On Friday night at Frontier Field, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs took on the Rochester Red Wings in game four of the series. The IronPigs have yet to win a game in this series and are 3-7 in the last ten games. Lehigh Valley came into this game, trailing the Durham Bulls by 3.5 games for first place in the International League East Division.
One transaction occurred before the game as the Philadelphia Phillies recalled infielder Yairo Munoz after placing infielder Edmundo Sosa on the 10-day injured list with a right hamstring strain. Hans Crouse (0-2, 11.70 ERA) was on the mound for Lehigh Valley, while Rochester started MacKenzie Gore (0-0, 0.00 ERA).
IronPigs’ shortstop Scott Kingery started the top of the first inning with a single, followed by another single from Dustin Peterson with no outs. Josh Ockimey came to the plate next. He struck out swinging, then Rafael Marchan grounded into a double play towards shortstop Lucius Fox, ending the inning.
Rochester center fielder Andrew Stevenson doubled to start the bottom of the first inning. Two batters later, first baseman John Nogowski singled between Kingery and Robertson into left field, scoring Stevenson for a 1-0 lead.
Jake Alu was next. During his plate appearance, Nogowski tried to steal second base, but Rafael Marchan gunned him down for the second out. Alu singled, and Nick Banks grounded out to first baseman Josh Ockimey, ending the inning.
Moving ahead to the top of the third inning, IronPigs’ center fielder Madison Stokes singled, followed by back-to-back walks to Scott Kingery and Dustin Peterson, loading the bases for Josh Ockimey. Ockimey flew out to left field DJ Peters, Rafael Marchan popped out to third baseman Lucius Fox, and Daniel Robertson grounded towards Jake Alu for the forceout at third base, ending the inning. This has been a big problem for the IronPigs for most of the season. That was their opportunity to do damage, and they couldn’t capitalize.
IronPigs’ pitcher Hans Crouse walked Lucius Fox and John Nogowski with one out to start the bottom of the third inning. Then, he gave up a single to Jake Alu out to center field, scoring Fox for a 2-0 lead. Nick Banks was next, and he singled to right field, scoring Nogowski for a 3-0 lead with DJ Peters next. During Peters’s at-bat, Crouse threw a wild pitch, scoring Jake Alu, which made it 4-0. Next, Peters singled on a line drive to left field, scoring Nick Bank for a 5-0 lead.
That was it for Crouse. He went 2.1 innings, allowing seven hits, five runs, and two walks in 50 pitches, of which 29 were strikes. James Marvel replaced Crouse and got Jack Dunn to ground out, followed by striking out Taylor Gushue, ending the inning.
Marvel went another inning, pitching 1.2 innings, with no hits, no runs, no walks, and two strikeouts in 22 pitches, of which 15 were strikes. Erik Miller was the new IronPigs pitcher in the bottom of the fifth inning. He got John Nogowski to pop out, struck out Jake Alu, and got Nick Banks to fly out towards center fielder Madison Stokes, ending the inning.
Miller pitched one more inning. He had no hits, no runs, one walk, and three strikeouts in 31 pitches, of which 18 were strikes.
IronPigs’ third baseman Daniel Robertson started the top of the sixth inning with a solo home run near the foul pole of left field, cutting Rochester’s lead 5-1. It was Robertson’s fifth home run of the season.
Lehigh Valley was unable to keep the momentum going when Johan Camargo flew out to left fielder DJ Peters, Jorge Bonifacio flew out to right fielder Jack Dunn, and Ali Castillo popped out to first baseman John Nogowski, ending the inning.
Trevor Bettencourt was the new IronPigs pitcher in the bottom of the seventh inning. He walked first baseman John Nogowski with two outs before getting Jake Alu to fly out towards center fielder Madison Stokes, ending the inning.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Trevor Bettencourt gave up a double to Nick Banks and a single to DJ Peters, moving Banks to third base. Bettencourt worked his way out of the jam by getting Jack Dunn to lineout, which was caught by Scott Kingery. Then he struck out Taylor Gushue and Jecksson Flores, ending the inning.
The IronPigs had one more chance to get back into the game at the top of the ninth inning, facing Connor Sadzeck. However, Jorge Bonifacio and Ali Castillo popped out, and Madison Strokes grounded out towards shortstop Lucius Fox, who made the throw over to first baseman John Nogowski, ending the game.
The IronPigs lose 5-1 and lose the series with two games left. They had six hits and dropped to 72-66. Lehigh Valley’s losing streak reaches four games, and they are on a five-game losing streak against Rochester. For Rochester, it was their first series win since the first week of June.
The win went to Rochester pitcher Tommy Romero, and the loss went to IronPigs pitcher Hans Crouse. It was Crouse’s third loss of the year.
The series continues tomorrow at 6:05 pm. Tickets for the game can be purchased on StubHub, and pickup IronPigs merchandise today at Fanatics.com.
