The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (52-33) concluded a five-game series against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (46-37) on Sunday afternoon at PNC Field. Mitch Neunborn (0-0, 0.00 ERA) was on the mound for Lehigh Valley making his Triple-A debut against Erick Leal (3-7, 6.54 ERA) of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Neunborn in Reading was 3-2, with a 3.35 ERA, 51 strikeouts, allowing 34 hits, 17 runs, six home runs, and nine walks in 45.2 innings, playing 19 games, of which five were starts.
At the top of the fourth inning, a wild pitch by Scranton/Wilkes-Barre pitcher Erick Leal scored Cal Stevenson for a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Michael Mercado replaced Mitch Neunborn. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre center fielder Spencer Jones hit Michael Mercado’s four-seam fastball for a three-run home run at 445 feet to right-center field for a 3-1 lead.
T.J. Rumfield hit an RBI single and Bryan De La Cruz hit a two-run home run extending the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s lead to 6-1. Neunborn pitched 4.1 innings, allowing four hits, two runs, one walk, and two strikeouts throwing 70 pitches, of which 48 were strikes.
At the top of the sixth inning, Lehigh Valley left fielder Weston Wilson hit Leal’s changeup for a solo home run at 416 feet to left-center and it was now 6-2. It was Wilson’s third home run of the season.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre continued to pile it on in the bottom of the sixth inning. Spencer Jones and Bryan De La Cruz hit sacrifice flies, and a bases-loaded walk by T.J. Rumfield made it 9-2.
At the top of the eighth inning, Lehigh Valley designated hitter Gabriel Rincones Jr. worked a four-pitch walk scoring Nick Dunn. It was now 9-3. Then, third baseman Donavan Walton hit a two-run single to left field scoring Cal Stevenson and Weston Wilson. Lehigh Valley trailed Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 9-5.
At the top of the ninth inning, Lehigh Valley catcher Payton Henry hit Zach Messinger’s four-seam fastball for a solo home run at 384 feet to right-center field. It was his sixth home run of the season. That would be all for the IronPigs as they would go on to lose to the RailRiders by the final score of 9-6. The IronPigs take 2 of 5 from the RailRiders.
The loss went to Lehigh Valley starter Mitch Neunborn, and the win went to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre starter Erick Leal.
The IronPigs visit NBT Bank Stadium to begin a six-game series with the Syracuse Mets starting on Tuesday at 6:35 pm. It is the final series before the All-Star Break.
