The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (83-55, 37-27) played game two on Wednesday afternoon against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (81-56, 43-22) from PNC Field. Andrew Painter (4-5, 5.62 ERA) was on the mound for Lehigh Valley against Alan Winans (11-0, 1.33 ERA) of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
At the top of the second inning, Lehigh Valley left fielder Oscar Mercado hit Winans’s sinker for a solo home run at 393 feet to left field for a 1-0 lead. It was Mercado’s 11th home run of the season and 60th RBI of the year.
Lehigh Valley starter Andrew Painter pitched five innings. He allowed three hits and struck out six throwing 74 pitches, of which 47 were strikes.
Moving to the top of the sixth inning, Lehigh Valley had Aiden Miller on second base. Right fielder Gabriel Rincones Jr. hit an RBI double to center field. Miller scored for a 2-0 lead. It was Rincones Jr.’s 20th RBI of the season. Not long after, Rincones Jr. stole third base.
Next, Lehigh Valley catcher Payton Henry hit an RBI single to left field. Gabriel Rincones Jr. scored for a 3-0 lead. It was Henry’s 45th RBI of the year. Then, designated hitter Paul McIntosh hit an RBI single to center field. Payton Henry scored for a 4-0 lead.
Moving to the bottom of the ninth inning, Nolan Hoffman pitched for Lehigh Valley. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre catcher J.C. Escarra hit Hoffman’s cutter for a solo home run at 367 feet to right field. Lehigh Valley’s lead was now 4-1. It was Escarra’s second home run of the season.
Hoffman allowed two hits, one run, and struck out one throwing 21 pitches, of which 13 were strikes, to get the final three outs of the game. The IronPigs defeated the RailRiders 4-1 to pull within 5.5 games of first place in the International League’s Second-Half Division.
Lehigh Valley finished the afternoon with nine hits, 3 for 9 with runners in scoring position, and left six men on base. Aiden Miller went 1 for 4, Paul McIntosh went 2 for 4 with one RBI, and Oscar Mercado went 1 for 4 with a home run and one RBI.
Lehigh Valley’s bullpen pitched four innings, allowing two hits, one run, and one strikeout. The win went to Lehigh Valley starter Andrew Painter. It was his fifth win of the season, and the loss went to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre starter Alan Winans.
The IronPigs and RailRiders play game three on Thursday at 6:35 pm.
