The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (45-48, 10-8) concluded the six-game series against the Columbus Clippers (50-42, 8-10) on Sunday afternoon at Coca-Cola Park. Drake Fellows was on the mound for Lehigh Valley against Trenton Denholm of Columbus.
In the bottom of the second inning, Lehigh Valley had the bases loaded with two outs when Columbus starter Trenton Denholm threw a wild pitch, scoring Paul McIntosh for a 1-0 lead. Keaton Anthony struck out swinging, and the inning was over.
At the top of the third inning, Columbus had runners on the corners when Juan Brito hit a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Dayan Frias to tie the game 1-1. With two outs, a flyout by C.J. Kayfus to center fielder Steward Berroa ended the inning.
In the bottom of the third inning with one out, Lehigh Valley left fielder Otto Kemp hit Denholm’s curveball for a solo home run at 389 feet to left-center field to give the IronPigs a 2-1 lead. It was his 11th home run of the season, and the exit velocity off the bat was 103.8 mph.
Later, Lehigh Valley had runners on the corners with two outs when Steward Berroa hit Denholm’s changeup for a three-run home run at 359 feet right field for a 5-1 lead. It was his fifth home run of the season, and the exit velocity off the bat was 96.6 mph. Robert Moore struck out swinging, and the inning was over.
Lehigh Valley starter Drake Fellows pitched a good game. He went five innings, allowing four hits, one run, four walks, and two strikeouts, throwing 90 pitches, of which 55 were strikes. Ryan Cusick pitched for Lehigh Valley at the top of the sixth inning. Columbus third baseman Milan Tolentino hit Cusick’s four-seam fastball for a solo home run at 330 feet to left field, cutting Lehigh Valley’s lead to 5-2. Two batters later, Joe Lampe grounded into a forceout at second base, scoring Dom Nuñez, and it was now 5-3. Kyle Backhus replaced Cusick with two outs. A groundout by Cooper Ingle ended the inning. Cusick allowed two hits, two runs, and one walk, throwing 22 pitches, of which 14 were strikes. Kyle Backhus went 1.1 innings, with one strikeout, throwing 11 pitches, of which seven were strikes.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Lehigh Valley had runners on the corners when second baseman Carter Kieboom hit Cam Walty’s slider for a three-run home run at 352 feet to left field for an 8-3 lead. It was his sixth home run of the season, and the exit velocity off the bat was 94.3 mph.
Lehigh Valley right fielder Bryan De La Cruz lined out to center fielder Joe Lampe. A throwing error by Lampe brought home Tommy Pham for a 9-3 lead. Paul McIntosh followed up by hitting an RBI single to right field, scoring Otto Kemp for a 10-3 lead. With two outs, Christian Cairo grounded into a forceout at second base, and the inning was over.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Lehigh Valley had runners on first and second base when Tommy Pham hit an RBI single to right field, scoring Steward Berroa for an 11-3 lead with two outs. With the bases loaded, Bryan De La Cruz hit a two-run RBI single to center field, scoring Carter Kieboom and Tommy Pham for a 13-3 lead. A lineout by Paul McIntosh ended the inning.
Andrew Bechtold pitched for Lehigh Valley at the top of the eighth inning. He struck out three batters, throwing 16 pitches, of which 13 were strikes. Seth Johnson pitched for Lehigh Valley at the top of the ninth inning. Columbus had a runner on second base with one out when Juan Brito hit a two-run home run at 369 feet to right field. It was now 13-5. It was Brito’s eighth home run of the season, and the exit velocity off the bat was 96.6 mph. With two outs, a groundout by George Valera ended the game. Johnson allowed two hits and two runs, throwing 21 pitches, of which 16 were strikes.
The IronPigs defeated the Clippers 13-5 to take four of six games from Columbus. Lehigh Valley finished the afternoon with 12 hits, went 5 for 14 with runners in scoring position, and left nine men on base. Carter Kieboom went 2 for 3 with a home run, a walk, and three RBIs, while Otto Kemp went 1 for 3 with a home run, a walk, and a hit by a pitch.
The win went to Lehigh Valley starter Drake Fellows (1-1), and the loss went to Columbus starter Trenton Denholm (8-3).
The IronPigs will be off for four days for the All-Star Break. They begin a nine-game road trip starting on Friday at the Omaha Storm Chasers at 8:05 pm on the MLB App and Bally Sports Live.
