The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (63-67) played game two of a six-game series from Sahlen Field on Wednesday night against the Buffalo Bisons (60-73). Lehigh Valley starter Mick Abel (3-10, 6.06 ERA) was on the mound against Buffalo’s Easton Lucas (0-1, 2.35 ERA).
In the bottom of the first inning, Buffalo had a runner on third base with one out when Alan Roden grounded to pitcher Mick Abel scoring Steward Berroa for a 1-0 lead with two outs. Two batters later, Abel struck out Damiano Palmegiani to end the inning.
Moving to the top of the fourth inning, Jose Cuas was the pitcher for Buffalo. Lehigh Valley third baseman Buddy Kennedy singled to right field with nobody out. Next, Lehigh Valley first baseman Darick Hall hit Cuas’s fastball for a two-run home run clearing the wall at right field for a 2-1 lead. It was Hall’s 14th home run of the season and 65th RBI of the year. The home run went 378 feet with an exit velocity of 98.7 mph.
Three batters later, Lehigh Valley had runners on first and second base with one out when left fielder David Dahl hit an RBI single to left field scoring Jim Haley for a 3-1 lead. Cal Stevenson tried to reach third base but he was called out. It was Dahl’s 34th RBI of the season.
Then, Lehigh Valley right fielder Carlos De La Cruz hit Cuas’s sinker for a two-run home run clearing the wall at center field for a 5-1 lead. It was Cruz’s third home run of the season and 13th RBI of the season. The home run went 430 feet with an exit velocity of 112.4 mph. Lehigh Valley did not add any more runs in the inning.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Lehigh Valley pitcher Mick Abel gave up a triple to Steward Berroa and walked Rafael Lantigua with one out before being replaced by Michael Mercado. Buffalo left fielder Alan Roden hit an RBI double to right field scoring Berroa and the Bisons trailed the IronPigs 5-2.
After walking Josh Kasevich, Mercado struck out Will Robertson and Damiano Palmegiani to end the inning. Mick Abel (4.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 5 K) threw 89 pitches, of which 53 were strikes, and Michael Mercado (1.2 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 3 K) threw 32 pitches, of which 22 were strikes.
Tyler Gilbert was the new pitcher for Lehigh Valley in the bottom of the seventh inning. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Buffalo had a runner on first base with two outs when Riley Tirotta hit an RBI double to center field scoring Nick Raposo and the Bisons trailed the IronPigs 5-3.
Then, Buffalo center fielder Steward Berroa hit an RBI single to left field scoring Tirotta and the Bisons now trailed the IronPigs 5-4. Gilbert was replaced by Zach Haake. Haake struck out Rafael Lantigua to end the inning. Tyler Gilbert (1.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K) threw 40 pitches, of which 26 were strikes, while Haake (0.1 IP, 1 K) threw 4 pitches, of which 3 were strikes.
Haake returned to pitch for Lehigh Valley in the bottom of the ninth inning. Haake walked Alan Roden before getting Josh Kasevich to fly out to right fielder Carlos De La Cruz for the first out. Next, he walked Will Robertson before he was replaced by Dylan Covey.
Covey struck out Damiano Palmegiani and a line out by Phil Clarke to second baseman Jim Haley ended the game. The IronPigs defeated the Bisons 5-4. Zach Haake (0.2 IP, 2 BB, 1) threw 15 pitches, of which 6 were strikes and Dylan Covey (0.2 IP, 1 K) threw 6 pitches, of which 4 were strikes.
Lehigh Valley finished the night with 7 hits. The win went to Lehigh Valley pitcher Michael Mercado for his third win of the season and Dylan Covey earned his first save of the season. The loss went to Buffalo pitcher Jose Cuas.
The IronPigs and Bisons played game three on Thursday at 6:05 pm on MiLB.TV. Purchase IronPigs tickets for the 2024 season today on StubHub and Viagogo.
