The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (45-53, 10-13) played game two against the Indianapolis Indians (47-51, 16-7) on Wednesday night at Victory Field. Kolby Allard was on the mound for Lehigh Valley against Noah Davis of Indianapolis.
The game was scoreless in the first three innings. At the top of the fourth inning with two outs, Lehigh Valley third baseman Otto Kemp hit Davis’s sweeper for a solo home run at 378 feet to left field to put the IronPigs ahead 1-0. It was his 12th home run of the season, and the exit velocity off the bat was 106.2 mph. A groundout by Liover Peguero ended the inning.
Moving to the bottom of the sixth inning, Indianapolis had runners on first and second base with one out when Enmanuel Valdez hit an RBI single to right field, scoring Jesus Castillo, and the game was tied 1-1. With two outs, Allard struck out Jack Brannigan to end the inning. Kolby Allard went six innings, allowing four hits, one run, one walk, and six strikeouts, throwing 81 pitches, of which 53 were strikes.
Nolan Hoffman pitched for Lehigh Valley in the bottom of the seventh inning. He allowed a hit and struck out one, throwing seven pitches, of which five were strikes, to get three outs. Kyle Backhus pitched for Lehigh Valley in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Backhus gave up the first two singles that put runners on the corners. Then, Ronny Simon hit an RBI single to right field, scoring Duce Gourson to give the Indians a 2-1 lead. With two outs, Backhus struck out Jack Brannigan to end the inning. Backhus allowed three hits, a run, and struck out one, throwing 26 pitches, of which 18 were strikes.
Lehigh Valley went on to lose 2-1 for their fifth straight loss. The IronPigs finished the afternoon with four hits, committed one error, went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position, and left eight men on base. The loss went to Lehigh Valley pitcher Kyle Backhus (0-1), and the win went to Indianapolis pitcher Brandan Bidois (4-2).
The IronPigs will look to snap a five-game losing streak on Thursday against the Indians at 7:05 pm on the MLB App and Bally Sports Live. Chuck King (6-5, 4.63 ERA) will be on the mound for Lehigh Valley against José Urquidy (5-3, 3.64 ERA) of Indianapolis.
