The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (43-48, 8-8) played against the Columbus Clippers (50-40, 8-8) in game four on Friday night at Coca-Cola Park. Andrew Painter was on the mound for Lehigh Valley against Rorik Maltrud of Columbus. Before the game, the Philadelphia Phillies released outfielder Dylan Carlson.
At the top of the first inning, Columbus had runners on first and second base when Bo Naylor hit an RBI single to center field, scoring Cooper Ingle for a 1-0 lead. With two outs, C.J. Kayfus hit an RBI single to right field, scoring Angel Genao for a 2-0 lead. Milan Tolentino grounded out to Andrew Painter for the final out of the inning.
At the top of the second inning, Columbus had runners on second and third base when Angel Genao hit an RBI single to left field, scoring Dayan Frias for a 3-0 lead. Juan Brito followed up by hitting a ground-rule RBI double to left field, scoring Cooper Ingle for a 4-0 lead. With one out, Bo Naylor lined out to third baseman Otto Kemp, who also stepped on third base to complete an inning-ending double play.
At the top of the third inning, Columbus had a runner on first base when Dayan Frias hit an RBI triple to right field, scoring Milan Tolentino for a 5-0 lead. Cooper Ingle followed up by hitting Painter’s curveball for an opposite-field two-run home run at 350 feet to left field for a 7-0 lead. It was his 13th home run of the season, and the exit velocity off the bat was 97.4 mph.
That was it for Andrew Painter. He went 2.2 innings, allowing eight hits, seven runs, four walks, and one strikeout, throwing 70 pitches, of which 38 were strikes. Kirby Snead replaced Painter. With two outs, a flyout by Juan Brito ended the inning. Snead went 2.1 innings, allowing three hits, and struck out two, throwing 35 pitches, of which 24 were strikes.
Moving to the bottom of the fifth inning with one out, Lehigh Valley second baseman Robert Moore hit Maltrud’s slider for a solo home run at 402 feet to right field, cutting the lead to 7-1. It was his eighth home run of the season, and the exit velocity off the bat was 105.1 mph. Three batters later, Dylan Moore was on second base when Tommy Pham hit an RBI single to left field, scoring Moore, and it was now 7-2. A groundout by Bryan De La Cruz ended the inning.
Nolan Hoffman pitched for Lehigh Valley at the top of the sixth inning. Columbus second baseman Juan Brito hit Hoffman’s cutter for a solo home run at 356 feet to right field for an 8-2 lead. It was his seventh home run of the season, and the exit velocity off the bat was 107.1 mph. With one out, C.J. Kayfus grounded into a 4-6-3 inning-ending double play. Hoffman allowed two hits and one run, throwing 15 pitches, of which 10 were strikes.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Lehigh Valley third baseman Otto Kemp hit Maltrud’s curveball for a solo home run at 354 feet to left field, cutting the deficit to 8-3. It was his ninth home run of the season, and the exit velocity off the bat was 96.9 mph. With two outs, a groundout by Steward Berroa ended the inning.
Kyle Backhus pitched for Lehigh Valley at the top of the seventh inning. He struck out two, throwing 15 pitches, of which 10 were strikes, to get three outs. In the bottom of the seventh inning, Robert Moore was on second base with one out when Felix Reyes hit Hunter Stanley’s slider for a two-run home run at 458 feet to left-center field, cutting the lead to 8-5. It was his 20th home run of the season, and the exit velocity off the bat was 109.4 mph.
Bryan De La Cruz hit a single to center field before Otto Kemp hit Stanley’s four-seam fastball for a two-run home run at 415 feet to center field. The IronPigs trailed the Clippers 8-7. It was his second home run of the night, 10th of the year, and the exit velocity off the bat was 104.7 mph. With two outs, a flyout by Christian Cairo ended the inning.
Michael Mercado pitched for Lehigh Valley at the top of the eighth inning. Mercado loaded the bases and walked Ralphy Velazquez, scoring Cooper Ingles for a 9-7 lead. C.J. Kayfus grounded into a forceout at second base, scoring Angel Genao for a 10-7 lead. Mercado struck out George Valera to end the inning. Mercado allowed two runs, four walks, and struck out one, throwing 38 pitches, of which 18 were strikes.
Mitch Neunborn pitched for Lehigh Valley at the top of the ninth inning. Neunborn threw 14 pitches, of which eight were strikes, to get three outs. Lehigh Valley would go on to lose to the Clippers 10-7.
Lehigh Valley finished the night with 12 hits, committed one error, went 2 for 9 with runners in scoring position, and left five men on base. Otto Kemp went 3 for 4 with two home runs and three RBIs. The loss went to Lehigh Valley starter Andrew Painter (0-1), while the win went to Columbus starter Rorik Maltrud (3-0), and Steven Pérez earned his second save of the season.
The IronPigs and Clippers play game five on Saturday at 6:35 pm on the MLB App and Bally Sports Live. Chuck King (5-4, 4.73 ERA) will be on the mound for Lehigh Valley, while Columbus have yet to name a starter.
