The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (20-30) started a six-game road trip on Tuesday night against the Columbus Clippers (19-32) from Huntington Park. Lehigh Valley pitcher David Buchanan (3-3, 5.58 ERA) was on the mound against Columbus’s Connor Gillispie (0-4, 6.12 ERA).
At the top of the first inning, Lehigh Valley had runners on the corners with two outs when catcher Rafael Marchan hit an RBI double to left field scoring David Dahl for a 1-0 lead. It’s Marchan’s fourth RBI of the season.
In the bottom of the second inning, Columbus first baseman Jhonkensy Noel hit Buchanan’s sinker for a solo home run over the wall at left field and the game was tied 1-1.
Moving to the top of the third inning, Lehigh Valley designated hitter David Dahl hit Gillispie’s fastball for an opposite-field solo home run over the wall at left field for a 2-1 lead. It was Dahl’s ninth home run of the season and 18th RBI of the year.
At the top of the sixth inning, Lehigh Valley shortstop Scott Kingery hit Nick Mikolajchak’s curveball for a solo home run hitting the scoreboard at right field for a 3-1 lead. It was Kingery’s ninth home run of the season and 22nd RBI of the year.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Lehigh Valley starter David Buchanan gave up two singles but managed to get three outs. Buchanan finished the night pitching six innings, allowing ten hits, one run, and three strikeouts throwing 95 pitches, of which 61 were strikes.
At the top of the seventh inning, Lehigh Valley had runners on the corners when catcher Rafael Marchan brought Jordan Luplow home with a sacrifice fly to center field and it was now 4-1 Lehigh Valley. With two outs, a lineout by Matt Kroon ended the inning.
Taylor Lehman was the new Lehigh Valley pitcher in the bottom of the seventh inning against Columbus designated hitter Micah Pries. Pries hit Lehman’s cutter for a solo home run over the wall at right field and the score was now 4-2 Lehigh Valley. Lehman gave up a walk with two outs before getting Juan Brito to line out toward second baseman Esteban Quiroz for the final out of the inning. Lehman threw 13 pitches, of which seven were strikes.
At the top of the eighth inning, Lehigh Valley had the bases loaded with one out when right fielder Jordan Luplow hit an RBI single to left field scoring Esteban Quiroz for a 5-2 lead. Lehigh Valley could not add any more runs in the inning.
Yunior Marte was the new Lehigh Valley pitcher in the bottom of the eighth inning. Columbus had runners on the corners when center fielder Myles Straw brought Jhonkensy Noel home with a sacrifice fly to right field and the score was now 5-3 with two outs. A flyout by left fielder Micah Pries to left fielder Matt Kroon ended the inning. Marte threw 26 pitches, of which 14 were strikes.
At the top of the ninth inning, Lehigh Valley had Matt Kroon on second base when shortstop Scott Kingery hit an RBI double to center field scoring Kroon for a 6-3 lead. Two batters later, Lehigh Valley had runners on first and second base when designated hitter David Dahl hit Peter Strzelecki’s fastball for a three-run home run over the wall at right field for a 9-3 lead. It was Dahl’s tenth home run of the season and 21st RBI of the year.
After the home run, Columbus replaced Strzelecki with John Doxakis. Two batters later, Lehigh Valley had a runner on second base when first baseman Darick Hall hit an RBI single to right field scoring Jordan Luplow for a 10-3 lead. It was Hall’s sixth RBI of the season.
Lehigh Valley third baseman Weston Wilson was next. He hit Doxakis’s fastball for a two-run home run over the wall at left field and the score was now 12-3 IronPigs. It was Wilson’s fifth home run of the season and 29th RBI of the year. Lehigh Valley did not add any more runs.
Ryan Burr was the new Lehigh Valley pitcher in the bottom of the ninth inning. He gave up one hit and struck out one throwing 13 pitches, of which seven were strikes to get the final three outs of the game. The IronPigs defeated the Clippers by the final score of 12-3.
Lehigh Valley finished the night with 15 hits. The win went to Lehigh Valley starter David Buchanan for his fourth win of the season and the loss went to Rochester starter Connor Gillispie.
The IronPigs and Clippers play game two of the six-game series on Wednesday 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.
