On Thursday night at Frontier Field, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs took on the Rochester Red Wings in game three of a six-game series. The IronPigs were looking for their first win in the series after losing the first two games.
Lehigh Valley came into the game trailing Durham by three games for first place in the International League East Division and two games behind Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Jacksonville. Michael Plassmeyer (6-3, 2.66 ERA) was on the mound for Lehigh Valley, while Rochester started Franklyn Kilome (2-7, 8.60 ERA).
IronPigs pitcher Michael Plassmeyer gave up a double to Jecksson Flores to start the bottom of the third inning. Two batters later, he walked Andrew Stevenson and John Nogowski with two outs, loading the bases for Jake Alu.
Then, Plassmeyer threw a wild pitch, and catcher Rafael Marchan quickly retrieved the ball and tossed it over to Plassmeyer to tag Flores out at home plate, ending the inning. Marchan has been tremendous all season behind the plate.
Moving ahead to the top of the fifth inning, IronPigs’ center fielder Madison Stokes tripled to left field with two outs, but Ali Castillo grounded out, ending the inning.
IronPigs pitcher Michael Plassmeyer gave up a single to Jecksson Flores to start the bottom of the fifth inning with one out. Then, he loaded the bases by walking Wilmer Perez and hitting Andrew Stevenson. Plassmeyer worked out of the inning by striking out Lucious Fox and getting John Nogowski to pop out towards shortstop Scott Kingery, ending the inning.
That was it for Plassmeyer, who went five innings, allowing three hits, no runs, four walks, and six strikeouts in 91 pitches, of which 52 were strikes.
New Rochester pitcher Francisco Perez walked Dustin Peterson, Rafael Marchan, and Jorge Bonifacio, loading the bases for Johan Camargo with one out. Camargo brought home Peterson with a sacrifice fly to left field for a 1-0 lead. Unfortunately, they could not score any more runs when Will Toffey grounded out to Jecksson Flores, ending the inning.
Griff McGarry was the new IronPigs pitcher in the bottom of the sixth inning. He got Jake Alu to lineout towards third baseman Will Toffey, a pop-out from Daniel Johnson, and struck out DJ Peters to end the inning. McGarry pitched one more inning and went two innings with no hits, no runs, one walk, and three strikeouts in 35 pitches, of which 20 were strikes.
Jakob Hernandez was the new IronPigs pitcher in the bottom of the eighth inning. Hernandez gave up a home run to John Nogowski, who crushed it out to left field, tying the game 1-1 with one out.
Then, Hernandez struck out Jake Alu and got Daniel Johnson to line out towards right fielder Jorge Bonifacio, ending the inning. Hernandez pitched one more inning, going two innings, allowing one hit, one run, and two strikeouts in 26 pitches, of which 20 were strikes.
In the tenth inning, Ali Castillo went to second base, and Darick Hall was at the plate. He grounded out to second baseman Jecksson Flores, moving Castillo to third base. Then, Rochester pitcher Alberto Baldonado walked Dustin Peterson with Rafael Marchan coming to the plate.
During Marchan’s plate appearance, Dustin Peterson was picked off attempting to steal second base. As he was trying to dodge being tagged, Castillo took off for home plate, and the Red Wings turned their attention to him. They got Castillo out, and Peterson ran to third base with two outs. Marchan struck out swinging, ending the inning.
It was hard to understand why there was a call for Peterson to try and steal second base. While the IronPigs did not have a lot of hits, you can’t afford to take risks unless you know you’ll make it safely. They need to stay put and let the batters bring them home.
Nick Duron was the new IronPigs pitcher in the bottom of the tenth inning, with Jecksson Flores starting at second base. Wilmer Perez moved Flores over to third base with a sacrifice bunt to Ali Castillo. Then, the IronPigs manager made a poor decision to intently walk Andrew Stevenson and Lucious Fox, loading the bases for John Nogowski.
Finally, Duron threw a wild pitch, and Flores scored diving head first to win the game, and the IronPigs lost 2-1. It’s the IronPigs’ third straight loss. They had three hits and dropped to 72-65 for the season.
First, it was terrible for the IronPigs manager to put Duron in a situation he shouldn’t be in by loading the bases that cost them the game. Every game matters when you are in the hunt for a playoff position. The best teams always find ways to win. The IronPigs are losing games by poor management and inconsistent play. At this rate, Lehigh Valley will not make the playoffs.
In other scores, Buffalo beat Syracuse 12-7, Durham beat Gwinnett 7-2, and Jacksonville lost to Nashville 6-1. Lehigh Valley are now in fifth place, 3.5 games out of first place.
The win went to Rochester pitcher Alberto Baldonado, and the loss went to Lehigh Valley pitcher Nick Duron. It was Duron’s seventh loss of the season.
The series continues tonight at 6:05 pm. Tickets for the game can be purchased on StubHub, and pick up IronPigs merchandise today at Fanatics.com.
