The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (54-48, 18-11) and the Buffalo Bisons (52-52, 18-11) played game three of a six-game series on Thursday night at Coca-Cola Park. The series is tied at one game apiece.
Drew Hutchison (1-2, 5.97 ERA) was on the mound for Lehigh Valley making his ninth start of the season against Buffalo’s Andrew Bash (2-0, 1.17 ERA).
The IronPigs did not waste time getting on the board. In the bottom of the first inning, Kody Clemens hit Bash’s fastball for a solo home run over the wall at right field for a 1-0 lead. It was Clemens’s fifth home run of the season and 18th RBI of the year.
Weston Wilson was next but he was called out on strikes. Then, Darick Hall and Dustin Peterson grounded out which ended the inning.
Moving to the top of the third inning, Cam Eden put the ball down for a base hit to center field with Addison Barger up to bat. During Barger’s at-bat, Eden tried to steal second base but Rafael Marchan threw a laser at Weston Wilson to tag out Eden.
Then, Barger hit Hutchison’s fastball over the wall at right field which tied the game 1-1. Hutchison got Rafael Lantigua and Spencer Horwitz to ground out which ended the inning.
In the bottom of the third inning, Cal Stevenson put the IronPigs back on top 2-1 when he hit Bash’s fastball for a solo home run over the KLYR roof at right field. It was Stevenson’s second home run of the season and 11th RBI of the year. Lehigh Valley did not add any more runs in the inning.
Moving ahead to the bottom of the fifth inning, Junior Fernandez was the new Buffalo pitcher. Fernandez hit Jordan Qsar to start the inning. Next, Jim Haley hit the ball toward Fernandez but Haley reached first base on a throwing error by Fernandez and Qsar ran to second base.
Then, Cal Stevenson hit a soft bunt ground ball with catcher Tyler Heineman chasing it before retrieving the ball and everyone was safe. Kody Clemens was next. He hit a ground ball toward Fernandez, who threw the ball to catcher Tyler Heineman for the forceout at home plate.
Weston Wilson was next with one out. After 11 pitches, Wilson hit Fernandez’s sinker down on a soft line drive to right field with Jim Haley and Cal Stevenson scoring for a 4-1 lead. It was Wilson’s 69th RBI of the season. The inning ended when Derick Hall grounded into a 3-6 double play.
At the top of the seventh inning, Drew Hutchison gave up a double to Orelvis Martinez. Then, he got back-to-back ground outs from Tanner Morris and Tyler Heineman before getting Cam Eden to line out toward shortstop Weston Wilson which ended the inning.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Zach Pop was pitching for Buffalo. He walked Jordan Qsar to start the inning. Then, Jim Haley put the ball down for a base hit to left field moving Qsar to third base. Next, Cal Stevenson brought Qsar home with a sacrifice fly to left field. It was now 5-1 Lehigh Valley with one out for Kody Clemens.
On a 0-1 count, Pop threw a hanging slider and Clemens got all of it for a two-run home run over the wall at right field for a 7-1 lead. The exit velocity of the hit was 104 mph and the distance of the home run went 368 feet. It was Clemens’ second home run of the night. He has six home runs and 20 RBIs this year.
Buffalo changed pitchers after that with Yosver Zulueta replacing Zach Pop. Zulueta got Weston Wilson to pop out and a ground out by Darick Hall ended the inning.
At the top of the eighth inning, Drew Hutchison walked Spencer Horwitz with two outs before striking out Luis De Los Santos which ended the inning. That was it for Hutchison, who pitched a commendable great game going eight innings, allowing six hits, one run, two walks, and three strikeouts in 101 pitches, of which 63 were strikes.
Moving to the top of the ninth inning, Luis Ortiz closed out the game for Lehigh Valley. With two outs, Tanner Morris reached first base on a fielding error by Kody Clemens. Finally, Ortiz got Tyler Heineman to ground out to second baseman Kody Clemens, who threw the ball to first baseman Darick Hall to end the game.
The IronPigs defeated the Bison by the final score of 7-1. Kody Clemens had a productive game going 2-4 with two home runs and three RBIs. They had six hits, went 3-5 with runners in scoring position, and left two men on base. Drew Hutchison earned his second win in Lehigh Valley, and Andrew Bash lost his first game of the year for Buffalo.
The IronPigs and Bisons play game four on Friday at 7:05 pm on MiLB.com. Tickets for the game are available on StubHub and Viagogo. Also, pick up IronPigs merchandise today at Fanatics.com.
