The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (45-52, 10-12) continued their nine-game road trip on Tuesday night at Victory Field against the Indianapolis Indians (46-51, 15-7). Andrew Painter was on the mound for Lehigh Valley against Connor Wietgrefe. This was Lehigh Valley’s first visit to Indianapolis since 2019.
Before the game started, the Philadelphia Phillies called up outfielder Bryan De La Cruz and sent RHP Alan Rangel back to Lehigh Valley.
The game was scoreless through three innings. At the top of the fourth inning, Lehigh Valley had runners on first and second base with two outs when catcher Paul McIntosh hit an RBI single to left field, scoring Otto Kemp for a 1-0 lead. Steward Berroa grounded into a forceout at second base, and the inning was over.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Indianapolis had runners on the corners with one out when Ronny Simon hit an RBI single to right field, scoring Shawn Ross, which tied the game 1-1. Enmanuel Valdez followed up by hitting a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Dominic Fletcher to give the Indians a 2-1 lead. With two outs, a lineout by Jack Brannigan ended the inning. Andrew Painter went five innings, allowing seven hits, two runs, one walk, and striking out six, throwing 87 pitches, of which 64 were strikes.
Michael Mercado pitched for Lehigh Valley in the bottom of the sixth inning. Mercado went two innings, allowing a hit and striking out two, throwing 24 pitches, of which 18 were strikes. At the top of the eighth inning, Lehigh Valley had a runner on second base when Otto Kemp hit a single to left field. Liover Peguero attempted to score, but was tagged out. The instant replay showed that Indianapolis catcher Shawn Ross missed the tag, and Lehigh Valley should’ve tied the game, but the inning ended.
Andrew Bechtold pitched for Lehigh Valley in the bottom of the eighth inning. He struck out one, throwing nine pitches, of which five were strikes, to get three outs. At the top of the ninth inning with runners on the corners and nobody out, Steward Berroa hit into a 4-3 double play. With two outs and the bases loaded, Felix Reyes hit in a forceout at home plate, and the game was over. The IronPigs lost to the Indians 2-1.
Lehigh Valley finished the night with nine hits, went 2 for 7 with runners in scoring position, and left 10 men on base. Paul McIntosh went 3 for 4 with a double and an RBI. The loss went to Lehigh Valley pitcher Andrew Painter (0-2), while the win went to Indianapolis starter Connor Wietgrefe (3-2), and Beau Burrows earned his seventh save of the season.
The IronPigs and Indians play game two on Wednesday at 1:35 pm on the MLB App and Bally Sports Live. Kolby Allard (2-2, 5.86 ERA) will be on the mound for Lehigh Valley against Noah Davis (1-8, 4.50 ERA) of Indianapolis.
