The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (1-0) opened the 2025 season on Friday night against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders from Coca-Cola Park. Lehigh Valley had Alan Rangel on the mound against Brandon Leibrant of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Lehigh Valley catcher Payton Henry had a good night going 2 for 3 with two home runs and three RBIs. His first home run happened in the bottom of the third inning hitting Leibrant’s slider out to left field which made it 3-1 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Henry hit Rob Zastryzny’s four-seam fastball onto the lawn at center field which tied the game 3-3.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Lehigh Valley third baseman Otto Kemp hit Eric Reyzelman’s curveball 381 feet to left field for a two-run home run giving Lehigh Valley a 5-3 lead.
The RailRiders came back to two score two runs making it 5-4. At the top of the ninth inning with one out, Lehigh Valley pitcher Max Lazar struck out Duke Ellis and Jorbit Vivas to end the game. He picked up his first save of the season.
Lehigh Valley starter Alan Rangel went four innings, allowing four hits, three runs, two walks, and three strikeouts. The win went to Joel Kuhnel, who pitched two innings allowing two hits, and three strikeouts. The loss went to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre pitcher Eric Reyzelman.
The IronPigs and RailRiders play game two on Saturday at 4:35 pm. Purchase IronPigs tickets today on StubHub and Viagogo.
