The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (12-22) and the Syracuse Mets (21-14) played game four of a six-game series on Friday night from Coca-Cola Park. Lehigh Valley pitcher Mick Abel (1-2, 6.23 ERA) was on the mound against Syracuse’s Justin Jarvis (0-0, 0.00 ERA).
In the bottom of the second inning, Lehigh Valley left fielder Simon Muzziotti hit a double to left field, followed by first baseman Nick Podkul working a four-pitch walk, Two batters later with one out, Lehigh Valley shortstop Scott Kingery brought Muzziotti home with a sacrifice fly to center field to take a 1-0 lead.
At the top of the third inning, Syracuse had the bases loaded when Lehigh Valley pitcher Mick Abel walked Ben Gamel forcing in a run and the game was tied 1-1. Then, Syracuse third baseman Mark Vientos hit the ball toward second baseman Jim Haley. Haley made a throwing error allowing Matt O’Neill to score and the Mets went ahead 2-1.
Lehigh Valley second baseman Jim Haley began the bottom of the third inning with a double to right field. Three batters later with two out, Lehigh Valley designated hitter Weston Wilson hit Jarvis’s slider for a two-run home run over the wall at left field putting the IronPigs ahead 3-2. It was Wilson’s second home run of the season and third RBI of the year.
Lehigh Valley pitcher Mick Abel pitched 5.2 innings, allowing four hits, two runs, five walks, and four strikeouts throwing 100 pitches, of which 58 were strikes. Nick Nelson was the new pitcher for Lehigh Valley at the top of the sixth inning.
At the top of the seventh inning, Syracuse had runners on second and third base when center fielder Ben Gamel brought Matt O’Neill home with a sacrifice fly that knotted up the game 3-3. Then, Syracuse third baseman Mark Vientos brought Luisangel Acuña home with an RBI double to left field giving the Mets a 4-3 lead.
Moving to the top of the eighth inning, Andrew Bellatti was the new pitcher for Lehigh Valley. Syracuse designated hitter Tryce Thompson hit Bellatti’s fastball for a solo home run onto the berm at left-center field extending the Mets lead to 5-3.
Four batters later with two outs, Syracuse second baseman Luisangel Acuña hit an RBI double to center field scoring Yolmer Sánchez making it 6-3. Syracuse center field Ben Gamel flies out toward center fielder Cal Stevenson for the third out.
Beau Burrows was the new pitcher for Lehigh Valley at the top of the ninth inning. Burrows walked Mark Vientos and Luke Ritter to start the inning. Two batters, the bases were loaded and Burrows walked both Mike Brosseau and Yolmer Sánchez making it 8-3 Syracuse.
Dedniel Núñez closed out the game for Syracuse. He struck out Matt Kroon and got back-to-back groundouts from José Godoy and Jim Haley to end the game. The IronPigs lose their seventh straight game by the final score of 8-3. Lehigh Valley are now 0-4 in this series against Syracuse.
Lehigh Valley finished the night with six hits and committed one error. The loss went to Lehigh Valley pitcher Nick Nelson (1.11 IP, 3 H, 2 R, throwing 21 pitches, of which 16 were strikes. The win went to Syracuse’s Eric Orze (2.0 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 2 K) throwing 32 pitches, of which 18 were strikes.
The IronPigs and Mets play game five on Saturday 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 and Rally House.
