The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (42-47, 7-7) took on the Columbus Clippers (49-39, 8-6) on Wednesday night at Coca-Cola Park. Tucker Davidson was on the mound for Lehigh Valley against Yorman Gomez of Columbus. Before the game, the Philadelphia Phillies recalled RHP Alan Rangel, who was supposed to start for Lehigh Valley.
Lehigh Valley starter Tucker Davidson pitched two scoreless innings, allowing a hit, a walk, and struck out one, throwing 27 pitches, of which 18 were strikes. Ryan Cusick pitched for Lehigh Valley at the top of the third inning.
In the bottom of the third inning, Lehigh Valley had a runner on second base when designated hitter Keaton Anthony hit Gomez’s slider for a two-run home run at 412 feet to center field to put the IronPigs ahead 2-0. It was his fifth home run of the season, and the exit velocity off the bat was 104.8 mph. With two outs, Tommy Pham struck out swinging, and the inning was over.
At the top of the fourth inning with one out, Columbus left fielder C.J. Kayfus hit Cusick’s slider for a solo home run at 428 feet to center field, cutting the lead to 2-1. It was his third home run of the season, and the exit velocity off the bat was 104.9 mph. Cusick would put another run on base before Kody Huff hit his slider for a two-run home run at 430 feet to left field to give the Clippers a 3-2 lead. It was his 11th home run of the season, and the exit velocity off the bat was 106.7 mph.
Cusick put two more runners on base before he was replaced by Grant Holman. Juan Brito reached first base on a fielding error by third baseman Robert Moore, scoring Milan Tolentino for a 4-2 lead. Ralphy Velazquez cleared the bases by hitting Holman’s four-seam fastball for a three-run home run at 409 feet to right field for a 7-2 lead. It was his fourth home run of the season, and exit velocity off the bat was 109.1 mph. A flyout by Bo Naylor ended the inning.
Ryan Cusick went 1.2 innings, allowing four hits, five runs, three earned runs, three walks, and struck out one, throwing 46 pitches, of which 23 were strikes.
In the bottom of the fourth inning with two outs, Lehigh Valley second baseman Christian Cairo hit Gomez’s four-seam fastball for a solo home run at 394 feet to left-center field, cutting the deficit to 7-3. It was his third home run of the season, and the exit velocity off the bat was 99.8 mph. A lineout by Paul McIntosh ended the inning.
At the top of the fifth inning, Columbus had a runner on third base when Milan Tolentino hit an RBI double to center field, scoring Kody Huff for an 8-3 lead. With two outs, Holman struck out Dayan Frias to end the inning. Grant Holman went 1.1 innings, allowing three hits, three runs, one earned run, and struck out one, throwing 19 pitches, of which 14 were strikes.
In the bottom of the fifth inning with one out, Lehigh Valley shortstop Dylan Moore hit Will Dion’s four-seam fastball for a solo home run at 372 feet to left-center field. The IronPigs trailed Clippers 8-4. It was Moore’s fourth home run of the season, and the exit velocity off the bat was 96.3 mph. With two outs, a groundout by Keaton Anthony ended the inning.
Mitch Neunborn pitched for Lehigh Valley at the top of the sixth inning. He went two innings, allowing a hit, two walks, and struck out two, throwing 43 pitches, of which 27 were strikes. Chase Shugart pitched for Lehigh Valley at the top of the eighth inning.
Moving to the bottom of the eighth inning, Lehigh Valley had runners on the corners when Tommy Pham hit an RBI single to left field, scoring Dylan Moore, and it was now 8-5. With two outs and the bases loaded, Christian Cairo struck out swinging, and the inning was over.
Chase Shugart went two innings, allowing a walk and striking out two, throwing 26 pitches, of which 18 were strikes. The IronPigs would drop the second game to the Clippers 8-5.
Lehigh Valley finished the night with seven hits, committed one error, went 2 for 5 with runners in scoring position, and left four men on base. Keaton Anthony went 2 for 4 with a home run and two RBIs. The loss went to Lehigh Valley pitcher Ryan Cusick (1-5), while the win went to Columbus pitcher Will Dion (5-0), and Jack Leftwich earned his third save of the season.
The IronPigs and Clippers play game three on Thursday at 6:45 pm on the MLB App and Bally Sports Live. Kolby Allard (2-2, 5.32 ERA) will be on the mound for Lehigh Valley against Austin Peterson (0-7, 4.55 ERA) of Columbus.
