The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (30-12) played game three against the Syracuse Mets (18-24) from NBT Bank Stadium. Andrew Painter (1-0, 0.00 ERA) was on the mound for Lehigh Valley against Nolan McLean (1-0, 0.00 ERA) of Syracuse.
The game was scoreless in the first two innings until the top of the third inning when Lehigh Valley designated hitter Buddy Kennedy hit a solo home run off of McLean’s curveball 372 feet to left field for a 1-0 lead. It was Kennedy’s fourth home run of the season. Kennedy went 3 for 5 with two singles, a home run, and one RBI.
Later, Lehigh Valley left fielder Cal Stevenson hit an RBI single to right field scoring Gabriel Rincones Jr. for a 2-0 lead. Then, Lehigh Valley shortstop Rodolfo Castro grounded into a forceout to shortstop Luis De Los Santos scoring Payton Henry for a 3-0 lead.
Syracuse came back in the bottom of the third inning when Joey Meneses hit Painter’s four-seam fastball 414 feet to left field for a two-run home run. Lehigh Valley’s lead was now at 3-2. At the top of the fourth inning, Lehigh Valley center fielder Justin Crawford hit McLean’s curveball for a solo run 401 feet to right-center field making it 4-2. It was Crawford’s first home run of the season.
Lehigh Valley blew the game open at the top of the ninth inning when catcher Payton Henry hit Felipe De La Cruz’s sinker for a three-run home run at 361 feet to right-center field for a 7-2 lead. It was Henry’s third home run of the season. Henry went 2 for 4 with a walk, a home run, and three RBIs.
Michael Mercado closed out the game for Lehigh Valley in the bottom of the ninth inning. With two outs, he gave up an RBI single to Yonny Hernández, and it was now 7-3 Lehigh Valley. Mercado struck out Jared Young changeup to end the game.
The Lehigh Valley IronPigs defeated the Syracuse Mets by the final score of 7-3 for their seventh consecutive win. Lehigh Valley are now up three games in first place of the International League East Division and the first team this season to reach 30 wins.
Lehigh Valley starter Andrew Painter earned his first win of the season pitching five innings, allowing five hits, two runs, and three strikeouts throwing 71 pitches, of which 47 were strikes. The loss went to Syracuse starter Nolan McLean.
The IronPigs and Mets play game four on Friday at 6:35 pm. Purchase IronPigs tickets today on StubHub and Viagogo.
