The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (21-31) and the Columbus Clippers (20-33) played a doubleheader on Thursday from Huntington Park after being rained out on Wednesday night. In game one, Lehigh Valley starter Michael Mercado (0-1, 0.63 ERA) was on the mound against Columbus’s Gavin Williams (0-0, 0.00 ERA).
At the top of the first inning, Lehigh Valley designated hitter David Dahl hit Williams’s fastball for a solo home run over the wall at right-center field to take a 1-0 lead. It was Dahl’s 11th home run of the season and 22nd RBI of the year.
In the bottom of the first inning, Columbus had runners on the corners when second baseman Juan Brito hit a groundout toward second baseman Jim Haley, who threw the ball to first baseman Darick Hall for the first out but Steven Kwan scored and the game was tied 1-1. Three batters later, Columbus right fielder George Valera grounded into a 4-6-3 inning-ending double play.
At the top of the second inning, Lehigh Valley had a runner on second base with two outs when designated hitter David Dahl hit Williams’s fastball for an RBI single to center field scoring Scott Kingery to take a 2-1 lead. It was Dahl’s 23rd RBI of the year. A flyout by right fielder Jordan Luplow ended the inning.
Moving to the bottom of the third inning, Columbus had a runner on third base when third baseman Daniel Schneemann hit an RBI single to shortstop Scott Kingery scoring José Tena, and the game was tied again 2-2. Michael Mercado finished the game pitching three innings, allowing four hits, two runs, three walks, and two strikeouts throwing 52 pitches, of which 30 were strikes.
David Parkinson was the new Lehigh Valley pitcher in the bottom of the fourth inning. Columbus had runners on second and third base when catcher Bryan Lavastida hit an RBI single to center field scoring Myles Straw for a 3-2 lead. Next, Columbus left fielder Steven Kwan hit an RBI single to right field scoring Micah Pries for a 4-2 lead.
Two batters later with one out, Columbus second baseman Juan Brito hit Parkinson’s slider for a two-run RBI double to left field scoring Bryan Lavastida and Steven Kwan for a 6-2 lead.
Two batters later with two outs, Columbus designated hitter Jhonkensy Noel hit an RBI single to second baseman Jim Haley scoring Brito and it was now 7-2 Columbus. A lineout by George Valera ended the inning. Parkinson pitched one inning allowing six hits, five runs, and two strikeouts throwing 32 pitches, of which 24 were strikes.
Andrew Walters was the new Columbus pitcher at the top of the fifth inning. With two outs, Lehigh Valley right fielder Jordan Luplow hit Walters’s fastball for a solo home run over the wall at right-center field cutting Columbus’s lead down to 7-3. It was Luplow’s eighth home run of the season and 28th RBI of the year.
Three batters later, Lehigh Valley had runners on first and second base when catcher Rafael Marchan hit Walters’s fastball for a three-run home run over the wall at right field and the score was now 7-6 Columbus. It was Marchan’s first home run of the season and fifth RBI of the year.
Lehigh Valley pitcher Beau Burrows was the new pitcher for Lehigh Valley in the bottom of the fifth inning. He gave up a walk but got Micah Pries to ground into a double play followed by striking out Bryan Lavastida to end the inning.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Lehigh Valley pitcher Beau Burrows walked two players with one out before being replaced by Taylor Lehman. Lehman walked Daniel Schneemann before Jhonkensy Noel hit a two-run RBI single to center fielder Cal Stevenson, who missed the catch and the Clippers made it 9-6 but Noel got caught attempting to reach second base for the second out.
Burrows finished the game pitching 1.1 innings, allowing two runs, three walks, and two strikeouts throwing 31 pitches, of which 14 were strikes. Then, Lehman struck out George Valera to end the inning. Lehman (0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 K) threw 16 pitches of which 11 were strikes.
Anthony Gose was the new Columbus pitcher at the top of the seventh inning. He struck out David Dahl, got Jordan Luplow to ground out toward third baseman Daniel Schneemann for the second out, and struck out Darick Hall to end the game.
The IronPigs lost game one to the Clippers by the final score of 9-6. Lehigh Valley had six hits and committed one error. The loss went to Lehigh Valley pitcher David Parkinson. It was his third loss of the season and the win went to Columbus pitcher Randy Labaut, while Gose made his fourth save of the season.
In game two, Lehigh Valley pitcher Ricardo Pinto (0-1, 6.17 ERA) was on the mound against Columbus’s Tyler Beede (0-1, 4.15 ERA).
At the top of the first inning, Lehigh Valley had runners on first and second base when first baseman Darick Hall hit an RBI single to center field scoring David Dahl for a 1-0 lead. It was Hall’s 25th RBI of the season.
Three batters later with two outs, Lehigh Valley catcher Aramis Garcia hit an RBI double to left field scoring Jordan Luplow for a 2-0 lead. It was Garcia’s 11th RBI of the year.
Then, Lehigh Valley center fielder Cal Stevenson hit Beede’s splitter for a two-run RBI double to left field scoring Darick Hall and Aramis Garica for a 4-0 lead. It was Stevenson’s 17th RBI of the year.
In the bottom of the first inning, Columbus had runners on the corners when first baseman Jhonkensy Noel hit an RBI single to left field scoring Juan Brito and the score was now 4-1 Lehigh Valley. Two batters later with two outs, Columbus left fielder Micah Pries hit an RBI single to right field scoring Daniel Schneemann cutting Lehigh Valley’s lead down to 4-2. Pinto struck out Dom Nuñez ending the inning.
At the top of the second inning, Lehigh Valley right fielder Matt Kroon hit Beede’s fastball for a solo home run over the wall at left-center field extending Lehigh Valley’s lead to 5-2. It was Kroon’s third home run of the season and 14th RBI of the year.
Moving to the top of the third inning, Lehigh Valley had runners on first and second base with two outs when shortstop Scott Kingery hit Beede’s curveball for a three-run home run over the wall at left-center field for an 8-2 lead. It was Kingery’s tenth home run of the season and 26th RBI of the year.
Moving to the top of the fifth inning, Lehigh Valley had a runner on first base with two outs when right fielder Matt Kroon hit an RBI double to right field scoring Scott Kingery for a 9-2 lead. It was Kroon’s 14th RBI of the year. Two batters later, Lehigh Valley designated hitter Jordan Luplow lined out toward right fielder Lorenzo Cedrola for the final out of the inning.
Moving ahead to the top of the seventh inning, Lehigh Valley shortstop Scott Kingery hit Jaime Arias’s sinker for a solo home run over the wall at left field for a 10-2 lead. It was Kingery’s 11th home run of the season and 27th RBI of the year.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Lehigh Valley starter Ricardo Pinto gave up one hit before getting the final three outs of the ballgame and the IronPigs defeated the Clippers in game two by the final score of 10-2.
Lehigh Valley finished the game getting 14 hits. The win went to Lehigh Valley starter Ricardo Pinto (7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 7 K) throwing 105 pitches, of which 70 were strikes, and the loss went to Columbus starter Tyler Beede.
The IronPigs and Clippers play game four on Friday at 7:05 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.
