On Saturday night at Frontier Field, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs were looking for their first win of the series against the Rochester Red Wings. Lehigh Valley came into this game on a four-game losing streak and trailed Durham by 4.5 games out of first place. In addition, the IronPigs are on a five-game losing streak to Rochester.
Cristopher Sanchez (2-2, 3.50 ERA) was on the mound for Lehigh Valley, while Rochester started Logan Verrett (7-9, 4.07 ERA).
In the bottom of the first inning, IronPigs starter Christopher Sanchez gave up a single to Lucius Fox, with John Nogowski next. Sanchez tried to pick off Fox and threw the ball wide right of Darick Hall, and Fox sprinted towards third base. Then, Nogowski grounded towards second baseman Ali Castillo, bringing Fox home for a 1-0 lead with two outs. Sanchez struck out Jake Alu, ending the inning.
Moving ahead to the top of the third inning, IronPigs’ second baseman Ali Castillo singled with one out, followed by a double from Madison Strokes, moving Castillo to third base. Two batters later, Rochester intently walked Darick Hall with two outs, and Rochester pitcher Logan Verrett forced in a run by walking Dustin Peterson, tying the game 1-1 with two outs.
The IronPigs had a chance to bust the game open, but designated hitter Josh Ockimey flew out to center fielder Andrew Stevenson, who chased the ball before making the catch, ending the inning.
Lehigh Valley starter Cristopher Sanchez started the bottom of the third inning by walking Taylor Gushue. Three batters later, he gave up a single to Lucius Fox, followed by a two-run double over Dustin Peterson’s head at right field, extending Rochester’s lead 3-1. Sanchez struck out Jake Alu, ending the inning. Sanchez went one more inning, pitching four innings, allowing three hits, three runs, two earned runs, and one walk in 66 pitches, of which 38 were strikes.
At the top of the fifth inning, IronPigs’ center fielder Madison Strokes singled with one out. Then, Scott Kingery and Darick Hall singled, loading the bases for Dustin Peterson. However, Peterson grounded toward third baseman Adrian Sanchez for a double play, ending the inning.
Michael Kelly was the new IronPigs pitcher in the bottom of the fifth inning. He got Taylor Gushue to fly out towards left fielder Will Toffey and struck out Adrian Sanchez and Andrew Stevenson, ending the inning.
At the top of the sixth inning, IronPigs’ catcher Rafael Marchan doubled with one out. Unfortunately, Daniel Robertson flew out to center fielder Andrew Stevenson, and Will Toffey grounded out to shortstop Lucius Fox, ending the inning.
Taylor Scott was the new IronPigs pitcher in the bottom of the sixth inning. He gave up a double to John Nogowski with two outs before getting Nick Banks to ground out to Ali Castillo, ending the inning. Scott went an inning, allowing a hit, no runs, no walks, and one strikeout in 17 pitches, of which 11 were strikes.
Jonathan Hennigan was the new IronPigs pitcher in the bottom of the seventh inning. He gave up a single to Jack Dunn with one out before striking out Taylor Gushue and getting Adrian Sanchez to ground out to Scott Kingery, ending the inning.
At the top of the eighth inning, Dustin Peterson singled to left field with one out for Josh Ockimey. Ockimey gave the IronPigs a shot in the arm with a two-run home run into Rochester’s bullpen at right field, tying the game 3-3. Then, Rafael Marchan gave the IronPigs a 4-3 lead with a home run into Rochester’s bullpen in right field. Daniel Robertson and Will Toffey both grounded out, ending the inning.
Chris Devenski was the new IronPigs pitcher in the bottom of the eighth inning. He struck out Andrew Stevenson, got Lucius Fox to ground out, and struck John Nogowski, ending the inning.
IronPigs’ second baseman Ali Castillo singled to start the top of the ninth inning. Three batters later, Darick Hall singled, moving Castillo to third base for Dustin Peterson. Peterson grounded towards third baseman Adrian Sanchez, who made the throw over to second base for the forceout, ending the inning.
Nick Duron closed out the game for the IronPigs in the bottom of the ninth inning. He got Jake Alu to ground out and struck out Nick Banks before walking DJ Peters. Jack Dunn was next, and Duron struck him out swinging. With that, the IronPigs ended a four-game losing streak with a 4-3 win. It’s the first win for the IronPigs in this series, with 11 hits in the game.
Lehigh Valley did not get off to a good start early in the game, but as the game went along, they started to put together good hits and gave themselves a chance to score runs. However, they must work on driving those runs home and not rely on home runs. Nevertheless, Ockimey and Marchan gave them the spark, and let’s hope they can carry that momentum with ten games left in the season.
The win went to IronPigs pitcher Jonathan Hennigan. It was Hennigan’s fifth win of the season, while the loss went to Rochester pitcher Juan Minaya (1-6, 6.22 ERA).
The series wraps up today at 1:05 pm. Tickets for the game can be purchased on StubHub, and pick up IronPigs merchandise today at Fanatics.com.
