IronPigs top Railriders

The Railriders and the Lehigh Valley IronPigs started a four game series in Allentown. Mark Appel got the start for the IronPigs. Brady Lail got the start for the Railriders. The Railriders welcomed Greg Bird on a rehab assignment from the Yankees. Dustin Fowler drew a one out walk then Greg Bird hit a single to left to get Fowler to third but a popout and a strikeout would keep the Railriders off the board in the top of the first. Lail would throw a 1-2-3 first for the Railriders. Gleyber Torres would hit a leadoff single to center then Mason Williams would bring home on a double to left to make it 1-0 Railriders. Appel would keep his composure and retire the next three batters to keep it 1-0. Lail would throw another 1-2-3 inning in the second for the Railriders. Tyler Austin would draw a two out walk then Clint Frazier would hit a double to left to get Austin to third but a strikeout would end the Top of the third. Taylor Featherston would draw a leadoff walk then Brock Stassi hit a single to right then Pedro Florimon drew a walk to load the bases with no outs. Lail would settle down and retire the next three batters to keep the IronPigs off the board. Donovan Solano drew a one out walk but a strikeout and a groundout ended the top of the fourth. Lail threw a 1-2-3 fourth for the Railriders. Dustin Fowler hit a single to left then Greg Bird drew a walk but a double play and a groundout would keep it a one run game. Brock Stassi hit a one out single to center then Pedro Florimon drew a walk. Cameron Perkins would hit a single to left to load the bases. JP Crawford would reach on an error that would score Stassi to tie the game at one. A double play would end the inning. Mason Williams would drew a walk then on the next batter, he would steal second. Solano would single to left and Williams would try and score but Stassi threw home to get him out at the plate for the second out and a strikeout would end the inning. Dylan Cozens led off with a single to center but Lail would get the next three batters to keep the game tied at 1. Pat Venditte came in to pitch the seventh for the IronPigs and would throw a 1-2-3 inning. Joe Mantiply would come in to pitch for the Railriders in the seventh. Cameron Perkins would hit a two out single to right but a groundout would end the inning. Clint Frazier hit a one out single to center but a groundout and a flyout would end the Top half of the eighth. Dylan Cozens drew a one out walk and was lifted for a pinch runner in Michael Mariot. Rhys Hoskins would follow with a single to left moving Mariot to second. Nick Williams would break the tie with a single to center that scored Mariot for a 2-1 lead. Hoskins would go to third. Ben Heller came in relief for the Railriders. Hoskins would score on a sacrifice fly to center by Taylor Featherston for a 3-1 lead. Williams would get thrown out trying to steal second for the third out. Pedro Beato came in to pitch for the IronPigs. Solano would hit a leadoff double to center. After a groundout, Tyler Wade would double to right to score Solano for a 3-2 deficit. A groundout to first would get Wade to third. Bird would draw a walk but a groundout would end the game as the IronPigs took the first game of the series 3-2.

Thoughts on the game: It was one of those tight ballgames and both teams had their chances to break the game open but the IronPigs capitalized in the eighth and the Railriders had their chance in the ninth but ran out of outs. Brock Stassi had a good game for the IronPigs, getting two hits with a run scored. The Railriders got four doubles on the game.

Railriders 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2
Lehigh Valley 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 x 3

Railriders
SS Wade 5 0 1 1
LF Fowler 4 0 1 0
1B Bird 3 0 1 0
DH Austin 4 0 0 0
RF Frazier 4 0 2 0
2B Torres 4 1 1 0
CF Williams 3 0 1 1
3B Solano 3 1 2 0
C Rodriguez 3 0 0 0
PH Payton 1 0 0 0

2B: Williams, Frazier, Solano, Wade

Lehigh Valley
CF Perkins 4 0 2 0
SS Crawford 4 0 0 1
C Alfaro 4 0 0 0
DH Cozens 3 0 1 0
DH Mariot 0 1 0 0
1B Hoskins 4 1 1 0
RF Williams 4 0 1 1
3B Featherston 2 0 0 1
LF Stassi 3 1 2 0
2B Florimon 1 0 0 0

Pitching
Railriders
Lail 6 IP 4 H 1 R 1 ER 3 BB 5 K
Mantiply (L) 1.1 IP 3 H 2 R 2 ER 1 BB 2 K
Heller 0.2 IP 0 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 0 K

Lehigh Valley
Appel 6 IP 6 H 1 R 1 ER 5 BB 5 K
Venditte (W) 2 IP 1 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 1 K
Beato (S) 1 IP 2 H 1 R 1 ER 1 BB 0 K