The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (41-43) took on the Scranton Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (41-43) on Saturday evening from PNC Field for game five of a six-game series.
This series has not been kind to Lehigh Valley. They have lost three straight games since winning the opening series 5-4 on Tuesday night and are 4-6 in their last ten games. The IronPigs have been outscored 41-10 in the last three games including blowing a 7-0 lead on Friday night.
Nick Nelson (0-1, 5.75 ERA) was on the mound for Lehigh Valley making his seventh start of the season against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s Tanner Tully (5-2, 4.94 ERA).
At the top of the first inning with one out, Lehigh Valley center fielder Jake Cave hit Tully’s fast ball for a solo home run onto the seats at right field to put the IronPigs up 1-0. It was Cave’s 16th home run of the season and 48th RBI of the season.
Drew Ellis was next. He flies out toward center fielder Estevan Florial for the second out and Dustin Peterson flies out toward right fielder Everson Pereira which ended the inning.
Moving to the top of the second inning, Lehigh Valley added three more runs. With one out, Rafael Marchan grounded toward shortstop Wilmer Difo. However, Difo went to scoop up the ball and it went under his glove and into center field. Marchan reached first base and an error was charged to Difo. Next, Tanner Tully walked John Hicks with one out for Jim Haley.
Haley moved Marchan and Hicks up a base with a ground out to third baseman Jamie Westbrook, who planted his feet on the ground before throwing the ball to first baseman Max Burt. It was Scott Kingery’s turn to bat with two outs.
Kingery hit Tully’s hanging breaking ball for a three-run home run over the wall at left field. It was 4-0 Lehigh Valley. For Kingery, it was his tenth home run and 29th RBI for the season. Weston Wilson was next with two outs but popped out toward second baseman Oswald Peraza that ended the inning.
Moving to the top of the fourth inning, Lehigh Valley added another run. Rafael Marchan started the inning by hitting Tully’s hanging breaking ball for a solo home run out to left field for a 5-0 lead. It was Marchan’s first home run of the season and the 13th RBI of the year. The ball left the bat at 102 mph and went 412 feet.
Two batters later with one out, Weston Wilson put the ball down for a base hit at right field before Scott Kingery grounded toward shortstop Wilmer Difo for an inning-ending double play.
Moving to the bottom of the fifth inning, Nick Nelson hit Andres Chaparro. Next, he got Jamie Westbrook to ground out toward third baseman Drew Ellis, who made the throw over to first baseman Jim Haley for the first out.
Then, Nelson struck out Michael Hermosillo before walking Wilmer Difo with two outs. The inning ended when Nelson got Max Burt to ground into a forceout at second base to end the inning. That was it for Nelson. He pitched a good game going five innings, allowing two hits, one walk, and four strikeouts in 68 pitches, of which 44 were strikes. Jeremy Walker pitched in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Moving to the top of the seventh inning, Zac Houston was the new pitcher for the RailRiders. After striking out Jim Haley, Scott Kingery hit Houston’s fastball for his second home run onto the berm at right-center field for a 6-0 lead. It was Kingery’s 11th home run and 30th RBI of the year. Weston Wilson was next and put the ball in play for a single to left field.
Jake Cave was next. During his at-bat, history was made when Wilson stole second base. Wilson becomes the first player in Lehigh Valley history to hit 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases in a season. Then, Cave singled which moved Wilson to third base.
Unfortunately, Drew Ellis popped out toward shortstop Wilmer Difo and Dustin Peterson grounded into a forceout at second base which ended the inning.
In the bottom of the seventh inning with one out, the RailRiders got on the board when Jeremy Walker’s fastball was hit by Jamie Westbrook for a solo home run onto the berm at center field. It was now 6-1 Lehigh Valley. Then, Walker got back-to-back groundouts from Brandon Lockridge and Wilmer Difo to end the inning.
Luis Ortiz was the new pitcher in the bottom of the eighth inning. He threw 11 pitches to get three outs that ended the inning. He returned to pitch in the bottom of the ninth inning. Ortiz struck out Everson Pereira and Ben Rortvedt. Then, he hit Andres Chaparro on the bicep which led to Rafael Marchan talking to him as Chaparro was heated about getting hit.
Finally, Ortiz got Jamie Westbrook to ground out toward first baseman Jim Haley. He tossed the ball to Ortiz before stepping on the first base bag which ended the inning. The Lehigh Valley IronPigs ended a three-game losing by defeating the RailRiders 6-1.
This is what Lehigh Valley needed. Everyone did a good job. Lehigh Valley finished the night with 12 hits, went 2-8 with runners in scoring position, and left seven men on base.
Scott Kingery had a great game going 2-4 with two home runs and four RBIs. Nick Nelson earned his first win of the season, and Tanner Tully lost his third game of the year.
The IronPigs will have a chance to split the series on Sunday against the RailRiders at 1:05 pm on MiLB.com. Tickets for the game are available on StubHub and Viagogo. Also, pick up IronPigs merchandise today at Fanatics.com.
