The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (9-9) concluded the six-game road trip on Sunday afternoon against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (13-7) from PNC Field. Lehigh Valley pitcher Taijuan Walker (0-0, 1.93 ERA) was on the mound making his second rehab start against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s Edgar Barclay (1-0, 2.77 ERA).
The game was scoreless for the first three innings until the top of the fourth inning when Lehigh Valley shortstop Scott Kingery hit Barclay’s fastball for a two-run double to left field scoring Weston Wilson and Esteban Quiroz for a 2-0 lead. Kingery now has 13 RBIs this season.
Two batters later with two outs and Kingery on third base, first baseman Nick Podkul hit Barclay’s fastball for an RBI single to left field bringing Kingery home extending Lehigh Valley’s lead to 3-0. Podkul now has five RBIs this season.
In the bottom of the fourth inning with runners on the corners, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre right fielder Jose Rojas brought Everson Pereria home with a sacrifice fly to left field cutting Lehigh Valley’s lead down to 3-1.
At the top of the fifth inning, Lehigh Valley designated hitter Darick Hall hit Barclay’s fastball for a solo home run over the wall at right field getting the IronPigs run back 4-1. It was Hall’s second home run of the season and now has 10 RBIs for the season.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre continued to cut Lehigh Valley’s lead with an RBI triple by Everson Pereira making it 4-2, and then a groundout by T.J. Rumfield made it 4-3 Lehigh Valley.
Moving to the top of the sixth inning, Lehigh Valley had the bases loaded for Darick Hall. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre pitcher Josh Maciejewski hit Hall forcing in a run which made it 5-3 IronPigs. In the bottom of the seventh inning, a sacrifice fly by Scranton/Wilkes-Barre designated hitter T.J. Rumfield once again cut Lehigh Valley’s lead down to one 5-4.
At the top of the eighth inning, Lehigh Valley put the game away when third baseman Weston Wilson hit Anthony Misiewicz’s cutter for a two-run home run over onto the berm at center field for a 7-4 lead. It was Wilson’s seventh RBI of the season.
Lehigh Valley pitcher Ryan Burr closed out the game in the bottom of the ninth inning to get the final three outs of the game and the IronPigs defeated the RailRiders by the final score of 7-4. The two teams split the series at three games apiece.
The win went to Lehigh Valley pitcher Taijuan Walker (6.1 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 1 K) throwing 102 pitches, of which 59 were strikes. The loss went to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre pitcher Edgar Barclay (4.2 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 5 K) throwing 80 pitches, of which 51 were strikes, and Lehigh Valley pitcher Ryan Burr (1.0 IP, 2 K) earned his first save of the season.
The IronPigs return home to Coca-Cola Park to begin a six-game homestand against the Charlotte Knights starting on Tuesday at 6:45 pm on MiLB.TV. Purchase IronPigs tickets for the 2024 season today on StubHub and Viagogo. Also, pick up IronPigs merchandise today at Fanatics and Rally House.
