The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (21-32) continued their six-game road trip on Friday night from Huntington Park against the Columbus Clippers (21-33). Lehigh Valley starter Mick Abel (1-4, 6.21 ERA) was on the mound against Columbus’s Will Dion (2-2, 7.56 ERA).
In the bottom of the first inning, Columbus shortstop José Tena hit Abel’s changeup for a solo home run over the wall at right-center field for a 1-0 lead. It was Tena’s eighth home run of the season. Next, Abel hit second baseman Angel Martinez before Martinez got caught stealing second base. Then, Abel walked center fielder Daniel Schneemann before right fielder Jhonkensy Noel grounded into a 5-4-3 inning-ending double play.
In the bottom of the second inning, Columbus left fielder George Valera hit Abel’s fastball for a solo home run over the wall at right field extending Columbus’s lead to 2-0. It was Valera’s third home run of the season. Abel got two flyouts from Myles Straw and Micah Pries. Next, Dom Nunez reached first base on a fielding error by Weston Wilson before Abel struck out Raynel Delgado for the final out of the inning.
Moving to the bottom of the fifth inning, Lehigh Valley starter Mick Abel gave up two singles and a walk to load the bases before being replaced by Tyler Gilbert. Columbus right fielder Jhonkensy Noel grounded into a forceout at second but José Tena scored for a 3-0 lead. With two outs, Columbus first baseman Micah Pries hit a fly ball toward left fielder Simon Muzziotti, who made a nice diving catch to end the inning.
Lehigh Valley starter Mick Abel finished the game pitching four innings, allowing five hits, three runs, four walks, and two strikeouts throwing 76 pitches, of which 47 were strikes. Meanwhile, Tyler Gilbert pitched two innings, allowing two hits, one walk, and three strikeouts throwing 37 pitches, of which 21 were strikes.
Moving to the top of the seventh inning, Lehigh Valley had a runner on first base with one out when third baseman Weston Wilson hit Wes Parsons’s fastball for a two-run home run over the wall at left-center field and the score was now 3-2 Columbus.
It was Wilson’s sixth home run of the season and 31st RBI of the year. The home run went 400 feet with an exit velocity of 104. 9 mph. A groundout by Matt Kroon and a strikeout by Simon Muzziotti ended the inning.
Yunior Marte was the new Lehigh Valley pitcher in the bottom of the seventh inning. With two outs, Columbus had a runner on second base when first baseman Micah Pries hit an RBI double to right field scoring Myles Straw for a 4-2 lead. Two batters later, Marte struck out third baseman Raynel Delgado to end the inning.
At the top of the eighth inning, Columbus pitcher Wes Parsons gave up a single to Jim Haley and walked both Jordan Luplow and Rafael Marchan with two outs for Darick Hall. Unfortunately, Hall flies out toward center fielder Lorenzo Cedrola, who made the catch to end the inning.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Columbus had a runner on second base with two outs when right fielder Jhonkensy Noel hit an RBI single to left field scoring Lorenzo Cedrola but Noel was tagged out at second base for the final out of the inning. Columbus now led Lehigh Valley 5-2. Yunior Marte pitched two innings, allowing three hits, two runs, two walks, and two strikeouts throwing 42 pitches, of which 20 were strikes.
Lehigh Valley had one more chance to get back into the game at the top of the ninth inning against Peter Strzelecki. With one out, Cal Stevenson hit a single right field but Strzelecki got the final two outs of the game and the IronPigs lost to the Clippers 5-2.
Lehigh Valley finished the night with five hits and committed one error. The loss went to Lehigh Valley starter Mick Abel. It was his fifth loss of the season while the win went to Columbus pitcher Tanner Burns and Peter Strzelecki earned his fifth save of the season.
The IronPigs and Clippers play game five on Saturday at 5:05 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.
