The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (17-28) played game three of a seven-game series on Wednesday night against the Rochester Red Wings (23-21) from Coca-Cola Park. Lehigh Valley pitcher David Buchanan (3-2, 4.37 ERA) was on the mound against Rochester’s Joan Adon (1-3, 6.75 ERA).
The game was scoreless for the first two innings until the top of the third inning. Rochester had runners on the corners with one out when catcher Drew Millas hit a sacrifice fly to right fielder Jordan Luplow scoring Carter Kieboom for a 1-0 lead with two outs.
Next, Rochester left fielder James Wood hit an RBI single to right field scoring Darren Baker making it 2-0. Two batters later, Rochester had runners on second and third base as third baseman Trey Lipscomb hit Buchanan’s cutter for a two-run RBI single to left field scoring James Wood and Travis Blankenhorn for a 4-0 lead.
Two batters later with runners on first and second base, Rochester center fielder Alex Call hit Buchanan’s curveball for an RBI double to left field scoring Trey Lipscomb for a 5-0 lead with Carter Kieboom up to bat. With the count 2-2, Kieboom made the ball go boom hitting Buchanan’s fastball for a three-run home run over the wall right-center field making it 8-0 Rochester.
Lehigh Valley pitcher David Buchanan’s day was done. He pitched 2.2 innings, allowing 9 hits, 8 runs, and two walks throwing 58 pitches, of which 35 were strikes. Tyler Gilbert replaced Buchanan, who got Jack Dunn to ground out for the final out of the inning.
Moving to the top of the fifth inning, Rochester first baseman Juan Yepez hit Gilbert’s knuckle curveball for a solo home run over the wall at left field for a 9-0 lead. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Lehigh Valley third baseman Weston Wilson hit Joan Adon’s fastball for a solo home run over the wall at center field cutting Rochester’s lead down to 9-1. It was Wilson’s third home run of the season and 22nd RBI of the year.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Lehigh Valley shortstop Scott Kingery hit Joan Adon’s fastball for a solo home run over the wall at right field and it was now 9-2 Rochester. The home run was Kingery’s eighth of the year and he now has 21 RBIs this season.
Moving ahead to the top of the eighth inning, Tyler Lehman was the new Lehigh Valley pitcher. With two outs, Rochester left fielder James Wood hit Lehman’s cutter for a solo home run making it 10-2. Lehman struck out Travis Blankenhorn that ended the inning.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Lehigh Valley Nick Podkul was on second base, and Scott Kingery was on first base with two outs with designated hitter David Dahl up to bat. The count was 1-1 when Dahl hit Nash Walters’s fastball for a three-run home at 93.9 mph over the wall at center field and Rochester’s lead was down to 10-5. It was Dahl’s seventh home run of the season and 15th RBI of the year. A ground out by Lehigh Valley right fielder Jordan Luplow ended the inning.
Lehigh Valley had one more chance to get back into the game in the bottom of the ninth inning facing Rochester pitcher Luis Reyes. After Rafael Marchan got a base hit, third baseman Weston Wilson grounded into a 5-4-3 double play. Esteban Quiroz was the last hope for Lehigh Valley to keep the game alive. However, he flies out toward center fielder Alex Call, who made the catch to end the game. The IronPigs lose to the Red Wings by the final score of 10-5.
Lehigh Valley finished the night with six hits. The loss went to Lehigh Valley starter David Buchanan. It was his third loss of the season, and the win went to Rochester starter Joan Adon.
Lehigh Valley and Rochester play game four on Thursday 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.
