The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (53-35) played game three on Thursday night against the Syracuse Mets (42-48) at NBT Bank Stadium. Mick Abel (6-2, 2.21 ERA) was on the mound for Lehigh Valley against Brandon Sproat (4-5, 5.05 ERA) of Syracuse.
Lehigh Valley starter Mick Abel pitched a solid game. He had a no-hitter going through five innings until Yonny Hernández hit a single to left field in the bottom of the sixth inning. Abel finished the night pitching six innings, allowing one hit, one walk, and four strikeouts throwing 64 pitches, of which 47 were strikes.
The game was scoreless through seven innings. At the top of the eighth inning, a wild pitch by Ty Adcock scored Rafael Lantigua for a 1-0 lead. Then, Lehigh Valley shortstop Rodolfo Castro hit Ty Adcock’s slider for a solo home run at 402 feet to center field for a 2-0 lead. It was Castro’s ninth home run of the season.
Josh Walker pitched the seventh inning with three strikeouts throwing 14 pitches, of which nine were strikes, and Devin Sweet pitched the eighth inning, allowing one hit and one strikeout throwing 15 pitches, of which 10 were strikes.
Michael Mercado pitched in the bottom of the ninth inning. He gave up two singles to Yonny Hernández and José Azocar to begin the inning. Later with one out, he threw a wild pitch and Yonny Hernández went to third base. Mercado got a pop out from Francisco Alvarez and struck out Pablo Reyes to end the game.
Lehigh Valley ended a four-game losing streak by shutting out the Syracuse Mets 2-0. Lehigh Valley finished the night with six hits, went 0 for 3 with runners in scoring position, and left four men on base.
The win went to Lehigh Valley relief pitcher Josh Walker for his first win of the season, and Michael Mercado earned his third save of the season. The loss went to Syracuse relief pitcher Ty Adcock.
The IronPigs and Mets play game four on Friday at 6:35 pm.
