The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (26-27) and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (27-27) played game three on Thursday night from Coca-Cola Park. Coming into this game, the IronPigs trailed the series 2-0 to the RailRiders.
Before the game started, the Philadelphia Phillies called up third baseman Drew Ellis after placing Alec Bohm on the 10-day IL with a hamstring injury, and designated infielder Cal Stevenson for assignment.
Lehigh Valley went with a bullpen game as Jake Jewell (1-1, 6.00 ERA) took the mound against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s Jhony Brito (1-0, 1.86 ERA).
At the top of the second inning, Jake Jewell walked Andres Chaparro with Elijah Dunham coming to the plate. He tripled toward the right field corner, scoring Chaparro for a 1-0 lead. Two batters later with one out, Billy McKinney hit Jewell’s fastball for a double to center field, scoring Chaparro for a 2-0 lead. Wilmer Difo grounded out which ended the inning.
That was it for Jake Jewell. He pitched two innings, allowing three hits, two runs, and one walk in 33 pitches, of which 19 were strikes. Taylor Lehman replaced Jewell as the new Lehigh Valley pitcher for the top of the third inning.
With one out, Lehman threw a breaking ball at Oswald Peraza and he crushed it into the seats at left field, extending the RailRiders lead to 3-0. It was Peraza’s fourth home run in this series and he’s hit seven home runs in the last eight games. After giving up a single to Kole Calhoun, Lehman got the final two outs to end the inning.
Lehigh Valley’s offense woke up in the bottom of the third inning. John Hicks and Vimael Machin both hit singles with Jake Cave approaching the plate. Cave hit Brito’s fastball that just cleared the wall into the berm at left-center field, tying the game 3-3 with nobody out.
It was Cave’s eighth home run of the season and now he has 25 RBIs this season. Lehigh Valley was unable to add any more runs in the inning.
Moving ahead to the top of the sixth inning, Jakob Hernandez was pitching for the IronPigs. Hernandez loaded the bases with two outs before leaving the game due to an injury and Jeremy Walker replaced him. Hernandez did not look comfortable after throwing a pitch before exiting the game, and Walker picked up the final out of the inning.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Esteban Quiroz doubled on a sharp fly ball to left field with two outs for John Hicks. Hicks hit James Norwood’s hanging splitter for 450 feet to left field that put the IronPigs up 5-3. It was Hicks’s first home run of the season and his 15th RBI of the year. Vimael Machin grounded out that ended the inning.
Moving ahead to the top of the ninth inning, Jace Vines closed out the game for the IronPigs. He gave up a double to Jesus Bastidas with one out. Next, during Wilmer Difo’s at-bat, Vines threw a wild pitch and Bastidas advanced to third base.
Then, Vines walked Difo before getting the final two outs that ended the game. The IronPigs defeated the RailRiders by the final score of 5-3. With the win, Lehigh Valley snaps a two-game losing streak.
Lehigh Valley finished the night with 11 hits, went 2-4 with runners in scoring position, and left five men on base. Lehigh Valley pitcher Jeremy Walker won his fourth game of the season. He pitched 1.1 innings on 13 pitches, of which eight were strikes, and the loss went to James Norwood. It was his third loss of the season.
The IronPigs and RailRiders play game four on Friday at 7:05 pm on MiLB.com. Tickets for the game are available on StubHub and Viagogo. Also, pick up IronPigs merchandise today at Fanatics.com.
