rossman, who went an inning, allowing two hits, two runs, one walk, and no strikeouts in 26 pitches, of which 15 were strikes.
Braeden Ogle was the new IronPigs pitcher in the bottom of the fifth inning. He got three straight flyouts from Jake Alu, Daniel Johnson, and DJ Peters, ending the inning. That was it for Ogle, who went an inning with no hits, no runs, no walks, and no strikeouts in 13 pitches, of which seven were strikes.
Ofreidy Gomez was the new IronPigs pitcher in the bottom of the sixth inning. First, he gave up a single to Jack Dunn. Then, two batters later, Gomez gave up a double to Wilmer Perez that went to center field, scoring Dunn for a 7-3 lead.
That was it for Gomez, who faced three batters, allowing two hits, one run, and no walks in nine pitches, of which five were strikes. Chris Devenski took over. He got Andrew Stevenson to pop out and struck out Lucious Fox, ending the inning.
Vinny Nittoli was the new IronPigs pitcher in the bottom of the seventh inning. He got a fly out from John Nogowski, a ground out from Jake Alu, and another ground out from Daniel Johnson, ending the inning.
Francisco Morales was the new IronPigs pitcher in the bottom of the eighth inning. He gave up a single to Jack Dunn with one out, followed by a triple from Adrian Sanchez, scoring Dunn for an 8-3 lead. Then, Morales gave up a double to Wilmer Perez, scoring Sanchez for a 9-3 lead. After walking Andrew Stevenson and Lucious Fox, which loaded the bases, Morales was replaced by Michael Kelly.
The next batter was John Nogowski, who brought Perez home with a sacrifice fly to right field for a 10-3 lead, then Kelly struck out Jake Alu, ending the inning.
The IronPigs had one more chance to get back into the game at the top of the ninth inning against Matt Brill. Since the fourth inning, the IronPigs had two hits. Brill walked Scott Kingery with one out and gave up a single to Yairo Munoz with two outs. Brill was replaced by Luis Avilan, who got Darick Hall to ground out, ending the game.
The IronPigs lost again to Rochester 10-3. They had eight hits and dropped to 72-63 for the season. Lehigh Valley is now three games behind Durham for first place.
The win went to Rochester pitcher Joan Adon, and the loss went to Brian Marconi. It was Marconi’s first loss of the season.
The IronPigs will look to get their first win in the series tomorrow at 6:05 pm. Tickets for the game can be purchased on StubHub, and pick up IronPigs merchandise today at Fanatics.com.
