The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (29-37) and the Syracuse Mets (41-26) played game five of a six-game series on Saturday night from NBT Bank Stadium. Lehigh Valley starter Tyler Phillips (6-3, 5.30 ERA) was on the mound against Syracuse’s Joey Lucchesi (4-2, 3.86 ERA).
The game was scoreless for one inning until the top of the second inning. Lehigh Valley had a runner on first base with two outs when first baseman Nick Podkul hit Lucchesi’s sinker for a two-run home run over the wall at left field for a 2-0 lead. It was Podkul’s sixth home run of the season and 20th RBI of the year. The home run went 396 feet with an exit velocity. Two batters later, Scott Kingery struck out swinging and the inning was over.
Moving to the top of the fourth inning, Lehigh Valley designated hitter Aramis Garcia hit Lucchesi’s sinker for a solo home run over the wall at left-center field extending Lehigh Valley’s lead to 3-0. It was Garcia’s sixth home run of the season and 19th RBI of the year. The home run went 389 feet with an exit velocity of 104.7 mph.
Next, Lehigh Valley second baseman Jim Haley hit Lucchesi’s curveball for a solo home run over the wall at left-center field and the score was now 4-0. It was Haley’s third home run of the season and 10th RBI of the year. The home run went 423 feet with an exit velocity of 106 mph. Lehigh Valley did not add any more runs in the inning.
Moving ahead to the bottom of the seventh inning, Syracuse had runners on the corners when center fielder Rhylan Thomas grounded into a forceout at second base scoring Ben Gamel and the score was now 4-1 Lehigh Valley.
Two batters later, Syracuse left fielder Yolmer Sánchez hit an RBI double to right field scoring Rhylan Thomas and the score was now 4-2 Lehigh Valley. With two outs, Phillips struck out Luisangel Acuña to end the inning. Phillips (7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 7 K) threw 91 pitches, of which 66 were strikes.
Tyler Gilbert was the new pitcher for Lehigh Valley in the bottom of the eighth inning. He gave up a double to Brett Baty with one out before striking out Luke Ritter and Ben Gambel to end the inning. Gilbert (1.0 IP, 1 H, 3 K) threw 20 pitches, of which 14 were strikes.
Max Lazer was the new Lehigh Valley pitcher in the bottom of the ninth inning. With two outs, Lazer gave up a single to Austin Allen. Finally, Lazer got Yolmer Sánchez to ground out toward first baseman Nick Podkul, who tossed the ball to Lazer for the final out of the game. The IronPigs defeated the Mets by the final score of 4-2. Lehigh Valley trails the series 3-2.
Lehigh Valley finished the night with 10 hits and committed two errors. The win went to Lehigh Valley starter Tyler Phillips. It was his seventh win of the season while the loss went to Syracuse starter Joey Lucchesi and Lehigh Valley pitcher Max Lazer earned his sixth save of the season.
The IronPigs can get a series split against the Mets on Sunday at 1:05 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.
