The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (63-52, 27-14) and the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (56-61, 24-19) played game four of a six-game series on Friday night from Coca-Cola Park. The IronPigs led the series 2-1 and the overall series 5-4.
Shaun Anderson (1-1, 4.05 ERA) was on the mound for Lehigh Valley, making his sixth start of the season against Jacksonville’s Devin Smeltzer (4-7, 6.45 ERA).
At the top of the first inning, Anderson threw a cutter toward Xavier Edwards, and he hit it for a solo home run over the wall at right field. Jacksonville led 1-0. The home run went 375 feet, and the exit velocity was 96.8 mph. Anderson has now allowed a home run in four of his six starts.
Three batters later, with two outs, Anderson gave up a double to Jorge Alfaro, followed by walking Austin Allen with Peyton Burdick up to bat. Burdick hit Anderson’s slider for a single to left field, with Alfaro scoring for a 2-0 Jacksonville lead. Then, Anderson got Jacob Amaya to line out toward shortstop Scott Kingery which ended the inning.
Lehigh Valley answered back in the bottom of the first inning. With two outs, Aramis Garcia put the ball down for a base hit to third baseman Xavier Edwards with Darick Hall up to bat. On the first pitch, Smeltzer threw a hanging curveball. Hall crushed it for a two-run home run over the wall at right field that tied the game 2-2.
It was Hall’s 11th home run of the season and 36th RBI of the year. The home run went 381 feet, and the exit velocity was 99.8 mph. Drew Ellis was next to bat, but he struck out swinging, which ended the inning.
Moving to the bottom of the second inning, Cristian Pache started the inning with a single to center field. Scott Kingery was next. During his at-bat, Pache stole second base before a throwing error by catcher Austin Allen and Pache ran to third base. Kingery worked a four-pitch walk.
Jim Haley was next. He grounded softly to third baseman Xavier Edwards. Edwards scooped up the ball before throwing it to first baseman Troy Johnston to get Haley out. Scott Kingery ran to second base and Pache scored to give Lehigh Valley a 3-2 lead with one out. Both Cal Stevenson and Dustin Peterson struck out which ended the inning.
Lehigh Valley continued to add to their lead in the bottom of the third inning. With one out, Aramis Garcia hit Smeltzer’s slider for a solo home run off the foul pole at left field for a 4-2 lead. It was Garcia’s eighth home run of the season and 27th RBI of the year.
The home run went 371 feet and the exit velocity was 98.3 mph. Two batters later with two outs, Drew Ellis worked a four-pitch walk before Cristian Pache grounded toward shortstop Garrett Hampson for the forceout at second base to end the inning.
At the top of the fourth inning, Jacksonville made it a one-run game when Griffin Conine hit Anderson’s cutter for a solo home run into the Jacksonville bullpen at left field. It was now 4-3 Lehigh Valley with two outs for Jake Mangum.
The home run went 379 feet and the exit velocity was 103.6 mph. Anderson got Mangum to ground out toward second baseman Jim Haley, who threw the ball to first baseman Darick Hall that retired the side.
Lehigh Valley would get the run back plus more in the bottom of the fourth inning. Scott Kingery started the inning with a single to shortstop Garrett Hampson with Jim Haley up to bat. On a 3-1 count, Haley hit Smeltzer’s changeup for a two-run home run into the KLYR Bar at right field for a 6-3 lead. It was Haley’s tenth home run of the season and 48th RBI of the year.
Two batters later with one out, Dustin Peterson hit Smeltzer’s changeup for a solo home run over the wall at right field for a 7-3 lead. It was Peterson’s 15th home run of the season and 39th RBI of the year. After Brandon Marsh worked a four-pitch walk, Aramis Garcia grounded into a 5-4-3 inning-ending double play.
At the top of the fifth inning with two outs, Shaun Anderson gave up a single to Troy Johnston before getting Jorge Alfaro to fly out toward center fielder Brandon Marsh which ended the inning. That was it for Anderson, who pitched five innings, allowing five hits, three runs, two walks, and one strikeout in 94 pitches, of which 55 were strikes.
Jose Alvarado was the new Lehigh Valley pitcher at the top of the sixth inning. He struck out Austin Allen and Peyton Burdick before walking Jacob Amaya.
Griffin Conine was up to bat with two outs. Alvarado got him to ground out toward second baseman Jim Haley, who threw the ball to first baseman Darick Hall which ended the inning. Alvarado threw 18 pitches, of which 11 were strikes.
Moving to the bottom of the sixth inning, Brandon Marsh worked a four-pitch walk with two outs for Aramis Garica. Garica hit Jeff Lindgren’s fastball for a two-run home run over the wall at right field which made it 9-3 Lehigh Valley. It was Garcia’s ninth home run of the year and 29th RBI of the season. The home run went 372 feet and the exit velocity was 99.2 mph.
After Darick Hall worked a four-pitch walk, the Jumbo Shrimp changed pitchers with Richard Rodriguez in for Lindgren. Rodriguez struck out Drew Ellis which ended the inning.
Ben Bowden was the new pitcher for Lehigh Valley at the top of the seventh inning. He gave up a single to Jake Mangum before getting Xavier Edwards to pop out toward second baseman Jim Haley for the first out.
After giving up a double to Garrett Hampson, Bowden got back-to-back strikeouts from Tory Johnston and Jorge Alfaro which ended the inning. Bowden threw 32 pitches, of which 21 were strikes.
Lehigh Valley continued its assault in the bottom of the seventh inning. Cristian Pache started the inning by reaching first base on a throwing error by shortstop Garrett Hampson. Two batters later with one out, Jim Haley worked a four-pitch walk with Cal Stevenson up to bat.
On the first pitch by Rodriguez, Stevenson hit his sinker for a three-run home run over the wall at right field to make it 12-3 Lehigh Valley. It was the sixth home run of the night for Lehigh Valley. In addition, it was Stevenson’s fifth home run of the season and 19th RBI of the year. The home run went 360 feet and the exit velocity was 96 mph.
Two batters later with two outs, Brandon Marsh put the ball down for a single to left field before Aramis Garcia flies out toward center fielder Jake Mangum for the final out of the inning.
Braden Zarbnisky was the new Lehigh Valley pitcher at the top of the eighth inning. He walked Peyton Burdick with one out before striking out Jacob Amaya and Griffin Conine which ended the inning. Zarbnisky threw 14 pitches, of which nine were strikes.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Lehigh Valley almost added another run. Eli Villalobos was the new pitcher for Jacksonville. Drew Ellis hit a double to left field with one out. Then, Cristian Pache moved Ellis to third base with a single to right field.
Scott Kingery was next. He flies out toward right fielder Peyton Burdick in foul territory. Burdick caught the ball and threw a dart to catcher Austin Allen to get Ellis out at home plate for an inning-ending double play.
Taylor Lehman was the new pitcher for Lehigh Valley at the top of the ninth inning. Lehman gave up a double to Jake Mangum and walked Xavier Edwards with nobody out for Garrett Hampson. Hampson grounded toward first baseman Darick Hall, who threw the ball to Scott Kingery for the forceout at second base.
Two batters later with two outs, Lehman walked Jorge Alfaro and Austin Allen, which forced in a run. It was now 12-4 Lehigh Valley. Peyton Burdick was up to bat. On the first pitch, Burdick hit Lehman’s fastball for a two-run double and it was now 12-6 Lehigh Valley.
Jacob Amaya was next for Jacksonville. On a 3-2 count, Lehman threw a fastball to strike out Amaya for the final out of the game. The IronPigs defeated the Jumbo Shrimp by the final score of 12-6. The IronPigs take a commanding 3-1 series lead and have now won three straight games.
Lehigh Valley’s offense had themselves a game with six home runs (two of them by Aramis Garcia), along with 13 hits, went 2 for 7 with runners in scoring position, and left seven men out base. Lehigh Valley pitcher Shaun Anderson won his second game of the season, and Devin Smeltzer lost his eighth game of the year for Jacksonville.
The IronPigs and Jumbo Shrimp play game five on Saturday 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.
