The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (7-7) continued their six-game road trip on Wednesday night at PNC Field against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (11-5). Lehigh Valley pitcher Max Castillo (0-0, 4.82 ERA) was on the mound against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s Yoendrys Gomez (0-0, 3.00 ERA).
At the top of the first inning, Lehigh Valley second baseman Kody Clemens started the game with a triple to right field. Then, designated hitter Jordan Luplow brought Clemens home with a ground out toward shortstop Caleb Durbin for a 1-0 lead. However, the RailRiders tied the game 1-1 in the bottom of the first inning on an RBI double by T.J. Rumfield.
Moving ahead to the bottom of the third inning, the RailRiders had a runner on first base when T.J. Rumfield hit an RBI single to left field scoring Caleb Durbin to take a 2-1 lead. At the top of the fourth inning, Lehigh Valley third baseman Weston Wilson was up to bat with runners on the corners. He grounded into a 6-4-3 double play scoring Jordan Luplow tying the game again 2-2.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, a sacrifice fly by Josh VanMeter put the RailRiders back up 3-2. Then, at the top of the fifth inning, Lehigh Valley shortstop Scott Kingery hit Oddanier Mosqueda’s sinker for a solo home run over the wall at center field tying the game 3-3. It was Kingery’s fourth home run of the season.
At the top of the eighth inning, Lehigh Valley second baseman Kody Clemens hit a double to left field that started the inning. Then, designated hitter Jordan Luplow brought Clemens home with an RBI single to center field for a 4-3.
Lehigh Valley pitcher José Ruiz pitched the bottom of the eighth inning. With a runner on first base, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre third baseman Jordan Groshans hit Ruiz’s sinker for a two-run home run over the wall at left-center field giving the RailRiders a 5-4 lead.
Lehigh Valley had one more chance to get the lead back facing Duane Underwood. With two outs, Lehigh Valley pinch hitter Esteban Quiroz got on base with a single to left field. Cal Stevenson was next but he grounded out ending the game and the IronPigs lost to the RailRiders by the final score of 5-4.
Lehigh Valley pitcher Max Castillo pitched 5.2 innings, allowing five hits, three runs, two walks, and five strikeouts throwing 80 pitches, of which 51 were strikes. The loss went to Lehigh Valley pitcher José Ruiz (1.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 K) throwing 27 pitches, of which 20 were strikes.
The win went to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre pitcher Jake Cousins (1.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 K) throwing 21 pitches, of which 11 were strikes, and Duane Underwood earned his second save of the season.
The IronPigs and RailRiders play game three on Thursday 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.
