The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (18-29) hosted the Rochester Red Wings (24-22) on Friday night from Coca-Cola Park. Lehigh Valley pitcher Mick Abel (1-3, 5.40 ERA) was on the mound against Rochester’s D.J. Herz (1-2, 4.21 ERA).
The game was scoreless in the first two innings until the top of the third inning. Rochester had runners on second and third base when center fielder Alex Call hit a two-run RBI single to center field scoring Jackson Cluff and Darren Baker for a 2-0 lead. Three batters later, Rochester had runners on second and third base when designated hitter Juan Yepez brought Alex Call home with a sacrifice fly toward center fielder Jordan Luplow for a 3-0 lead.
Moving to the top of the fifth inning, Rochester had the bases loaded with nobody out as Trey Lipscomb grounded toward shortstop Scott Kingery scoring Darren Baker for a 4-0 lead with one out. That was it for Lehigh Valley pitcher Mick Abel, who was replaced by Eury Ramos.
On the first pitch, Ramos threw a fastball at Rochester designated hitter Juan Yepez, but Yepez got all of it for a three-run home run over the wall at right-center field to bust the game open 7-0. Mick Abel’s final numbers were 4.1 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 4 BB, and 3 K throwing 92 pitches, of which 49 were strikes.
Five batters later, Rochester had the bases loaded again for Darren Baker, who reached first base on a fielding error by second baseman Jim Haley scoring Jack Dunn and Brady Lindsly for a 9-0 lead with two outs. Ramos struck out Alex Call to end the inning. Ramos finished the game pitching 0.2 IP, three hits, three runs, two walks, and one strikeout throwing 28 pitches, of which 15 were strikes.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Lehigh Valley had a runner on first base when third baseman Nick Podkul hit D.J. Herz’s fastball for a two-run home run onto the berm at left-center field cutting Rochester’s lead down to 9-2. It was Podkul’s second home run of the season and 13th RBI of the year.
Moving to the bottom of the sixth inning, Lehigh Valley first baseman Darick Hall hit Luis Reyes’s sinker for a solo home run over the wall at left-center field and it was now a 9-3 Rochester lead. The home run was Hall’s fifth of the season and 23rd RBI of the year.
At the top of the seventh inning, Rochester had runners on first and second base with two outs when left fielder Darren Baker hit Beau Burrows’s fastball scoring Erick Mejia for a 10-3 lead. A flyout by Rochester center fielder Alex Call ended the inning.
Lehigh Valley pitcher Beau Burrows pitched two innings, allowing one hit, one run, two walks, and two strikeouts throwing 48 pitches, of which 28 were strikes.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Lehigh Valley had a runner on first base with two outs with Jordan Luplow batting. Luplow hit Reyes’s sinker for a two-run double to center field scoring Scott Kingery and the score was now 10-4 Rochester. It was Luplow’s tenth double of the season and 26th RBI of the year.
Lehigh Valley left fielder Weston Wilson was next. He hit Reyes’s sinker for an RBI single to center field scoring Jordan Luplow and it was now a 10-5 Rochester lead. Tim Cate replaced Luis Reyes as Rochester’s pitcher.
Three batters later, Lehigh Valley had the bases loaded for right fielder Matt Kroon. Cate hit Kroon forcing in a run with Weston Wilson scoring cutting Rochester’s lead down to three 10-7. Amos Willingham replaced Tim Cate as Rochester’s pitcher. Willingham got second baseman Jim Haley to flyout toward right fielder Travis Blankenhorn for the final out of the inning.
For the rest of the game, Lehigh Valley had Nick Nelson (1.0 IP) pitch the top of the eighth inning, and Ryan Burr (1.0 IP, 1 K) pitch the top of the ninth inning. Lehigh Valley had one more chance to get back into the game in the bottom of the ninth inning facing Rico Garcia.
With one out, Garcia walked Rafael Marchan before he got Darick Hall to pop out and struck out David Dahl for the final out of the game. The IronPigs lose to the Red Wings by the final score of 10-6. Lehigh Valley trails the series 3-2.
Lehigh Valley finished the night with seven hits and committed two errors. The loss went to Lehigh Valley start Mick Abel. It’s his fourth loss of the season, and the win went to Rochester pitcher D.J. Herz.
The IronPigs and Red Wings play game six 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.
