The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (48-54, 13-14) concluded the six-game series on Sunday afternoon against the Indianapolis Indians (48-54, 17-10) at Victory Field. Andrew Painter was on the mound for Lehigh Valley against Connor Wietgrefe of Indianapolis.
The game was scoreless in the first three innings. At the top of the fourth inning, Lehigh Valley had a runner on first base when Keaton Anthony hit an RBI single to center field, scoring Christian Cairo to put the IronPigs up 1-0. Two throwing errors by Indianapolis allowed Anthony to run to second base.
Three batters later, Lehigh Valley had the bases loaded when Dylan Moore cleared them with a three-run RBI single to the corner of left field, scoring Keaton Anthony, Tommy Pham, and Otto Kemp for a 4-0 lead. A fielding error by Indianapolis left fielder Dominic Fletcher allowed Moore to run to third base. With one out, a groundout by Carter Kieboom brought home Moore for a 5-0 lead. Paul McIntosh struck out swinging, and the inning was over.
Moving to the top of the sixth inning, Lehigh Valley had runners on first and second base when Liover Peguero hit a two-run RBI double to left field, scoring Tommy Pham and Dylan Moore, while Peguero ran to third base for a 7-0 lead. It was his 20th double of the season. A sacrifice fly by Carter Kieboom brought home Peguero for an 8-0 lead. With two outs, a flyout by Paul McIntosh ended the inning.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Indianapolis second baseman Termarr Johnson hit Painter’s sinker for a solo home run at 408 feet to right-center field, cutting Lehigh Valley’s lead to 8-1. It was Johnson’s seventh home run of the season, and the exit velocity off the bat was 107 mph. With two outs, a groundout by Enmanuel Valdez ended the inning. Andrew Painter went six innings, allowing five hits, one run, and six strikeouts, throwing 90 pitches, of which 61 were strikes.
Michael Mercado pitched for Lehigh Valley in the bottom of the seventh inning. He went one inning, allowing a hit, and throwing 14 pitches, of which seven were strikes. Ryan Cusick pitched for Lehigh Valley in the bottom of the eighth inning. Cusick struck out one, throwing 10 pitches, of which seven were strikes, to get three outs.
At the top of the ninth inning, Lehigh Valley had a runner on third base when Christian Cairo hit a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Robert Moore for a 9-1 lead. With two outs and runners on first and second base, Dylan Moore popped out to shortstop Jack Brannigan in foul territory for the third out.
Andrew Bechtold pitched for Lehigh Valley in the bottom of the ninth inning. With one out and a runner on second base, Jhostynxon Garcia hit an RBI double to center field, scoring Enmanuel Valdez, and it was now 9-2. Duce Gourson followed up by hitting Bechtold’s slider for a two-run home run at 360 feet to right field, making it 9-4. It was Gourson’s second home run of the season, and the exit velocity off the bat was 105.1 mph.
With two outs, Indianapolis had a runner on second base when Dominic Fletcher hit an RBI double to right field, scoring Jack Brannigan, and it was now 9-5. After walking Termarr Johnson, Mitch Jebb hit a three-run home run at 375 feet to right-center field, and it was now 9-8. It was Jebb’s fourth home run of the season, and the exit velocity off the bat was 96.2 mph. Bechtold was replaced by Nolan Hoffman.
Bechtold allowed five hits, seven runs, and one walk, throwing 30 pitches, of which 19 were strikes. Hoffman got Enmanuel Valdez to ground out to first baseman Keaton Anthony for the final out of the game. The IronPigs survived to split the series with a 9-8 win over the Indians. Hoffman allowed a walk, throwing 11 pitches, of which five were strikes.
Lehigh Valley finished the afternoon with 11 hits, committed three errors, went 3 for 7 with runners in scoring position, and left five men on base. The win went to Lehigh Valley starter Andrew Painter (1-2), while Nolan Hoffman earned his fifth save of the season, and the loss went to Indianapolis starter Connor Wietgrefe.
The IronPigs return to Coca-Cola Park on Tuesday to begin a six-game homestand against the Buffalo Bisons at 6:45 pm on the MLB App and Bally Sports Live.
