The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (35-39) and the Worcester Red Sox (35-35) played game five on Saturday night from Coca-Cola Park. Drake Fellows was on the mound for Lehigh Valley against Osvaldo Berrios of Worcester.
At the top of the first inning, Worcester had a runner on third base with one out when Mikey Romero hit a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Braiden Ward for a 1-0 lead. With two outs, a groundout by Tsung-Che Cheng ended the inning.
In the bottom of the first inning with one out, Lehigh Valley right fielder Felix Reyes hit Berrios’s slider for a solo home run at 324 feet to right-center field, tying the game 1-1. It was his 17th home run of the season, and the exit velocity off the bat was 95.4 mph. With two outs, a flyout by Keaton Anthony ended the inning.
In the bottom of the third inning, Lehigh Valley second baseman Robert Moore hit Eduardo Rivera’s four-seam fastball for a solo home run at 399 feet to left field to give the IronPigs a 2-1 lead. It was his fifth home run of the season, and the exit velocity off the bat was 102.6 mph.
At the top of the fourth inning, Worcester right fielder Allan Castro hit a solo home run to right-center field, tying the game 2-2. It was his sixth home run of the season. Later, Worcester had runners on second and third base when Tyler McDonough hit an RBI single to right field, scoring Tsung-Che Cheng for a 3-2 lead. With two outs, Braiden Ward grounded into a forceout at second base, and the inning was over.
Drake Fellows went five innings, allowing eight hits, three runs, one walk, and six strikeouts, throwing 88 pitches, of which 54 were strikes.
Moving to the bottom of the fifth inning, Lehigh Valley had a runner on second base with two outs when Felix Reyes hit an RBI double to right field, scoring Robert Moore, and the game was tied 3-3. With two outs, Otto Kemp hit a single to left field. Reyes tried to score but was caught at home plate, and the inning was over.
Kyle Backhus pitched Lehigh Valley at the top of the sixth inning. He struck out two, throwing 12 pitches, of which 10 were strikes, to get three outs. Kirby Snead pitched for Lehigh Valley at the top of the seventh inning. Snead went two innings, allowing two hits, and struck out three, throwing 20 pitches, of which 22 were strikes.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Lehigh Valley center fielder Steward Berroa hit a double to right field and moved to third base on a groundout by Felix Reyes. After a pitching change, Otto Kemp hit an RBI single to left field, scoring Berroa to give the IronPigs a 4-3 lead. With two outs, a groundout by Dylan Moore ended the inning.
Nolan Hoffman pitched for Lehigh Valley at the top of the ninth inning. After giving up a walk, Braiden Ward hit into a game-ending 4-6-3 double play. The IronPigs defeated the Red Sox 4-3 for their third straight win.
Lehigh Valley finished the night with eight hits, committed one error, went 3 for 7 with runners in scoring position, and left four men on base. Robert Moore went 2 for 3 with a home run and an RBI, while Felix Reyes went 2 for 4 with a home run, a double, and two RBIs. The win went to Lehigh Valley pitcher Kirby Snead (4-1), while Nolan Hoffman earned his third save of the season, and the loss went to Worcester pitcher Kyle Keller (3-3).
The IronPigs will look to win the series on Sunday against the Red Sox at 1:15 pm on the MLB App. Kolby Allard (2-0, 4.11) will be on the mound for Lehigh Valley, making his first start for the IronPigs since 2024, against Jack Anderson (1-3, 4.50 ERA) of Worcester.
