The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (4-3) played the first of two games on Saturday against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (4-4) from Coca-Cola Park for game five of a six-game series.
Coming into this game, the IronPigs lost three straight games. T.J. Zeuch (0-0, 1.80 ERA) was on the mound for Lehigh Valley against Mitch Spence (0-0, 0.00 ERA).
In the bottom of the second inning, Mitch Spence walked Esteban Quiroz. Then, during Dalton Guthrie’s at-bat, Quiroz stole second base but Guthrie struck out. Then, IronPigs’ right fielder Jordan Qsar moved Quiroz to third base with a single on a ground ball to second baseman Jesus Bastidas.
After John Hicks popped out, Jim Haley was next. During Haley’s at-bat, RailRiders’ catcher José Godoy tried to pick off Qsar but the ball got by first baseman Jake Bauers and Quiroz scored while Qsar stole second base. It was 1-0 IronPigs. The inning ended when Haley struck out.
Moving ahead to the bottom of the fourth inning, the IronPigs added two more runs. First, IronPigs’ shortstop Weston Wilson doubled on a sharp line drive to left field. Two batters later with one out, Mitch Spence walked Dalton Guthrie. Next, Jordan Qsar chopped the ball toward first baseman Jake Bauers only for Bauers to miss the throw to shortstop Wilmer Difo and Weston Wilson scored while Guthrie reached third base. It was now 2-0 IronPigs.
Next, IronPigs’ catcher John Hicks brought Guthrie home with a sacrifice fly to right field for a 3-0 lead. After Jim Haley singled, left fielder Simon Muzziotti grounded out which ended the inning.
At the top of the fifth inning, IronPigs pitcher T.J. Zeuch got into some trouble when he gave up back-to-back singles to Jesus Bastidas and Jose Godoy, followed by walking Mickey Gasper with one out. Lehigh Valley’s defense came up big when Michael Hermosillo hit in the direction of Dalton Guthrie to complete a double play that ended the inning.
Moving ahead to the top of the seventh inning, Jakob Hernandez closed out the game for the IronPigs. He struck out Andres Chaparro, Jesus Bastidas, and Jose Godoy as the IronPigs shut out the RailRiders in game one by the final score of 3-0. Lehigh Valley took advantage of five errors by the RailRiders.
IronPigs pitcher T.J. Zeuch pitched six innings, allowing three hits, one walk, and three strikeouts in 68 pitches, of which 46 were strikes for his first win of the season. On the other side, RailRiders pitcher Mitch Spence pitched 4.2 innings, allowing five hits, three runs, two walks, and five strikeouts in 79 pitches, of which 50 were strikes for his first loss of the year.
Finally, Jakob Hernandez earned his first save of the season going one inning with three strikeouts in 18 pitches, of which 12 were strikes. Game two of the final six-game series starts at 5:35 pm. Tickets for the game are available on StubHub and Viagogo, and pickup IronPigs merchandise today at Fanatics.com.
