The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (6-6) concluded the six-game homestand on Sunday afternoon against the Durham Bulls (6-9) from Coca-Cola Park. Lehigh Valley pitcher Kolby Allard (0-1, 4.70 ERA) was on the mound against Durham’s Joe Rock (0-0, 10.57 ERA).
In the bottom of the first inning, a sacrifice fly by Lehigh Valley shortstop Weston Wilson scored Matt Kroon for a 1-0 lead. At the top of the third inning, Durham first baseman Dominic Smith hit Allard’s fastball for a two-run home run over the wall at right-center field to take a 2-1 lead.
At the top of the fourth inning, Durham third baseman Junior Caminero hit a two-run double to center field which extended Durham’s lead to 4-1. At the top of the fifth inning, Durham second baseman Ronnie Simon hit a two-run double to left field which made it 6-1. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Lehigh Valley second baseman Scott Kingery hit Rock’s sinker for a solo home run over the wall at left field cutting the Bulls lead down to 6-2.
However, Durham would get the run back at the top of the sixth inning when Durham first baseman Dominic Smith hit an RBI double to left field which made it 7-2. David Parkinson was pitching for Lehigh Valley at the top of the seventh inning and Durham piled on the runs. Left fielder Gionti Turner hit an RBI single to pitcher Parkinson for an 8-2 lead.
Next, Durham center fielder Tristan Peters drove in another run with an RBI single to center field for a 9-2 lead. Then, Durham third baseman Junior Caminero hit Parkinson’s slider for a three-run home run onto the berm at center field for a 12-2 lead.
Lehigh Valley started to make a comeback in the bottom of the seventh inning when right fielder Simon Muzziotti hit Colby White’s cutter for a three-run home run over the wall at right-center field which made it 12-5 Durham.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Lehigh Valley third baseman Nick Podkul hit a two-run ground ball to left field scoring Weston Wilson and Darick Hall which made it 12-7 Durham. Then, an RBI groundout Scott Kingery made it 12-8 Durham.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Lehigh Valley designated hitter Jordan Luplow hit Manuel Rodríguez’s sinker for a solo home run over the wall at right-center field and Durham’s lead was down to 12-9.
After Weston Wilson hit a single, Rodríguez struck out Darick Hall, Aramis Garcia, and Nick Podkul ending the game. The IronPigs lose the series to the Durham Bulls by the final score of 12-9. The series finishes in a tie 3-3.
The loss went to Lehigh Valley pitcher Kolby Allard (4.0 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 4 BB, 4 K) throwing 84 pitches, of which 48 were strikes. The win went to Durham pitcher Joe Rock (5.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 3 K) throwing 68 pitches, of which 47 were strikes.
The IronPigs visit PNC Field for the first time this season against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders starting Tuesday at 6:35 pm on MiLB.TV. Purchase IronPigs tickets for the 2024 season today on StubHub and Viagogo. Also, pick up IronPigs merchandise today at Fanatics.com.
