The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (63-71, 28-31) and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (71-61, 34-24) played game four on Thursday night at PNC Field. Alan Rangel was on the mound for Lehigh Valley against Brendan Beck for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
At the top of the first inning, Lehigh Valley had a runner on second base with two outs when Keaton Anthony hit an RBI single to center field, scoring Otto Kemp to give the IronPigs a 1-0 lead. Alex Binelas struck out swinging, and the inning was over.
Moving to the bottom of the fourth inning, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre second baseman Anthony Volpe tied the game 1-1 by hitting Rangel’s slider for a solo home run at 372 feet to right-center field. It was his 10th home run of the season, and the exit velocity off the bat was 99.9 mph. With one out, Max Schuemann grounded into a 6-4-3 inning-ending double play.
At the top of the fifth inning, Lehigh Valley had the bases loaded with two outs when Otto Kemp hit a two-run RBI single to center field, scoring Gabriel Rincones Jr. and Robert Moore for a 3-1 lead. Kameron Misner popped out to shortstop Oswaldo Cabrera for the final out of the inning.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre had a runner on second base with one out when Anthony Volpe hit an RBI single to right field, scoring Kenedy Corona. It was now 3-2. Alan Rangel was replaced by Kyle Backhus. Later, the RailRiders had runners in the corners when Tyler Hardman hit a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Max Schuemann, and the team was tied 3-3. With two outs, Backhus struck out Kenedy Corona to end the inning.
Alan Rangel went 5.1 innings, allowing four hits, two runs, two walks, and six strikeouts, throwing 82 pitches, of which 54 were strikes. Backhus went 1.2 innings, allowing three hits, one run, and one strikeout, throwing 21 pitches, of which 13 were strikes.
Kirby Snead pitched for Lehigh Valley in the bottom of the eighth inning. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre had a runner on second base with one out when Oswaldo Cabrera hit a walk-off RBI single to right field, scoring Duke Ellis for a 4-3 win. It is Lehigh Valley’s third straight loss. Snead went 1.1 innings, allowing two hits and one run, throwing 20 pitches, of which 11 were strikes.
Lehigh Valley finished the night with eight hits, committed one error, went 3 for 10 with runners in scoring position, and left eight men on base. The loss went to Lehigh Valley pitcher Kirby Snead (5-2), and the win went to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre pitcher Justin Topa (1-3).
The IronPigs and RailRiders play game five on Friday at 7:05 pm on the MLB App and Bally Sports Live. Brian Keller (1-4, 5.07 ERA) will be on the mound for Lehigh Valley against Kyle Carr (6-7, 4.54 ERA) of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
