The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (28-12) visited NBT Bank Stadium to begin a six-game series against the Syracuse Mets (18-22). Kyle Tyler (3-2, 3.05 ERA) was on the mound for Lehigh Valley against Brandon Waddell (1-1, 1.63 ERA) of Syracuse.
At the top of the third inning, Lehigh Valley third baseman Buddy Kennedy hit an RBI double to left field scoring Rafael Lantigua for a 1-0 lead. It was Kennedy’s sixth double of the season.
Later, Lehigh Valley catcher Payton Henry hit a two-run RBI single to left scoring Otto Kemp and Buddy Kennedy extending their lead to 3-0.
Syracuse scored two runs with Jon Singleton grounding out to first baseman Christian Arroyo in the bottom of the third inning which made it 3-1 Lehigh Valley, and Jared Young hit Tyler’s cutter for a solo home run 377 feet to left-center field that made it 3-2 Lehigh Valley.
At the top of the sixth inning, Lehigh Valley designated hitter Erick Brito hit an RBI single to left field scoring Buddy Kennedy giving them a 4-2 lead.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Syracuse right fielder Jared Young hit his second home run of the night off a sinker from Lehigh Valley relief pitcher Joel Kuhnel 365 feet to left field. The IronPigs lead was down to 4-3.
Lehigh Valley pulled away at the top of the eighth inning. A sacrifice bunt to pitcher Ty Adcock, who made a throwing error, scored Cal Stevenson for a 5-3 lead. Next, Lehigh Valley shortstop Rodolfo Castro hit an RBI single to right field scoring Oscar Mercado for a 6-3 lead. Then, second baseman Rafael Lantigua brought home Erick Brito with a sacrifice fly to right field extending their lead to 7-3.
That was all the runs Lehigh Valley needed and they went on to beat the Syracuse Mets by the final score of 7-3. The Lehigh Valley has now won five consecutive games.
The win went to Lehigh Valley starter Kyle Tyler for his fourth win of the season. Tyler pitched five innings, allowing two hits, three walks, and two strikeouts throwing 81 pitches, of which 47 were strikes. The loss went to Syracuse starter Brandon Waddell.
The IronPigs and Mets play game two on Wednesday at 11:05 am. Purchase IronPigs tickets today on StubHub and Viagogo.
