The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (67-79, 32-39) took on the Syracuse Mets (79-67, 41-30) in game three on Thursday night at NBT Bank Stadium. Chuck King was on the mound for Lehigh Valley against Jack Wenninger for Syracuse.
At the top of the first inning, Lehigh Valley third baseman Otto Kemp hit a double off the wall at left field with one out. Center fielder Kameron Misner put the IronPigs up 2-0 by hitting Wenninger’s slider for a two-run home run at 352 feet to right field. It was his 22nd home run of the season, and the exit velocity off the bat was 103.8 mph. Keaton Anthony hit a single to left field, but Carter Kieboom and Robert Moore were unable to bring him home.
In the bottom of the first inning, Chuck King loaded the bases with one out when Syracuse shortstop Videl Brujan hit an RBI single to right field, scoring D’Andre Smith. It was now 2-1. Eric Wagaman put the Mets up 3-2 with a two-run RBI double to right field. With two outs, a groundout by former IronPig Christian Cairo ended the inning.
At the top of the second inning, Lehigh Valley had the bases loaded with two outs when Kameron Misner hit a two-run RBI single to right field, scoring Nick Biddison and Jordan Dissin to put the IronPigs up 4-3. Keaton Anthony made it 5-3 with an RBI single to center field, scoring Otto Kemp. Robert Moore popped out to second baseman Christian Cairo to end the inning.
In the bottom of the second inning, Syracuse had runners on first and second base when Jefferson Rojas hit an RBI single to center field, scoring Kevin Parada. It was now 5-4. Ronny Mauricio reached first base on a throwing error by shortstop Robert Moore, scoring D’Andre Smith and Jefferson Rojas to give the Mets a 6-5 lead. Two batters later with one out, Vidal Brujan hit a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Ronny Mauricio for a 7-5 lead. Chuck King was replaced by Tucker Davidson. With the bases loaded and two outs, Kevin Parada popped out to first baseman Carter Kieboom to end the inning. Chuck King went 1.2 innings, allowing six hits, seven runs, two walks, and two strikeouts, throwing 64 pitches, of which 38 were strikes.
At the top of the third inning, Lehigh Valley had a runner on first base with two outs when right fielder Gabriel Rincones Jr. tied the game 7-7 by hitting Matt Seelinger’s four-seam fastball at 389 feet to right field. It was his sixth home run of the season, and the exit velocity off the bat was 106.1 mph. A groundout by Otto Kemp ended the inning.
In the bottom of the eighth inning with one out, Jefferson Rojas put the Mets back up 8-7 when he hit Davidson’s slider for a solo home run at 364 feet to left-center field. It was his third home run of the season, and the exit velocity off the bat was 102.3 mph. With two outs, a lineout by M.J. Melendez to right fielder Gabriel Rincones Jr. ended the inning.
At the top of the fourth inning, Lehigh Valley had runners on first and second base with two outs when Nick Biddison tied the game 8-8 by hitting an RBI single to right field, scoring Keaton Anthony. Carter Kieboom tried to reach third base, but was called out.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Syracuse had a runner on third base with one out when Jefferson Rojas gave the Mets a 9-8 lead with a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Kevin Parada. Davidson struck out Ronny Mauricio to end the inning. Tucker Davidson went 4.1 innings, allowing four hits, two runs, one walk, and one strikeout, throwing 48 pitches, of which 28 were strikes. Lou Trivino III pitched for Lehigh Valley in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Trivino III allowed a hit, one walk, and two strikeouts, throwing 21 pitches, of which 10 were strikes, to get three outs. Kirby Snead pitched for Lehigh Valley in the bottom of the eighth inning. He threw 10 pitches, of which six were strikes, to get three outs. At the top of the ninth inning, Lehigh Valley had runners on the corners with two outs when Gabriel Rincones Jr. struck out swinging, and the game was over.
The IronPigs lost to the Mets 9-8. It was their fourth straight loss. Lehigh Valley finished the night with 12 hits, committed one error, went 4 for 12 with runners in scoring position, and left 11 men on base. Kameron Misner went 2 for 5 with a home run and four RBIs. The loss went to Lehigh Valley pitcher Tucker Davidson (6-6), while the win went to Syracuse pitcher Brian Metoyer (5-1), and Zach Franklin earned his seventh save of the season.
The IronPigs and Mets play game four on Friday at 6:35 pm on the MLB App and Bally Sports Live. Drake Fellows (6-4, 5.64 ERA) will be on the mound for Lehigh Valley against Justin Hagenman (0-0, 3.60 ERA) for Syracuse.
