The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (14-11) and the Durham Bulls (9-16) played game four on Friday from Coca-Cola Park. Ryan Cusick was on the mound for Lehigh Valley against Jonathan Heasley of Durham.
In the bottom of the first inning, Lehigh Valley shortstop Sergio Alcantara hit a double to right field. Steward Berroa moved Alcantara to third base with a sacrifice bunt to pitcher Jonahtan Heasley for the first out. Third baseman Otto Kemp brought Alcantara home with an RBI double to left field for a 1-0 lead. Two batters later with two outs, Lehigh Valley catcher Caleb Ricketts hit Heasley’s four-seam fastball for a two-run home run at 395 feet to right field for a 3-0 lead.
It was Ricketts’ third home run of the series, fourth home run of the season, and the exit velocity off the bat was 100.4 mph. Left fielder Christian Cairo worked a four-pitch walk before Carter Kieboom flies out to right field, and the inning was over.
At the top of the third inning, Lehigh Valley starter Ryan Cusick loaded the bases with one out. He walked Carson Williams, and Brock Jones scored to cut the deficit to 3-1. Raynel Delgado followed up with an RBI single to center field. Homer Bush Jr. scored, and it was now 3-2.
With the bases still loaded, Cusick walked Dom Keegan, and the game was tied 3-3. Designated hitter Justyn-Henry Malloy brought home Carson Williams with a sacrifice fly to right field to give the Bulls a 4-3 lead with two outs. Cusick was replaced by Colin Peluse.
Durham left fielder Logan Davidson hit Peluse’s four-seam fastball for a three-run home run at 407 feet to right field for a 7-0 lead. It was Davidson’s third home run of the season, and the exit velocity off the bat was 104.6 mph. Ryan Cusick finished the night pitching 2.2 innings, allowing one hit, six runs, six walks, and two strikeouts, throwing 64 pitches, of which 29 were strikes. A groundout by Brock Jones ended the inning.
Colin Peluse pitched two innings, allowing three hits, one run, one walk, and two strikeouts, throwing 42 pitches, of which 29 were strikes. Genesis Cabrera was the new pitcher for Lehigh Valley at the top of the fifth inning. With two outs, a lineout by Blake Sabol ended the inning.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Sergio Alcantara and Steward Berroa worked four-pitch walks, and Otto Kemp was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Right fielder Bryan De La Cruz grounded into a forceout at second base. Sergio Alcantara scored, and the IronPigs cut the deficit to 7-4. Caleb Ricketts grounded into a 4-6-3 inning-ending double play.
Genesis Cabrera pitched 1.1 innings with two strikeouts, throwing 12 pitches, of which eight were strikes. Lenny Torres Jr. was the new pitcher for Lehigh Valley at the top of the seventh inning. Torres Jr. walked one, throwing 13 pitches, of which five were strikes, to get three outs.
Lou Trivino was the new pitcher for Lehigh Valley at the top of the eighth inning. With two outs, Gavin Lux reached first base on a fielding error by Sergio Alcantara. Carson Williams hit a two-run RBI double to center field. Blake Sabol and Homer Bush Jr. scored for a 9-4 lead.
Raynel Delgado followed up with a two-run RBI single to right field. Gavin Lux and Carson Williams scored for an 11-4 lead. Trivino struck out Justyn-Henry Malloy, and the inning was over. Trivino allowed three hits, four runs, two walks, and two strikeouts, throwing 34 pitches, of which 18 were strikes.
Seth Johnson was the new pitcher for Lehigh Valley at the top of the ninth inning. Durham had runners on first and second base with two outs when Gavin Lux hit a ground-rule RBI double to left field. Logan Davidson scored for a 12-4 lead. Johnson struck out Carson Williams to end the inning. Johnson allowed two hits, one run, one walk, and three strikeouts, throwing 25 pitches, of which 16 were strikes.
In the bottom of the ninth inning with one out, Lehigh Valley second baseman Robert Moore hit Jonny Cuevas’s cutter for a solo home run at 339 feet to left field. It was now 12-5. It was Moore’s fourth home run of the season, and the exit velocity off the bat was 97.6 mph.
With two outs, Sergio Alcantara worked a four-pitch walk. A throwing error by Jonny Cuevas allowed Alcantara to steal second base. He attempted to steal third base when no one was covering it, but got caught, and the game was over.
Lehigh Valley’s three-game winning streak came to an end with a 12-5 loss to the Durham Bulls. They finished the night with seven hits, committed one error, went 2 for 7 with runners in scoring position, and left five men on base. Robert Moore went 2 for 3 with a home run, a walk, and an RBI. The loss went to Lehigh Valley starter Ryan Cusick (0-2), while the win went to Durham pitcher Andrew Wantz (1-0).
The IronPigs and Bulls play game five on Saturday at 6:35 pm on the MLB App. Tucker Davidson (0-1, 8.76 ERA) will be on the mound for Lehigh Valley against Logan Workman (0-2, 5.63 ERA) of Durham.
