The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (19-8) concluded the six-game homestand on Sunday afternoon against the Columbus Clippers (13-12) from Coca-Cola Park. Ranger Suarez (1-0, 0.75 ERA) was on the mound against Parker Messick (1-1, 4.15 ERA) of Columbus.
At the top of the third inning, Columbus shortstop Yordys Valdes hit an RBI single to right field scoring Petey Halpin for a 1-0 lead. Moving ahead to the bottom of the seventh inning, Lehigh Valley left fielder Cade Fergus hit Nick Mikolajchak’s four-seam fastball for a solo home run that went 412 feet to left-center field tying the game 1-1. It was Fergus’s third home run of the season.
At the top of the eighth inning, a wild pitch by Lehigh Valley relief pitcher Guillo Zuñiga allowed Petey Halpin to score to put Columbus back up 2-1. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Lehigh Valley first baseman Otto Kemp hit Nick Mikolajchak’s four-seam fastball for a solo home run that went 415 feet to right field and the game was tied 2-2.
Later, Lehigh Valley right fielder Óscar Mercado hit an RBI single to right field scoring Gabriel Rincones Jr. to give the IronPigs a 3-2 lead. At the top of the ninth inning, Lehigh Valley relief pitcher Brett de Geus struck out Milan Tolentino, a flyout by Justin Boyd, and a groundout from Petey Halpin ended the game. The IronPigs defeated the Clippers by the final score of 3-2. Lehigh Valley takes five of six games against Columbus.
Lehigh Valley starter Ranger Suarez pitched 4.2 innings, allowing four hits, one run, two walks, and eight strikeouts throwing 78 pitches, of which 53 were strikes in a no-decision. The win went to Lehigh Valley relief pitcher Brett de Geus. He pitched 1.1 innings with two strikeouts throwing 13 pitches, of which nine were strikes.
The IronPigs visit the Rochester Red Wings to begin a six-game series starting on Tuesday at 6:05 pm. Purchase IronPigs tickets today on StubHub and Viagogo.
