The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (29-34) concluded the six-game home stand on Sunday afternoon against the Rochester Red Wings (28-24) from Coca-Cola Park. Drake Fellows was on the mound for Lehigh Valley against Carson Palmquist of Rochester.
At the top of the first inning, Rochester right fielder Christian Franklin hit Fellows’s sinker for a solo home run at 375 feet to left-center field to give the Red Wings a 1-0 lead. It was his fourth home run of the season, and the exit velocity off the bat was 101.7 mph. With two outs, a groundout by Andrew Pinckney ended the inning.
In the bottom of the first inning, Lehigh Valley center fielder Dylan Carlson hit a double to left field. Two batters later, with one out, Otto Kemp was hit by a pitch. First baseman Keaton Anthony followed up by hitting an RBI double to left field, scoring Carlson to tie the game 1-1. A sacrifice fly by Gabriel Rincones Jr. brought home Kemp to put the IronPigs ahead 2-1. A flyout by Bryan De La Cruz ended the inning.
Moving to the top of the third inning, Rochester right fielder Christian Franklin hit a double to left field, followed by Yohandy Morales hitting an RBI single to left field, scoring Franklin to tie the game 2-2. Abimelec Ortiz hit a single to left field, moving Morales to third base.
Brady House followed up by hitting an RBI single to right field, scoring Morales to give the Red Wings a 3-2 lead. With the bases loaded, Andrew Pinckney grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, scoring Abimelec Ortiz for a 4-2 lead. A groundout by Robert Hassell III ended the inning.
Drake Fellows went three innings, allowing eight hits, four runs, and one strikeout, throwing 53 pitches, of which 38 were strikes. Michael Mercado pitched for Lehigh Valley at the top of the fourth inning.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Gabriel Rincones Jr. and Bryan De La Cruz hit singles with Rincones Jr. running to third base. A groundout by Christian Cairo allowed Rincones Jr. to score. The IronPigs trailed the Red Wings 4-3. Robert Moore and Caleb Ricketts both hit groundouts, and the inning was over.
At the top of the sixth inning, Michael Mercado put two runners on with one out before he was replaced by Kirby Snead. Snead walked Yohandy Morales to load the bases. Snead was able to get the final two outs to end the inning. Mercado went 2.1 innings, allowing two hits, two walks, and struck out two, throwing 42 pitches, of which 27 were strikes. Snead walked one, throwing 11 pitches, of which eight were strikes.
Nolan Hoffman pitched for Lehigh Valley at the top of the seventh inning. Rochester had runners on the corners when Trey Lipscomb hit an RBI single to center field, scoring Robert Hassell III for a 5-3 lead. Lipscomb stole second base, and Tres Barrera stole home plate for a 6-3 lead. With two outs, a flyout by Christian Franklin ended the inning. Hoffman allowed two hits, two runs, and one walk, throwing 22 pitches, of which 16 were strikes.
Max Lazar pitched for Lehigh Valley at the top of the eighth inning. Lazar went two innings, allowing a hit, throwing 26 pitches, of which 16 were strikes.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Lehigh Valley second baseman Robert Moore worked a four-pitch walk. Two batters later with one out, Dylan Carlson hit Eddy Yean’s sinker for a two-run home run at 384 feet to right field. The IronPigs trailed the Red Wings 6-5. It was Carlson’s fourth home run of the season, and the exit velocity off the bat was 103.3 mph.
Lehigh Valley left fielder Felix Reyes hit a soft ground ball to shortstop Trey Lipscomb for a single. A wild pitch by Yean moved Reyes to second base. With two outs, first baseman Keaton Anthony hit an RBI single to right field, scoring Reyes to tie the game 6-6. Gabriel Rincones Jr. worked a four-pitch walk. After that, Rochester replaced Yean with Trevor Gott. A flyout by Bryan De La Cruz sent the game to extra innings.
Levi Stoudt pitched for Lehigh Valley at the top of the tenth inning. Tres Barrera was on second base for Rochester. Stoudt walked one, throwing 20 pitches, of which 13 were strikes, to get three outs.
In the bottom of the tenth inning, Bryan De La Cruz was on second base. Rochester elected to intentionally walk Christian Cairo. A groundout by Carter Kieboom moved both runners up a base. Caleb Ricketts reached first base on a fielder’s choice as De La Cruz was called out at home plate. Dylan Carlson worked a four-pitch walk, and the bases were loaded for Felix Reyes. Reyes popped out to shortstop, and the inning was over.
Abimelec Ortiz started on second base for Rochester at the top of the eleventh inning. Brady House hit an RBI double to right field, scoring Ortiz to give the Red Wings a 7-6 lead. Andrew Pinckney hit a single to move House to third base. Pinckney would steal second base. A pop-out by Tres Barrera ended the inning. Stoudt went two innings, allowing two hits, one run, one walk, and two strikeouts, throwing 40 pitches, of which 28 were strikes.
Felix Reyes was on second base for Lehigh Valley in the bottom of the eleventh inning. Seth Shuman was the new pitcher for Rochester. Lehigh Valley third baseman Otto Kemp worked a four-pitch walk. With two outs, Bryan De La Cruz grounded into a forceout at third base, and the game was over. The IronPigs lost to the Red Wings 7-6 as their two-game winning streak ended. They also lost the series four games to two.
Lehigh Valley finished the afternoon with nine hits, committed one error, went 2 for 19 with runners in scoring position, and left 14 men on base. Dylan Carlson went 2 for 3 with three walks, a home run, a double, and two RBIs. The loss went to Lehigh Valley pitcher Levi Stoudt (0-1), while the win went to Rochester pitcher Trevor Gott (4-0), and Seth Shuman earned his second save of the season.
The IronPigs hit the road next week to PNC Field as they begin a six-game series against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders on Tuesday at 7:05 pm on the MLB App.
