After being rained out on Saturday, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs (23-10) and the Rochester Red Wings (8-24) played a doubleheader to close out the six-game series on Sunday afternoon from Innovative Field. In Game 1, Mick Abel (3-2, 2.88 ERA) was on the mound for Lehigh Valley against Andrew Alvarez (0-3, 3.95 ERA) of Rochester.
At the top of the first inning, Lehigh Valley third baseman Otto Kemp hit Alvarez’s four-seam fastball for a solo home run to left-center field for a 1-0 lead. It was Kemp’s tenth home run of the season. Later, Lehigh Valley first baseman Christian Arroyo hit an RBI single to right field scoring Buddy Kennedy for a 2-0 lead.
At the top of the second inning, Lehigh Valley first baseman Christian Arroyo hit an RBI single to left field scoring Otto Kemp for a 3-0 lead. Then, with the bases loaded, Lehigh Valley catcher Garrett Stubbs hit a two-run RBI single to right field scoring Buddy Kennedy and Christian Arroyo for a 5-0 lead.
At the top of the fourth inning, Lehigh Valley second baseman Buddy Kennedy hit an RBI single to left field scoring Otto Kemp extending their lead to 6-0. Next, catcher Garrett Stubbs hit a two-run double to right field scoring Buddy Kennedy and Oscar Mercado for an 8-0 lead.
Then, Lehigh Valley left fielder Cade Fergus hit Thomas Schultz’s slider for a two-run home run at 391 feet to left field for a 10-0 lead. It was Fergus’s fifth home run of the season. Lehigh Valley third baseman Otto Kemp hit an RBI single to center field scoring Rodolfo Castro and it was now 11-0.
At the top of the sixth inning, Lehigh Valley first baseman Christian Arroyo hit an RBI single to center field scoring Rafael Lantigua for a 12-0 lead. After Rochester scored in the bottom of the sixth inning, a sacrifice fly by Rafael Lantigua brought home Cade Fergus for a 13-1 lead.
That was all the IronPigs needed to secure a 13-1 win over the Red Wings in Game 1. Lehigh Valley starter Mick Abel earned his fourth win of the season pitching five innings, allowing four hits, one run, four walks, and six strikeouts throwing 92 pitches, of which 60 were strikes.
Seth Johnson finished the game for the IronPigs pitching two innings allowing three hits, and two strikeouts. The loss went to Rochester starter Andrew Alvarez.
Lehigh Valley third baseman Otto Kemp finished the game going 3-5 with a triple, a walk, a home run, and two RBIs, while catcher Garrett Stubbs went 2 for 4 with a double and four RBIs, and second baseman Buddy Kennedy went 2 for 2 with three walks, a double, and one RBI. Lehigh Valley left fielder Cade Fergus went 2 for 5 with a single, a home run, and two RBIs.
In Game 2, Devin Sweet (0-0, 4.82 ERA) was on the mound for Lehigh Valley against Konnor Pilkington (1-3, 5.02 ERA) of Rochester.
At the top of the second inning, Lehigh Valley center fielder Justin Crawford hit a bunt RBI single to second base scoring Josh Breaux for a 1-0 lead.
Moving ahead to the top of the fourth inning, Rochester was up 2-1 when Justin Crawford hit an RBI single to left field scoring Rafael Lantigua and the game was tied 2-2. After a fielder’s choice by Rochester first baseman Juan Yepez put the Red Wings up 3-2, a wild pitch by Carlos Romero at the top of the fifth inning allowing Oscar Mercado to score tied the game again 3-3.
At the top of the sixth inning with the bases loaded, Lehigh Valley first baseman Buddy Kennedy worked a four-pitch walk forcing in a run as Rafael Lantigua scored for a 4-3 lead. Then, a sacrifice fly by Oscar Mercado scored Justin Crawford for a 5-3 lead. Lehigh Valley could not add any more runs.
Lehigh Valley relief pitcher Brett de Geus attempted to close out the game in the bottom of the seventh inning. Instead, Robert Hassell III hit an RBI double for Rochester which led to a Max Lazar coming for the IronPigs, and a sacrifice fly by Trey Lipscomb tied the game 5-5.
At the top of the eighth inning, Lehigh Valley right fielder Gabriel Rincones Jr. hit an RBI double to center field scoring Justin Crawford for a 6-5 lead. Lehigh Valley headed into the bottom of the eighth inning with a 6-5 lead.
Koyo Aoyagi attempted to close out the game in the bottom of the eighth inning. He loaded the bases with nobody out when pinch hitter Franchy Cordero hit a game-winning two-run RBI single to right field and the Lehigh Valley IronPigs lose game two to the Rochester Red Wings by the final score of 7-6.
Lehigh Valley starter Devin Sweet pitched two innings, allowing four hits, two runs, and two strikeouts throwing 36 pitches, of which 25 were strikes. The loss went to Lehigh Valley relief pitcher Koyo Aoyagi and the win went to Rochester relief pitcher Patrick Weigel.
The Lehigh Valley IronPigs return to Coca-Cola Park to start a six-game homestand against the Worcester Red Sox beginning on Tuesday at 11 am for Education Day. Purchase IronPigs tickets today on StubHub and Viagogo.
