The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (78-63, 42-26) and the Rochester Red Wings (63-75, 29-37) played game five of a six-game series on Saturday night at Innovative Field. Lehigh Valley led the series 3-1 with a chance to win it with one game left to play.
Drew Hutchison (4-4, 5.96 ERA) was on the mound for Lehigh Valley making his 15th start of the season against Rochester’s Alemao Hernandez (3-1, 3.80 ERA).
At the top of the second inning with two outs, Jim Haley hit his fourth double of the season on a line drive to center field. Drew Ellis was next. He hit Hernandez’s changeup for a base hit to left field scoring Haley for a 1-0 lead.
It was Ellis’s 45th RBI of the season. Scott Kingery was up to bat. He grounded toward third baseman Jack Dunn, who made the throw to first baseman Frankie Tostado that ended the inning.
Lehigh Valley threatened to extend their lead at the top of the third inning. Weston Wilson and Matt Kroon both hit singles to right field. Kody Clemens was next. He grounded into a 6-4-3 double play with Wilson running to third base. Dustin Peterson was up to bat but struck out swinging and the inning was over.
Rochester threatened to tie the game in the bottom of the third inning. Lehigh Valley pitcher Drew Hutchison struck out the first two batters before giving up back-to-back singles to Jeter Downs and Darren Baker with Downs running to third base. Then, Derek Hill flew out toward right fielder Weston Wilson, who made the catch that ended the inning.
Lehigh Valley catcher Rafael Marchan made a great play in the bottom of the fourth inning. Drew Hutchison walked Blake Rutherford to begin the inning. Then, he got back-to-back flyouts from Matt Adams and Jack Dunn with Erick Mejia up to bat. During his at-bat, Marchan threw a dart toward first baseman Kody Clemens to pickoff Rutherford at first base which ended the inning.
Drew Ellis worked a four-pitch walk at the top of the fifth inning. Two batters later with one out, Weston Wilson hit a soft ground ball toward third baseman Jack Dunn moving Ellis up to second base. Matt Kroon lined out toward shortstop Jeter Downs, and Kody Clemens struck out swinging which ended the inning.
Lehigh Valley added another run at the top of the sixth inning. With two outs, Brewer Hicklen hit Hernandez’s changeup for a solo home run over the center field wall, making it 2-0 IronPigs. It was Hicklen’s tenth home run of the season with 33 RBIs.
The home run went 425 feet with an exit velocity of 104.6 mph. Then, Jim Haley flew out toward center fielder Derek Hill, who made the catch and the inning was over.
Moving ahead to the bottom of the eighth inning, Drew Hutchison gave up a double to Frankie Tostado with one out for Brady Lindsly. With the count 2-2, Lindsly hit Hutchison’s slider for a game-tying two-run home run over the wall at right field.
The score was now 2-2. The home run went 360 feet with an exit velocity of 95.4 mph. That was it for Hutchison, who pitched 7.1 innings, allowing five hits, two runs, two walks, and five strikeouts in 103 pitches, of which 66 were strikes. Luis Ortiz was the new Lehigh Valley pitcher. He got back-to-back groundouts from Jeter Downs and Darren Baker to end the inning.
Gerson Moreno was the new pitcher for Rochester at the top of the ninth inning. With one out, Darick Hall worked a four-pitch walk with Drew Ellis coming to the plate. On the second pitch, Moreno threw a sinker at Ellis and he crushed it for a two-run home run over the wall at left field to put the IronPigs back on top 4-2.
It was Ellis’s 13th home run of the season with 47 RBIs. The home run went 375 feet with an exit velocity of 98.1 mph. Next, Moreno walked Scott Kingery, Matt Kroon, and Kody Clemens. The bases were loaded with one out for Dustin Peterson.
Rochester replaced Moreno with Odalvi Javier. However, Javier walked Peterson which forced in a run. It was now 5-2 Lehigh Valley with Rafael Marchan up to bat. Marchan grounded out toward first baseman Frankie Tostado, who tossed the ball to Javier for the final out of the inning.
Luis Ortiz pitched for Lehigh Valley in the bottom of the ninth inning. Ortiz gave up a single to Derek Hill and walked Blake Rutherford with nobody out. Three batters later with two outs, Erick Mejia singled to center field scoring Hill which made it 5-3 Lehigh Valley.
Frankie Tostado was up to bat. He hit a high fly ball toward center fielder Matt Kroon. Kroon crashed hard into the wall. Two runs scored which tied the game 5-5. Then, Ortiz struck out Brady Lindsly which sent the game into extra innings.
At the top of the tenth inning, Cal Stevenson moved Rafael Marchan to third base with a sacrifice bunt with Darick Hall coming to bat. Hall put the ball down for a base hit to right field scoring Marchan for a 6-5 lead. Next, Drew hit a single to left field moving Hall to second base.
Two batters later with two outs, Weston Wilson worked a four-pitch walk which loaded the bases for Matt Kroon. Kroon grounded toward shortstop Jordy Barley for the force out at second base to end the inning.
Andrew Bellatti was the new Lehigh Valley pitcher in the bottom of the tenth inning. Brady Lindsly started at second base. Bellatti walked Darren Baker with one out, followed by a Derek Hill flyout toward center fielder Matt Kroon for the second out.
Blake Rutherford was next. Bellatti got Rutherford to line out toward second baseman Kody Clemens, who made the catch, and the game was finally over. The IronPigs defeated the Red Wings by the final score of 6-5. They win the series with one game left to play and have won four straight games.
Drew Ellis had a good night, going 3-4 with a home run and three RBIs. Lehigh Valley finished the game with 11 hits, went 2 for 10 with runners in scoring position, and left 12 men on base. Luis Ortiz won his fourth game of the season, while Andrew Bellatti earned his fifth save of the season, and Rochester pitcher Hobie Harris lost his third game of the season.
The IronPigs and Red Wings play for the final time of the 2023 season on Sunday 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.
