The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (70-52, 24-24) played game three on Thursday night against the Durham Bulls (70-50, 25-20) from Coca-Cola Park. Adonis Medina (0-3, 3.80 ERA) was on the mound for Lehigh Valley against Jesse Scholtens (0-1, 9.00 ERA) of Durham.
At the top of the first inning, Adonis Medina loaded the bases with three straight walks. Durham catcher Dominic Keegan hit a sacrifice fly to center field. Richie Palacios scored for a 1-0 lead. Then, a pass ball scored Cooper Hummel for a 2-0 lead. Medina settled down to get three outs and end the inning.
Medina would pitch five innings. He allowed four hits, two runs, four walks, and six strikeouts throwing 87 pitches, of which 51 were strikes. Moving to the bottom of the fifth inning, Lehigh Valley catcher Garrett Stubbs hit a sacrifice fly to right field. Rafael Lantigua scored, and the IronPigs trailed the Bulls 2-1. It was Stubbs’s 50th RBI of the season.
At the top of the seventh inning, Durham first baseman Tre’ Morgan hit a two-run RBI single to right field. Kameron Misner and Richie Palacios scored for a 4-1 lead.
Moving to the bottom of the eighth inning, Lehigh Valley center fielder Johan Rojas hit Joey Gerber’s slider for a two-run home run at 375 feet to left-center field. The IronPigs trailed the Bulls 4-3. It was Rojas’s first home run of the season.
Then, Lehigh Valley shortstop Donovan Walton hit an RBI double to left field. Otto Kemp scored, and the game was tied 4-4. It was Walton’s 14th double of the season. The game went to extra innings.
At the top of the tenth inning, Durham catcher Dominic Keegan hit an RBI double to right field. Tre’ Morgan scored, and the Bulls took a 5-4 lead. In the bottom of the tenth inning, Lehigh Valley center fielder Johan Rojas hit an RBI single to center field. Garrett Stubbs scored, and the game was tied 5-5.
Then, with runners on second and third base, Lehigh Valley third baseman Otto Kemp ended the game with an RBI single to left field. Johan Rojas scored, and the IronPigs defeated the Bulls 6-5 for their third win in a row.
Lehigh Valley’s offense finished the night with 10 hits, went 3 for 10 with runners in scoring position, and left six men on base. Otto Kemp went 2 for 5 with two singles and one RBI. Johan Rojas went 3 for 5 with a single, a home run, a stolen base, and three RBIs.
The bullpen pitched five innings. They allowed six hits, three runs, two walks, and three strikeouts. The win went to Lehigh Valley relief pitcher Max Lazar. It was his third win of the season. He pitched two innings, allowing two hits, one run, and one strikeout throwing 25 pitches, of which 14 were strikes. The loss went to Durham relief pitcher Cole Wilcox.
The IronPigs and Bulls play game four on Friday at 7:05 pm.
