The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (14-10) played game three on Thursday against the Durham Bulls (8-16) from Coca-Cola Park. Chuck King was on the mound for Lehigh Valley against Chase Solesky of Durham.
In the bottom of the first inning, Lehigh Valley shortstop Sergio Alcantara hit a double to right field. Designated hitter Otto Kemp followed up with a ground ball RBI single to right field. Alcantara scored for a 1-0 lead.
Bryan De La Cruz hit a single to right field, moving Kemp to second base, followed by Liover Peguero’s groundout to third base, moving both runners up a base. Lehigh Valley third baseman Christian Cairo grounded out to second base for the second out, but Kemp scored for a 2-0 lead. First baseman Carter Kieboom hit an RBI single to left field, scoring Cruz for a 3-0 lead. A groundout by Paul McIntosh ended the inning.
At the top of the second inning with one out, Durham catcher Tatem Levins hit King’s four-seam fastball for a solo home run at 377 feet to right field. The Bulls cut the deficit to 3-1, and the exit velocity off the bat was 107.1 mph. It was Levins’ first home run of the season. After walking Brock Jones, King got Cooper Bowman to fly out to left field, and struck out Carlos Colmenarez to end the inning.
Moving to the top of the fourth inning, Durham had runners on the corners when Brock Jones hit a sacrifice bunt to first base. Blake Sabol scored, and it was now 3-2. With two outs, King struck out Cooper Bowman, and the inning was over.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Lehigh Valley had runners on the corners with one out when Bryan De La Cruz hit an RBI single to center field. Sergio Alcantara scored for a 4-2 lead. Liover Peguero hit a single to left field to load the bases. Lehigh Valley third baseman Christian Cairo hit a sacrifice fly to center field. Otto Kemp scored, but Bryan De La Cruz was out at second base to end the inning. The IronPigs led the Bulls 5-2.
Charles King pitched six innings, allowing four hits, two runs, three walks, and five strikeouts, throwing 90 pitches, of which 49 were strikes. John McMillon was the new pitcher for Lehigh Valley at the top of the seventh inning. McMillon walked one, throwing 12 pitches, of which seven were strikes, to get three outs.
Andrew Walling was the new pitcher for Lehigh Valley at the top of the eighth inning. Walling allowed a hit, a walk, and two strikeouts, throwing 21 pitches, of which nine were strikes, to get three outs.
Jonathan Hernández was the new pitcher for Lehigh Valley at the top of the ninth inning. With one out, Brock Jones hit a double to right field, and later went to third base on a wild pitch by Hernandez. With two outs, Carlos Colmenarez hit an RBI single to right field, scoring Jones. A groundout by Raynel Delgado ended the game. The IronPigs defeated the Bulls by the final score of 5-3 to extend their winning streak to three games.
Lehigh Valley finished the night with 11 hits, committed one error, went 4 for 8 with runners in scoring position, and left four men on base. Bryan De La Cruz went 4 for 4 with an RBI. The win went to Lehigh Valley starter Chuck King (1-0), while Jonathan Hernandez earned the save (1), and the loss went to Durham starter Chase Solesky.
The IronPigs will go for the series win on Friday against the Bulls at 6:35 pm on the MLB App. Connor Gillispie (3-1, 3.63 ERA) will be on the mound for Lehigh Valley against Jonathan Heasley (0-1, 3.00 ERA) of Durham.
