The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (18-8) played game five against the Columbus Clippers (13-11) on Saturday night from Coca-Cola Park. Alan Rangel (2-0, 3.57 ERA) was on the mound for Lehigh Valley against Mason Hickman (0-0, 5.87 ERA).
Columbus took a 1-0 lead at the top of the first inning when right fielder Johnathan Rodríguez hit Alan Rangel’s slider for an RBI single to left field scoring Petey Halpin. At the top of the third inning, Johnathan Rodríguez hit Rangel’s changeup for a two-run home run going 347 feet to left field extending Columbus’s lead to 3-0.
Lehigh Valley battled back in the bottom of the third inning when second baseman Rafael Lantigua hit Hickman’s four-seam fastball for a two-run home run at 360 feet to right-center field, and the IronPigs trailed the Clippers 3-2. Lantigua finished the game going 1 for 3 with a home run, a walk, and two RBIs.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Lehigh Valley third baseman Erick Brito hit a two-run RBI single to left field scoring Buddy Kennedy and Brandon Marsh for a 4-3 lead. Brito finished the night going 1 for 3 with a single, a walk, and two RBIs.
At the top of the fifth inning, a home run by Petey Halpin and an RBI single by Johnathan Rodríguez put Columbus back up 5-3. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Lehigh Valley shortstop Rodolfo Castro hit an RBI single scoring Oscar Mercado and the game was tied 5-5 with the bases loaded. The game went to extra innings.
At the top of the eleventh inning, Columbus catcher Dom Nuñez hit Max Lazar’s cutter for a three-run home run to right-center field. Lehigh Valley were unable to score in the bottom of the tenth inning, and their five-game winning streak came to an end with an 8-5 loss.
Lehigh Valley starter Alan Rangel pitched five innings, allowing seven hits, five runs, three walks, and seven strikeouts throwing 89 pitches, of which 53 were strikes.
The loss went to Lehigh Valley relief pitcher Max Lazar pitching two innings, allowing one hit, three runs, one walk, and two strikeouts throwing 27 pitches, of which 17 were strikes. The win went to Columbus relief pitcher Bradley Hanner.
The IronPigs and Clippers concluded the six-game series on Sunday at 1:35 pm. Purchase IronPigs tickets today on StubHub and Viagogo.
