The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (4-4) took on the Durham Bulls (4-7) on Wednesday night in game two of a six-game homestand looking to bounce back after getting blown out by the Bulls 28-10 on Tuesday night. Lehigh Valley’s David Buchanan (0-1, 11.25 ERA) was on the mound against Durham’s Mason Montgomery (0-2, 18.00 ERA).
At the top of the second inning, Durham struck first when Alex Jackson hit a single but Logan Driscoll grounded into a forceout at second base. Next, Ronny Simon hit a ground-rule double to left field followed by a Tristan Peters groundout scoring Driscoll for a 1-0 lead.
Lehigh Valley came back in the bottom of the second inning when second baseman Jordan Luplow hit a double to center field. Two batters later, Nick Podkul moved Luplow to third base with a ground before David Dahl hit Montgomery’s slider for an RBI single to second baseman Ronny Simon scoring Luplow to tie the game 1-1.
Moving to the bottom of the fourth inning, Jordan Luplow hit a double to left field with one out. Two batters later with two outs, Nick Podkul hit Montgomery’s fastball for an RBI single to center field scoring Luplow which put Lehigh Valley up 2-1.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Lehigh Valley left fielder Kody Clemens hit a double to center field. Two batters later, Lehigh Valley first baseman Darick Hall brought Clemens home with a sacrifice fly which extended the IronPigs lead to 3-1.
Moving ahead to the top of the eighth inning, Durham’s Ronny Simon hit David Buchanan’s changeup for a solo home run over the wall left-center field cutting the IronPigs lead to 3-2. Buchanan gave up another single to Rob Brantly with one out before getting the next two outs.
David Buchanan pitched a great game going eight innings, allowing five hits, two runs, and four strikeouts in 90 pitches, of which 60 were strikes. At the top of the ninth inning, Lehigh Valley pitcher José Ruiz threw nine pitches to get the final three outs and the IronPigs defeated the Bulls by the final score of 3-2.
The win went to Lehigh Valley pitcher David Buchanan, while the loss went to Durham’s Mason Montgomery, and José Ruiz earned his second save of the season.
The IronPigs and Bulls continue their series with game three on Thursday at 6:45 pm on MiLB.com. Purchase IronPigs tickets for the 2024 season today on StubHub and Viagogo. Also, pick up IronPigs merchandise today at Fanatics.com.
