The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (23-27) played game five on Saturday night against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (25-23) at Coca-Cola Park. Chuck King was on the mound for Lehigh Valley against Elmer Rodríguez of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
The game was scoreless in the first two innings until the top of the third inning. Chuck King walked Duke Ellis. He stole second and third base. Jonathan Ornelas hit the ball to third baseman Carter Kieboom and reached first base on a fielder’s choice, scoring Ellis for a 1-0 lead. With two outs, a lineout by Yanquiel Fernández ended the inning.
At the top of the fourth inning, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre had a runner on second base when Tyler Hardman hit a ground-rule RBI double to right field. Seth Brown scored for a 2-0 lead. With two outs, a groundout by Ali Sánchez ended the inning.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Liover Peguero and Carter Kieboom hit singles, and Christian Cairo worked a four-pitch walk to load the bases with nobody out. Dylan Carlson worked a four-pitch walk, and Peguero scored. The IronPigs trailed the RailRiders 2-1. Dylan Moore followed up by working a four-pitch walk, scoring Kieboom, and the IronPigs tied the game 2-2.
Lehigh Valley catcher Paul McIntosh hit a sacrifice fly to right-center, scoring Cairo for a 3-2 lead. With two outs, Felix Reyes hit an RBI single to right field, scoring Carlson for a 4-2 lead. Right fielder Bryan De La Cruz followed up by hitting the ball into a fielder’s choice to third base. A fielding error by third baseman Oswaldo Cabrera allowed Dylan Moore to score for a 5-2 lead. Liover Peguero grounded into a forceout at second base, and the inning was over.
At the top of the fifth inning, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre had runners on first and second base when Yanquiel Fernández hit an RBI single to right field. Jonathan Ornelas scored, and the RailRiders trailed the IronPigs 5-3. A sacrifice fly by Oswaldo Cabrera brought home George Lombard Jr., and it was now 5-4. With two outs, Tyler Hardman grounded into a forceout at second base, and the inning was over.
Chuck King pitched five innings, allowing four hits, four runs, three walks, and five strikeouts, throwing 84 pitches, of which 54 were strikes. Jackson Rutledge was the new pitcher for Lehigh Valley at the top of the sixth inning. Rutledge allowed a hit and struck out one, throwing 26 pitches, of which 17 were strikes, to get three outs.
Lou Trivino pitched for Lehigh Valley at the top of the eighth inning. He allowed a hit, throwing 13 pitches, of which eight were strikes, to get three outs. Nolan Hoffman pitched for Lehigh Valley at the top of the ninth inning. Hoffman struck out two, throwing 18 pitches, of which 11 were strikes, to get the final three outs of the game. The IronPigs defeated the RailRiders 5-4. With the win, the IronPigs take the series lead.
Lehigh Valley finished the night with three hits, committed one error, went 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position, and left six men on base. The win went to Lehigh Valley starter Chuck King (2-3), Nolan Hoffman earned his first save of the year, and the loss went to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre starter Elmer Rodríguez (1-3).
The IronPigs will have a chance to win the series against the RailRiders as they wrap up the six-game series on Sunday at 6:35 pm on the MLB App. Ryan Cusick (0-4, 6.55 ERA) will be on the mound for Lehigh Valley against Brendan Beck (3-2, 4.63 ERA) will be on the mound for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
