The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (40-42) and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (40-42) played game three on Thursday night from PNC Field. The IronPigs came into this game tied 1-1 in the series after Lehigh Valley were shutout Wednesday night 14-0 and are 4-6 in their last ten games.
Drew Hutchison (0-1, 8.10 ERA) was on the mound for Lehigh Valley making his fifth start of the season against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s Mitch Spence (6-4, 4.63 ERA).
The IronPigs struck first at the top of the first inning. With one out, Weston Wilson hit Spence’s hanging breaking ball for a solo home run over the wall at left field for a 1-0 lead. It was Wilson’s league-leading 20th home run of the season and 58th RBI of the year.
Two batters later with two outs, Simon Muzziotti singled on a line drive to left field. Scott Kingery was next but he grounded out toward third baseman Jamie Westbrook, who threw the ball to first baseman Andres Chaparro for the final out of the inning.
The IronPigs lead disappeared in the bottom of the fourth inning. Lehigh Valley pitcher Drew Hutchison walked Andres Chaparro, Carlos Narvaez, and Franchy Cordero. The bases were loaded for Jamie Westbrook. Westbrook hit the ball softly toward Hutchison. Hutchison picked up the ball and overthrew catcher Rafael Marchan.
What should’ve been an easy double play, resulted in two runs scoring for the RailRiders. It was 2-1 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre with nobody out. Westbrook’s hit was a fielder’s choice and Hutchison was charged with an error. Jesus Bastidas was next. During his at-bat, Hutchison threw a wild pitch, scoring Cordero for a 3-1 RailRiders lead. Hutchison was charged with another error.
Next, Bastidas hit Hutchison’s fastball for a two-run home run to left-center field and it was now 5-1 RailRiders. After Hutchison gave up a double to Brandon Lockridge, he was taken out of the game for Jesus Cruz. Estevan Florial was next.
Florial hit a two-run home run onto the Chevrolet Homer Zone at right-center field. It was now 7-1 RailRiders still with nobody out. Drew Hutchison’s night started ok but ended badly. He pitched three innings, allowing four hits, six runs, five earned runs, four walks, and four strikeouts in 85 pitches, of which 45 were strikes.
Cruz struck out Oswald Peraza and Ben Rortvedt before getting Andres Chaparro to pop out toward shortstop Scott Kingery for the final out of the inning. The RailRiders had ten men up to bat during the inning.
Jace Vines was the new Lehigh Valley pitcher in the bottom of the fifth inning. He gave up a single to Franchy Cordero with one out with Jamie Westbrook batting. Westbrook doubled on a line drive to right field which moved Cordero to third base. Then, Vines loaded the bases when he hit Jesus Bastidas. Brandon Lockridge was next.
Lockridge singled on a ground ball to center field which scored two runs. The RailRiders blew this game wide open 9-1. Next, a ground out by Estevan Florial made it 10-1 with two outs. Vines struck out Oswald Peraza which ended the inning.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Ben Rortvedt hit a solo home run into the RailRiders’ bullpen for an 11-1 lead. Next, Vines walked Andres Chaparro with nobody out. Then, he struck out Carlos Narvaez before getting Franchy Cordero to ground toward shortstop Scott Kingery for a double play that ended the inning.
At the top of the seventh inning, Lehigh Valley added a run. Rafael Marchan singled on a sharp ground ball to right field with one out for Esteban Quiroz. Quiroz doubled on a line drive to center field which scored Marchan. It was now 11-2 RailRiders. It was Quiroz’s 11th double of the season and 30th RBI of the year.
Two batters later with Quiroz on third base, Cal Stevenson hit the ball toward a diving second baseman Jesus Bastidas. Bastidas threw the ball to first baseman Andres Chaparro for the final out of the inning.
Lehigh Valley had a chance to add more runs at the top of the eighth inning. Mitch Spence walked Weston Wilson with one out before being replaced by Blas Castano. Kody Clemens was next. He singled to right field which moved Wilson to second base. Simon Muzziotti grounded into a forceout at second base for the second out and Scott Kingery flies out toward right fielder Max Burt which ended the inning.
For the second straight night, a position player was pitching for Lehigh Valley. Last night was Dustin Peterson, this time it’s Esteban Quiroz. The onslaught continued for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Ben Rortvedt hit his second home run of the night into Lehigh Valley’s bullpen for a 12-2 lead.
Then, Quiroz walked Andres Chaparro and gave up a single to Carlos Narvaez before Franchy Cordero hit a three-run home run over the Budweiser Railhouse Bar roof for a 15-2 lead. Next, Jamie Westbrook singled on a line drive to center field before getting Jesus Bastidas to fly out toward right fielder Jake Cave for the first out.
Next, Quiroz walked Brandon Lockridge, followed by a Max Burt pop-out. Oswald Peraza was next to bat with two outs. He singled on a line drive to left field which loaded the bases for Ben Rortvedt. Rortvedt singled on a line drive to right field, scoring two more runs. It was now 17-2. Jim Haley went to pitch and Quiroz went to third base.
Haley gave up a single to Andres Chaparro on a fly ball to center fielder Cal Stevenson, who missed the catch and another run scored. It was now 18-2 RailRiders. Finally, Haley got Carolos Narvaez to pop out toward third baseman Esteban Quiroz for the final out of the inning.
At the top of the ninth inning, Blas Castano got three straight groundouts from Rafael Marchan, Esteban Quiroz, and John Hicks that ended the game. The IronPigs lost to the RailRiders by the final score of 18-2. In the last two games, the IronPigs have been outscored 32-2 to the RailRiders.
The one takeaway from this game was finding out via the announcers that the RailRiders went on a complete rebuild of their pitching staff after last season. They were not performing so they released the underperformer pitchers and now have a reasonably good bullpen.
They announced that the Phillies picked up some of those underperforming pitchers. I think they need to follow the RailRiders’ example and clean house.
Lehigh Valley finished the night with seven hits, went 0-5 with runners in scoring position, and left six men on base. Drew Hutchison lost his fourth game of the year, and Mitch Spence won his seventh game of the season.
The IronPigs and RailRiders play game four on Friday at 6:35 pm on MiLB.com. Tickets for the game are available on StubHub and Viagogo. Also, pick up IronPigs merchandise today at Fanatics.com.
