The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (1-0) kicked off the 2024 season on Friday night from Coca-Cola Park against the Worcester Red Sox (0-1). Tyler Phillips was on the mound for the IronPigs against Worcester’s Grant Gambrell.
The game was scoreless for the first four innings until Worcester second baseman Eddie Alvarez hit a ground ball to center field with two outs scoring Mark Contreras from second base to give them a 1-0 lead. Then, the Red Sox added three more runs in four innings all home runs by Romy Gonzalez twice and David Hamilton.
Before the bottom of the ninth inning, the IronPigs had three hits and had to face Joe Jacques. Jacques walked Nick Podkul to start the inning, followed by three straight singles from Scott Kingery, Kody Clemens, and Weston Wilson, who scored Podkul cutting the Red Sox’s lead down to 4-1.
Next, Lehigh Valley first baseman Darick Hall hit a sharp line drive to left field scoring Kingery to cut the Red Sox’s lead in half 4-2. With the bases loaded, Jacques walked Aramis Garcia and it was now a one-run game 4-3. Worcester replaced Jacques with Andrew Politi.
However, Politi walked Matt Kroon which forced in another run tying the game 4-4 with Rodolfo Castro up to bat. On the first pitch, Castro hit Politi’s slider over the wall at right field for a game-winning grand slam. However, Matt Kroon skipped second base and was automatically out but the IronPigs completed the comeback with a 7-4 win.
Lehigh Valley starter Tyler Phillips pitched six innings, allowing one hit, one run, three walks, and six strikeouts. The winning pitcher was Lehigh Valley’s Andrew Bellatti, who went one inning, allowing two hits, two runs, one walk, and two strikeouts. The loss went to Worcester’s Joe Jacques, who allowed four hits, six runs, and two walks.
The IronPigs and Red Sox play game two on Saturday at 4:35 pm on MLB.TV. Purchase IronPigs tickets for the 2024 season today on StubHub and Viagogo. Also, pick up IronPigs merchandise today at Fanatics.com.
