The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (10-9) played game four on Friday night against the St. Paul Saints (8-10) from CHS Field. Connor Gillispie was on the mound for Lehigh Valley against Zebby Matthews of St. Paul.
At the top of the first inning with two outs, Lehigh Valley designated hitter Felix Reyes hit Matthews’s slider for a solo home run to left field to put the IronPigs up 1-0. It was Reyes’s fifth home run of the season. Second baseman Liover Peguero hit a double to right field before catcher Garrett Stubbs grounded out to first base, and the inning was over.
In the bottom of the first inning, St. Paul had a runner on first base when center fielder Alan Roden hit Gillispie’s four-seam fastball for a two-run home run at 415 feet to right field. The Saints took a 2-1 lead. It was Roden’s third home run of the season, and the exit velocity off the bat was 104 mph.
With two outs, St. Paul left fielder Kyler Fedko hit Gillispie’s four-seam fastball for a solo home run at 427 feet to center field for a 3-1 lead. It was Fedko’s fourth home run of the season, and the exit velocity off the bat was 106.6 mph. A flyout by Eric Wagaman ended the inning.
At the top of the third inning with two outs, Lehigh Valley designated hitter Felix Reyes hit Matthews’s slider for a solo home run at 339 feet to left field. The IronPigs trailed the Saints 3-2. It was Reyes’s second home run of the night, sixth home run of the year, and the exit velocity off the bat was 98.6 mph. Liover Peguero hit a double to right field, but Garrett Stubbs popped out to third base, and the inning was over.
In the bottom of the third inning, St. Paul had runners on first and second base when right fielder Emmanuel Rodriguez hit an RBI single off the wall in right field. Kaelen Culpepper scored for a 4-2 lead. Left fielder Kyler Fedko followed up with an RBI fielder’s choice to shortstop Christian Cairo. Cairo did not get a good grip of the ball before throwing it to catcher Garrett Stubbs. Alan Roden scored for a 5-2 lead.
St. Paul third baseman Eric Wagaman was next. He grounded out to shortstop Christian Cairo. Emanuel Rodriguez scored for a 6-2 lead. With two outs, a groundout by Tanner Schobel ended the inning.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, St. Paul had a runner on first base when third baseman Orlando Arcia hit an RBI double to right field. Kaelen Culpepper scored for a 7-2 lead. Gillispie struck out Gabriel Gonzalez to end the inning.
At the top of the fifth inning, Lehigh Valley had runners first and second base with two outs when third baseman Carter Kieboom hit a two-run RBI double off the wall in right field. Liover Peguero and Christian Cairo scored, and the IronPigs trailed the Saints 7-4. A groundout by Caleb Ricketts ended the inning.
Connor Gillispie pitched 4.1 innings, allowing five hits, seven runs, four walks, and three strikeouts, throwing 93 pitches, of which 53 were strikes. Jonathan Hernandez was the new pitcher for Lehigh Valley in the bottom of the fifth inning with one out and a runner on first base. He threw six pitches, of which three were strikes to get the last two outs.
Nolan Hoffman was the new pitcher for Lehigh Valley in the bottom of the sixth inning. Hoffman struck out three batters, throwing 14 pitches, of which 10 were strikes. At the top of the seventh inning, with two outs and the bases loaded, left fielder Oscar Mercado grounded out to first base, and the inning was over. It was the second time in this game that Lehigh Valley had the bases loaded and could not score.
Nolan Hoffman pitched two innings, with four strikeouts, throwing 33 pitches, of which 24 were strikes. Seth Johnson was the new pitcher for Lehigh Valley in the bottom of the eighth inning. Johnson struck out two, throwing 13 pitches, of which nine were strikes, to get three outs.
At the top of the ninth inning, Lehigh Valley catcher Garrett Stubbs worked a four-pitch walk. Two batters later, Carter Kieboom hit a single with one out. A flyout by Caleb Ricketts, and Oscar Mercado grounded into a forceout at second base, and the game was over.
The IronPigs suffered their third straight loss to the Saints by the final score of 7-4. Lehigh Valley finished the night with 12 hits, went 3 for 12 with runners in scoring position, and left 14 men on base. Felix Reyes went 3 for 5 with two home runs, a single, and two RBIs. The loss went to Lehigh Valley starter Connor Gillispie (3-1), and the win went to St. Paul pitcher Matt Bowman (1-0).
The IronPigs and Saints play game five on Saturday at 3:07 pm on the MLB App. Ryan Cusick (0-1, 4.15 ERA) will be on the mound for Lehigh Valley against Andrew Bash (0-1, 3.86 ERA) of St. Paul.
