The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (29-27) and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders concluded a six-game series on Sunday afternoon from Coca-Cola Park. In addition, the IronPigs concluded a 12-game homestand. Coming into this game, the IronPigs led the series 3-2 with a chance to win it.
Lehigh Valley elected to start the game with the bullpen. Jake Jewell (1-1, 6.26 ERA) was on the mound against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s Tanner Tully (5-1, 6.95 ERA).
At the top of the first inning, the RailRiders scored five runs. Jake Jewell gave up a double to Estevan Florial, followed by a single from Elijah Dunham, moving Florial to third base with one out. Next, Andres Chaparro singled to left field, scoring Florial for a 1-0 lead. Then, Franchy Cordero tripled on a line drive to right field, scoring two more runs for a 3-0 lead.
Rodolfo Duran was next. He doubled on a sharp line drive to left field, scoring Cordero for a 4-0 lead. After Jewell hit Jaime Westbrook, the IronPigs changed pitchers when Trey Cobb took over for Jewell. Jesus Bastidas was next with two outs. However, Westbrook got caught in a rundown during Bastida’s at-bat, trying to steal second base. Duron scored before Scott Kingery could apply the tag on Westbrook for the final out of the inning. It was now 5-0 RailRiders.
Moving ahead to the bottom of the third inning, the IronPigs battled back. Scott Kingery and Weston Wilson both hit singles with Kingery moving to third base on Wilson’s single with one out. Jake Cave was next. He doubled to right field, scoring Kingery to cut the RailRiders lead to 5-1.
Dustin Peterson was next. He hit Tully’s slider for a three-run home run to right field, making it a one-run game 5-4. It was Peterson’s sixth home run of the season. After Darick Hall doubled, Tanner Tully got the last two outs to end the inning.
Cristopher Sanchez pitched next for the IronPigs at the top of the fourth inning. With one out, the RailRiders got one of the runs back when Jesus Bastidas hit a solo home run to left-center field for a 6-4 lead. Sanchez got the last two outs to end the inning.
Then, at the top of the sixth inning, Jamie Westbrook hit a solo home run to right field off Sanchez’s fastball for a 7-4 lead with one out. Sanchez struck out Jesus Bastidas and Estevan Florial to retire the side. Cristopher Sanchez pitched two more innings. He finished the afternoon pitching six innings, allowing four hits, two runs, two walks, and four strikeouts in 92 pitches, of which 59 were strikes.
Moving ahead to the bottom of the eighth inning, the RailRiders changed pitchers with Deivi Garcia in for Greg Weissert. Dustin Peterson was the first to face Garcia. He hit Garcia’s fastball over the wall at right field for a solo home run. It was now 7-5 RailRiders.
It was his second home run of the game and the third of this series for Peterson. Lehigh Valley could not add any more runs in the inning.
Lehigh Valley had one more chance to either tie the game or win it in the bottom of the ninth inning. Vimael Machin started the inning with a single and was replaced by Jordan Qsar as a pinch-runner. Scott Kingery was next. He doubled on a sharp fly ball off the wall at right field, scoring Qsar and it was now 7-6 RailRiders.
Weston Wilson was next and moved Kingery to third base with a sacrifice bunt to pitcher Deivi Garcia. Jake Cave was next and Garcia walked him as Dustin Peterson approached the plate. Peterson brought home Kingery with a sacrifice fly to right-center field, tying the game 7-7 with Darick Hall coming to the plate.
Hall singled on a line drive to left field. As he attempted to reach second base. Hall stopped and tried to get back to first base once second baseman Jaime Westbrook caught the ball. However, a throwing error by Westbrook wide to first baseman Billy McKinney allowed Cave to score and the IronPigs defeated the RailRiders in walk-off fashion by the final score of 8-7.
Lehigh Valley wins the series 4-2 and now the season series is all knotted up at six apiece. The IronPigs finished the afternoon with 12 hits, went 2-6 with runners in scoring position, and left six men on base. The win went to Lehigh Valley pitcher Luis Ortiz. It was his first win of the season, while the loss went to Deivi Garcia.
Lehigh Valley will hit the road this week to take on the Syracuse Mets at NBT Bank Stadium for the second time this season. The two teams met last month with the IronPigs winning five of six games in Syracuse. The first game happens on Tuesday at 6:05 pm on MiLB.com. Tickets for the game are available on StubHub and Viagogo. Also, pick up IronPigs merchandise today at Fanatics.com.
