The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (8-9) took on the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (13-6) on Saturday afternoon in game five of a six-game series from PNC Field. Lehigh Valley pitcher Michael Mercado (0-0, 0.00 ERA) was on the mound against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s Cody Poteet (0-0, 2.16 ERA).
The game was scoreless for the first three innings until the top of the fourth inning when Lehigh Valley first baseman David Dahl hit Poteet’s fastball for an RBI single to center field scoring Jordan Luplow for a 1-0 lead. Lehigh Valley pitcher Michael Mercado pitched three scoreless innings, allowing two hits, and two strikeouts throwing 36 pitches, of which 21 were strikes.
Kolby Allard was the new pitcher for Lehigh Valley in the bottom of the fourth inning. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre had runners on second and third base when T.J. Rumfield hit a groundout toward second baseman Kody Clemens tying the game 1-1. Then, a Carlos Narvaez sacrifice fly to right fielder Jordan Luplow brought Everson Pereira home for a 2-1 lead.
Moving ahead to the bottom of the seventh inning, Nick Nelson was the new pitcher for Lehigh Valley. With runners on first and second base, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre second baseman Josh VanMeter hit an RBI double to right field extending the RailRiders lead to 3-1. Tyler McKay replaced Nick Nelson as Lehigh Valley’s new pitcher with Brandon Lockridge up to bat.
Lockridge hit a two-run ground ball single to right field that made it 5-1. Moving ahead to the top of the ninth inning, Lehigh Valley second baseman Jordan Luplow hit Yerry De Los Santos’s sinker for a solo home run over the wall at right-center field cutting the RailRiders lead down to 5-2. It was Luplow’s fourth home run of the season.
With Weston Wilson on second base with two outs, Esteban Quiroz flies out toward left fielder Jose Rojas, who made the catch ending the game. The IronPigs lost to the RailRiders by the final score of 5-2.
The loss went to Lehigh Valley pitcher Kolby Allard (3.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 2 K) throwing 42 pitches, of which 25 were strikes. The win went to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre pitcher Cody Poteet (6.1 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 4 K) throwing 82 pitches, of which 52 were strikes.
The IronPigs can finish the series in a tie as they conclude the six-game road trip against the RailRiders on Sunday at 1:05 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.
