The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (29-38) concluded the six-game road trip on Sunday afternoon against the Syracuse Mets (42-26) from NBT Bank Stadium. Lehigh Valley starter Mick Abel (1-6, 6.31 ERA) was on the mound against Syracuse’s Blade Tidwell (0-1, 4.76 ERA).
In the bottom of the second inning, Syracuse first baseman Luke Ritter hit Abel’s slider for a solo home run over the wall at left field for a 1-0 lead. Three batters later, Syracuse had a runner on first base with one out when left fielder Rhylan Thomas hit Abel’s curveball for a two-run home run over the wall at right field extending their lead to 3-0. Abel got back-to-back pop-outs by Yolmer Sánchez and Hayden Senger to end the inning.
At the top of the third inning, Lehigh Valley had runners on the corners with one out when third baseman Buddy Kennedy hit Tidwell’s fastball for a three-run home run over the wall at left field and the game was tied 3-3. It was Kennedy’s fourth home run of the season and 20th RBI of the year. The home run went 377 feet with an exit velocity of 100.6 mph. Lehigh Valley did not add any more runs in the inning.
Moving to the bottom of the fourth inning, Syracuse had a runner on second base when left fielder Rhylan Thomas hit Abel’s fastball for a two-run home run over the wall at right-center field to take a 5-3 lead. Three batters later with two outs, Syracuse center fielder Luisangel Acuña hit Abel’s fastball for a solo home run deep to left-center field extending their lead to 6-3. Abel struck out Rylan Bannon to end the inning.
In the bottom of the fifth inning with one out, Syracuse first baseman Luke Ritter hit Abel’s fastball for a solo home run over the wall at center field for a 7-3 lead. It was Ritter’s 16th home run of the season. Abel got the last two outs to end the inning. Abel (5.0 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 1 BB, 6 K) threw 99 pitches, of which 63 were strikes.
David Buchanan was the new Lehigh Valley pitcher in the bottom of the sixth inning. Syracuse had runners on second and third base when Syracuse catcher Hayden Senger hit Buchanan’s fastball for a two-run RBI single to left field scoring Rhylan Thomas and Yolmer Sánchez for a 9-3 lead. Then, Buchanan got the three outs to end the inning.
David Buchanan (2.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 BB) threw 38 pitches, of which 22 were strikes. Blaine Knight was the new Lehigh Valley pitcher in the bottom of the eighth inning. Knight (1.0 IP, 1 H) threw 15 pitches, of which 10 were strikes.
Danny Young was the new Syracuse pitcher at the top of the ninth inning. With two outs, Young hit Matt Kroon, gave up a single to Scott Kingery, and hit Ruben Cardenas to load the bases for Buddy Kennedy. However, Kennedy grounded toward shortstop Rhylan Bannon, who threw the ball to first baseman Luke Ritter for the final out of the game.
Lehigh Valley lost to the Syracuse Mets by the final score of 9-3 and lose the series 4-2. The IronPigs finished the afternoon with five hits. The loss went to Lehigh Valley starter Mick Abel. It was his seventh loss of the season and the win went to Syracuse pitcher Josh Walker.
The IronPigs return to Coca-Cola Park to begin a six-game homestand on Tuesday against the Norfolk Tides 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.
