The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (45-23) and the Worcester Red Sox (37-30) played game five on Saturday night at Coca-Cola Park. Koyo Aoyagi (0-1, 7.50 ERA) was on the mound for Lehigh Valley against Tyler Uberstine (0-1, 3.43 ERA) of Worcester.
At the top of the first inning, the bases were loaded for Worcester first baseman Nathan Hickey. He grounded into a double play but scored Nate Eaton for a 1-0 lead. Moving to the top of the fourth inning, a groundout by Phillip Sikes scoring Tyler McDonough, and an RBI double by Corey Rosier extended Worcester’s lead to 3-0.
Moving to the bottom of the eighth inning, Lehigh Valley had the bases loaded. Worcester pitcher Bryan Mata threw a wild pitch scoring Rafael Lantigua and it was now 3-1. Lehigh Valley first baseman Buddy Kennedy followed it up hitting a two-run single to left field scoring Rodolfo Castro and Justin Crawford to tie the game 3-3.
The game went to extra innings. At the top of the tenth inning, Worcester third baseman Blaze Jordan hit a two-run double to right field scoring Corey Rosier and Jhostynxon Garcia to take a 5-3 lead.
In the bottom of the tenth inning with one out, Lehigh Valley had runners on the corners when Justin Crawford hit the ball, which was caught by Worcester first baseman Nathan Hickey for a game-ending double play. The IronPigs lost to the Red Sox by the final score of 5-3.
Lehigh Valley starter Koyo Aoyagi pitched 1.1 innings, allowing two hits, one run, and four walks throwing 38 pitches, of which 15 were strikes. The win went to Worcester pitcher Bryan Mata, and the loss went to Lehigh Valley relief pitcher Seth Johnson for his third loss of the season. Johnson pitched two innings, allowing one hit, two runs, and three strikeouts throwing 35 pitches, of which 23 were strikes.
The IronPigs and Red Sox conclude the series on Sunday at 1:35 pm. Purchase IronPigs tickets today on StubHub and Viagogo.
