After four days of inclement weather, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs (2-2) took on the Rochester Red Wings (2-2) on Saturday afternoon from Innovative Field. Lehigh Valley’s Max Castillo (0-0, 0.00 ERA) was on the mound against Rochester’s Mitchell Parker (0-0, 0.00 ERA).
The game was scoreless for three innings until the top of the fourth inning when Lehigh Valley right fielder Jordan Luplow brought Kody Clemens home with a sacrifice fly to right field for a 1-0 lead.
Lehigh Valley’s lead did not last long in the bottom of the fourth inning when pitcher Max Castillo loaded the bases before walking Drew Millas forcing in a run to tie the game 1-1. Then, Rochester shortstop Jack Dunn busted the game wide open hitting Castillo’s slider for a three-run triple making it 4-1. Max Castillo pitched 4.1 innings, allowing three hits, four runs, three walks, and four strikeouts.
Lehigh Valley battled back at the top of the fifth inning. With one out and runners on first and second base, Lehigh Valley left fielder Kody Clemens hit Richard Bleier’s sinker out toward right field for a two-run single to cut the Red Wings lead down to 4-3.
After catches Aramis Garcia reached first base on a fielder’s choice, and the IronPigs tied the game 4-4 when pitcher Richard Bleier threw a wild pitch.
Moving ahead to the top of the sixth inning, Lehigh Valley center fielder Matt Kroon hit a ground ball to shortstop Jack Dunn for a single with two outs with Scott Kingery up to bat. During Kingery’s at-bat, Kroon stole second base before Kingery hit a triple off Bleier’s cutter for a fly ball to center field scoring Kroon making it 5-4 Lehigh Valley.
José Ruiz closed out the game for Lehigh Valley in the bottom of the ninth inning. He got Drew Millas to line out toward center fielder Matt Kroon, followed by back-to-back grounds from Jack Dunn and Darren Baker to end the game. The IronPigs defeated the Red Wings by the final score of 5-4.
The win went to Lehigh Valley pitcher Taylor Lehman pitching 0.2 innings, allowing one hit, while the loss went to Rochester pitcher Richard Bleier, and José Ruiz earned his first save of the season.
The IronPigs and Red Wings play a doubleheader on Sunday beginning at 1:05 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.
