The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (10-11) visited the 121 Financial Ballpark on Tuesday afternoon against the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (10-10) for the first time ever. The Jumbo Shrimp are the Triple-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins.
Coming into this game, Noah Skirrow (1-0, 2.77 ERA) was on the mound for Lehigh Valley against Jacksonville’s Jacob Walters (0-0, 6.75 ERA). In addition, Lehigh Valley put their three-game winning streak on the line.
After two scoreless innings, the IronPigs struck first at the top of the third inning. Jim Haley and Esteban Quiroz both hit singles with one out. Then, Jacob Walters walked shortstop Weston Wilson that loaded the bases for right fielder Jordan Qsar. Qsar hit a fastball that the ball bounced off the grass and over the glove of third baseman C.J. Hinojosa and into left field, scoring Haley for a 1-0 lead.
Lehigh Valley catcher Jim Hicks was next. He worked the count to his favor and was walked on four pitches, scoring Quiroz for a 2-0 lead with one out for designated hitter Vimael Machin. Machin flew out to right fielder Peyton Burdick. Burdick threw the ball too high for catcher Austin Allen while Weston Wilson slid head-first into home plate for a 3-0 lead with two outs.
Lehigh Valley second baseman Scott Kingery was next. During Kingery’s at-bat, a double steal occurred when Hicks beat out Austin Allen’s throw to second base while Jordan Qsar stole home. It was now 4-0 Lehigh Valley. Unfortunately, Scott Kingery struck out swinging to end the inning.
Lehigh Valley pitcher Noah Skirrow got into some trouble in the bottom of the third inning. He gave up a single to C.J. Hinojosa, followed by hitting Peyton Burdick, and walking Jerar Encarnacion that loaded the bases for Jordan Groshans.
Groshans ripped Skirrow’s fastball over Weston Wilson’s head and into left field, scoring Hinojosa and it was now 4-1 Lehigh Valley. However, Jerar Encarnacion got caught in a rundown as he ran past the second base bag and was tagged out for the second out.
Jacksonville shortstop Jacob Amaya was next. Amaya hit Skirrow’s curveball that got past Kingery and into right field, scoring Peyton Burdick and it was now 4-2 Lehigh Valley with two outs. Skirrow got out of the inning when Austin Allen grounded out toward first baseman Jim Haley that retired the side.
Noah Skirrow pitched two more scoreless innings. He finished the afternoon pitching five innings, allowing seven hits, two runs, three walks, and four strikeouts in 87 pitches, of which 54 were strikes.
At the top of the sixth inning, Dylan Bice was the new Jumbo Shrimp pitcher. With one out and Vimael Machin at-bat, Machin crushed Bice’s fastball at 101 mph off the bat and it went into the seats at right field for a 5-2 lead. It was Machin’s third home run of the season. Lehigh Valley did not add any more runs in the inning.
Moving ahead to the top of the seventh inning, Esteban Quiroz and Weston Wilson hit back-to-back singles with one out. Two batters later with two outs, John Hicks single that loaded the bases for Vimael Machin. Machin worked the count to draw a walk, forcing in a run for a 6-2 lead. Scott Kingery was next but he struck out swinging, ending the inning.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Jesus Cruz closed out the game for Lehigh Valley. He got C.J. Hinojosa to ground out before getting back-to-back strikeouts from Peyton Burdick and Jerar Encarnacion to end the game. Lehigh Valley extended their winning streak to four games with a 6-2 win over Jacksonville.
The win went to Noah Skirrow for his second win of the season, while the loss went to Jacksonville starter Jacob Walters for his first loss of the season.
Game two between the IronPigs and Jumbo Shrimp is on Wednesday at 7:05 pm. Tickets for the game are available on StubHub and Viagogo. Also, pick up IronPigs merchandise today at Fanatics.com.
