The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (24-32) returned to Coca-Cola Park on Tuesday night to begin a six-game homestand against the Buffalo Bisons (30-28). Lehigh Valley starter Ricardo Pinto (1-1, 4.82 ERA) was on the mound against Buffalo’s Andrew Bash (1-0, 4.38 ERA).
At the top of the first inning with two outs, Buffalo designated hitter Nathan Lukes hit Pinto’s slider for a solo home run giving the Bisons a 1-0 lead. Two batters later, Buffalo shortstop Addison Barger grounded out toward second baseman Esteban Quiroz, who threw the ball to first baseman Darick Hall to end the inning.
Moving ahead to the bottom of the fourth inning, Lehigh Valley catcher Aramis Garcia hit Andrew Bash’s slider for a solo home run toward the Tiki Bar at left field, and the game was tied 1-1. It was Garcia’s third home run of the season and 14th RBI of the year.
Five batters later, Lehigh Valley had runners on first and second base when third baseman Nick Podkul hit an RBI single to right field scoring Simon Muzziotti to take a 2-1 lead. A groundout by right fielder Jordan Luplow ended the inning.
At the top of the fifth inning with two outs, Buffalo left fielder Steward Berroa hit Pinto’s sinker for a solo home run over the wall at right field and the game was tied 2-2. Lehigh Valley starter Ricardo Pinto pitched 4.2 innings, allowing four hits, two runs, three walks, and three strikeouts throwing 97 pitches, of which 54 were strikes.
Pinto was replaced by Tyler Gilbert, who pitched 1.1 innings, allowing one hit, and one strikeout throwing 14 pitches, of which 9 were strikes.
Moving to the bottom of the sixth inning, Lehigh Valley had a runner on first base with one out when shortstop Scott Kingery hit Mike Mayers’s slider for a two-run home run over the wall at left field giving the IronPigs a 4-2 lead. It was Kingery’s 12th home run of the season and 30th RBI of the year. Lehigh Valley did not add any more runs in the inning.
Lehigh Valley had Nick Nelson (1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 2 K) pitched the top of the seventh inning throwing 26 pitches, of which 15 were strikes. Yunior Marte was the new pitcher for Lehigh Valley at the top of the eighth inning. Buffalo shortstop Addison Barger hit Marte’s sinker for a solo home run over the wall at right-center field and the score was now 4-3 IronPigs. Marte (1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 K) threw 13 pitches, of which 10 were strikes to get the three outs.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Lehigh Valley shortstop Scott Kingery hit Erik Swanson’s fastball for a solo home run over the wall at left field extending Lehigh Valley’s lead to 5-3. It was Kingery’s 13th home run of the season and 31st RBI of the year.
Max Lazer pitched for Lehigh Valley at the top of the ninth inning. He struck out two batters throwing 10 pitches, of which 8 were strikes to get the final three outs of the game and the IronPigs defeated the Bisons by the final score of 5-3. The IronPigs have now won three straight games.
Lehigh Valley finished the night with nine hits. The win went to Lehigh Valley pitcher Tyler Gilbert for his first win of the season. The loss went to Buffalo pitcher Mike Mayers, and Lehigh Valley pitcher Max Lazer earned his third save of the season.
The IronPigs and Bison play game two on Wednesday 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.
