The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (26-29) played game four on Friday night against the Buffalo Bisons (26-29) from Sahlen Field. Chuck King was on the mound for Lehigh Valley against Brendon Little of Buffalo.
At the top of the first inning, Buffalo had the bases loaded with one out when Willie MacIver hit a sacrifice fly to center field. Carlos Mendoza scored to give the Bisons a 1-0 lead. Riley Tirotta grounded into a forceout at second base, and the inning was over.
At the top of the third inning, Lehigh Valley designated hitter Paul McIntosh hit a double to right field. With two outs, Lehigh Valley first baseman Felix Reyes hit Little’s sweeper for a two-run home run at 440 feet to left field to give the IronPigs a 2-1 lead. It was his 12th home run of the season, and the exit velocity off the bat was 113.3 mph. It was also Felix’s third home run in this series.
Moving to the bottom of the sixth inning, Buffalo had a runner on first base when Willie MacIver hit an RBI double to left field. R.J. Schreck scored, and the game was tied 2-2. Levi Stoudt replaced Chuck King. With two outs, Josh Rivera popped out to first baseman Felix Reyes for the final out of the inning. Chuck King pitched five innings, allowing two hits, two runs, three walks, and three strikeouts, throwing 96 pitches, of which 57 were strikes.
At the top of the seventh inning, Dylan Moore hit a single, and Paul McIntosh hit a double to put runners on second and third base. Lehigh Valley catcher Caleb Ricketts hit a two-run RBI double to right field, scoring Moore and McIntosh to give the IronPigs a 4-2 lead. With two outs, Gabriel Rincones Jr. struck out swinging, and the inning was over.
Levi Stoudt pitched two innings, with three strikeouts, throwing 30 pitches, of which 20 were strikes. Andrew Bechtold pitched for Lehigh Valley in the bottom of the eighth inning. With two outs and a runner on first base, Riley Tirotta hit Bechtold’s slider for a two-run home run at 394 feet to left-center field, and the game was tied 4-4.
It was his seventh home run of the season, and the exit velocity off the bat was 101.6 mph. Bechtold struck out Je’Von Ward to retire the side. Bechtold allowed one hit, two runs, one walk, and three strikeouts, throwing 21 pitches, of which 13 were strikes.
Max Lazar pitched for Lehigh Valley in the bottom of the ninth inning. Lazar allowed a hit and struck out one, throwing 10 pitches, of which eight were strikes. The game went to extra innings. Lazar would finish the night going two innings, allowing one hit, one walk, and one strikeout, throwing 17 pitches, of which 12 were strikes.
At the top of the eleventh inning, Lehigh Valley had runners on second and third base when Paul McIntosh hit an RBI single to center field, scoring Dylan Carlson to give the IronPigs a 5-4 lead. With two outs, a groundout by Christian Cairo ended the inning.
Daniel Harper pitched for Lehigh Valley in the bottom of the eleventh inning. Harper struck out one, throwing 10 pitches, of which seven were strikes, to get the final three outs of the game. The IronPigs defeated the Bisons 5-4 to extend their winning streak to three games.
Lehigh Valley finished the night with eight hits, committed one error, went 3 for 16 with runners in scoring position, and left 10 men on base. Paul McIntosh went 3 for 5 with two doubles and one RBI. The win went to Lehigh Valley pitcher Max Lazar (1-1), while Daniel Haper earned his first save of the season, and the loss went to Buffalo pitcher Pat Gallagher (1-1).
The IronPigs and Bisons play game five on Saturday at 1:05 pm on the MLB App. Lehigh Valley has yet to name a starter, while Grant Rogers (2-5, 6.23 ERA) will be on the mound for Buffalo.
