The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (39-44, 4-4) took on the Rochester Red Wings (49-32, 4-4) in game two on Wednesday night at ESL Ballpark. Brian Keller was on the mound for Lehigh Valley against Andry Lara of Rochester.
At the top of the first inning, Lehigh Valley third baseman Otto Kemp hit Lara’s slider for a solo home run at 377 feet to left field for a 1-0 lead. It was his seventh home run of the season, and the exit velocity off the bat was 98.7 mph. With two outs, a groundout by Felix Reyes ended the inning.
At the top of the second inning, Lehigh Valley designated hitter Paul McIntosh hit Lara’s slider for a solo home run at 432 feet to left field for a 2-0 lead. It was his sixth home run of the season, and the exit velocity off the bat was 104.3 mph. With two outs, Dylan Carlson struck out swinging, and the inning was over.
Moving to the top of the fifth inning, Christian Cairo and Steward Berroa hit singles just before rain began to fall at ESL Ballpark, sending the game into a rain delay. Lehigh Valley starter Brian Keller went four innings, allowing a hit, and struck out five, throwing 44 pitches, of which 34 were strikes. The games suspended and resumed on Thursday.
Dylan Carlson hit an RBI single to right field, scoring Christian Cairo for a 3-0 lead. Two batters later, Dylan Moore hit a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Steward Berroa for a 4-0 lead. With two outs, Otto Kemp struck out on a foul tip.
Ryan Cusick pitched for Lehigh Valley in the bottom of the fifth inning. Rochester had runners on second and third base when Robert Hassell III grounded out to second baseman Dylan Moore, scoring Brady House, and it was now 4-1. With two outs, Cusick struck out Christian Franklin to end the inning.
At the top of the sixth inning, Lehigh Valley had runners on first and second base when Steward Berroa hit a two-run RBI double to center field, scoring Paul McIntosh and Christian Cairo for a 6-1 lead. Dylan Carlson followed up by hitting a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Berroa for a 7-1 lead. With two outs, Rene Pinto struck out swinging to close out the inning.
At the top of the seventh inning, Lehigh Valley had runners on second and third base when Felix Reyes hit an RBI single to right field, scoring Dylan Moore for an 8-1 lead. Paul McIntosh followed up by hitting an RBI double to left field, scoring Otto Kemp for a 9-1 lead. Christian Cairo grounded out to shortstop Trey Lipscomb, scoring Reyes for a 10-1 lead. With two outs, Steward Berroa struck out swinging to end the inning.
Ryan Cusick went two innings, allowing three hits, one run, one walk, and two strikeouts, throwing 44 pitches, of which 29 were strikes. Max Lazar pitched for Lehigh Valley in the bottom of the seventh inning. Lazar had loaded the bases when Christian Franklin hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Riley Adams, and it was now 10-2. With two outs, a lineout by Trey Lipscomb to right fielder Steward Berroa ended the inning. Lazar went an inning, allowing a hit, a run, a walk, and struck out one, throwing 21 pitches, of which 12 were strikes.
At the top of the eighth inning, Lehigh Valley had the bases loaded when Felix Reyes hit a two-run RBI double to right field, scoring Rene Pinto and Dylan Moore for a 12-2 lead. Two batters later, Lehigh Valley had the bases loaded when Christian Cairo was hit by a pitch, scoring Otto Kemp for a 13-2 lead.
Steward Berroa followed up by hitting a two-run RBI double to right field, scoring Felix Reyes and Paul McIntosh for a 15-2 lead. Dylan Carlson hit an RBI double to right field, scoring Christian Cairo for a 17-2 lead. Rene Pinto followed up by hitting an RBI double to center field, scoring Dylan Carlson for an 18-2 lead. With two outs, a flyout by Dylan Moore ended the inning.
Evan Gates pitched for Lehigh Valley in the bottom of the eighth inning. With one out, Rochester first baseman Abimelec Ortiz hit Gates’s four-seam fastball for a solo home run to right field. It was now 18-3. It was his 15th home run of the season, and the exit velocity off the bat was 108.6 mph. With two outs, a flyout by Joey Wiemer ended the inning.
Evan Gates went two innings, allowing two hits, one run, one walk, and two strikeouts, throwing 28 pitches, of which 15 were strikes, to the final six outs of the game. The IronPigs cruised to an 18-3 win over the Red Wings.
Lehigh Valley finished the game with 16 hits, committed one error, went 8 for 16 with runners in scoring position, and left five men on base. Steward Berroa went 3 for 5 with two doubles and four RBIs. The win went to Lehigh Valley pitcher Ryan Cusick (1-4), and the loss went to Rochester starter Andry Lara (2-5).
The IronPigs and Red Wings will play a seven-inning game shortly on the MLB App. Chuck King (5-4, 4.07 ERA) will be on the mound for Lehigh Valley against Connor Van Scoyoc (6-2, 3.54 ERA) of Rochester.
