The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (12-16) played game four of a six-game series against the Worcester Red Sox (14-16) on Friday night from Polar Park. Lehigh Valley pitcher Tyler Phillips (3-1, 3.94 ERA) was on the mound against Worcester’s Json Alexander (1-2, 4.76 ERA).
In the bottom of the first inning, Worcester second baseman Enmanuel Valdez hit Phillips’s sinker for a solo home run over the wall at right-center field for a 1-0 lead.
In the bottom of the second inning, Worcester left fielder Corey Rosier hit an RBI ground ball to left field scoring Niko Kavadas extending Worcester’s lead to 2-0. Those would be the only runs given up by Tyler Phillips. He finished the game pitching 6.2 innings, allowing six hits, two runs, seven walks, and six strikeouts throwing 112 pitches, of which 61 were strikes.
Lehigh Valley battled back at the top of the seventh inning. With the bases loaded, Lehigh Valley left fielder Kody Clemens grounded into a forceout at second base as Scott Kingery scored cutting the Red Sox lead down to 2-1. Then, a sacrifice fly by first baseman Darick Hall brought José Godoy home tying the game 2-2.
Moving ahead to the bottom of the eighth inning, Lehigh Valley pitcher Kolby Allard threw a wild pitch scoring Jamie Westbrook putting the Red Sox back up 3-2. Then, an RBI single by Corey Rosier scored Niko Kavadas home for a 4-2 lead.
Lehigh Valley had one last chance to get back into the game. They had to face Lucas Luetge. Luetge struck out Scott Kingery and Aramis Garcia before giving up a double to Matt Kroon.
Finally, Luetge would get Kody Clemens to ground out toward second baseman Enmanuel Valdez, who threw the ball to first baseman Niko Kavadas for the final out of the game. The IronPigs lose again to the Red Sox by the final score of 4-2. The IronPigs are 1-3 against Worcester in this series.
The loss went to Lehigh Valley pitcher Kolby Allard (0.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R) throwing 17 pitches, of which 12 were strikes, and the win went to Worcester pitcher Lucas Luetge (2.2 IP, 1 H, 2 K) throwing 40 pitches, of which 25 were strikes.
The IronPigs and Red Sox play game five on Saturday at 4:05 pm on MiLB.TV. Purchase IronPigs tickets for the 2024 season today on StubHub and Viagogo. Also, pick up IronPigs merchandise today at Fanatics and Rally House.
