Courtesy of RedWingsBaseball.com
By Nick Sciarratta and Ben Wilke
The Lehigh Valley IronPigs edged the Rochester Red Wings 4-3 Wednesday night at Frontier Field.
Rochester pitcher Tim Melville ran into early trouble as just three batters into the game, Rhys Hoskins took Melville deep making it 2-0 Lehigh Valley in the first inning.
In the top of the third inning Hoskins homered again, padding the Iron Pig lead to 3-0.
Lehigh Valley threatened to score again in the top of the fourth with a runner on third and one out. However, Daniel Palka threw out Brock Stassi attempting to score on a fly ball for an inning-ending double play.
Rochester loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth after a Mitch Garver double and back to back walks to ByungHo Park and Edgar Corcino issued by Lehigh Valley pitcher Brandon Leibrandt. Leonardo Reginatto brought home Garver with a sacrifice fly, making it a 3-1 game.
Leibrandt was relieved in the top of the fifth by Alexis Rivero. Leibrandt finished with four innings pitched, allowing one run, two walks, and struck out two on 71 pitches, 44 for strikes.
After a lead off single by Niko Goodrum in the bottom of the fifth, Palka hit a deep home run to center field that tied the game at three.
Melville was relieved in the top of the sixth by Drew Rucinski. Melville finished with five innings pitched, allowing six hits, three runs, and one walk. He struck out six on 88 pitches, 57 of which were strikes.
The IronPigs regained the lead in the top of the sixth after an RBI single by Brock Stassi making it 4-3 Lehigh Valley.
Park led off the bottom of the sixth with a single that extended his hitting streak to six consecutive games and also put the tying run on first with no outs. Cesar Ramos was able to work out of trouble however, keeping the game at 4-3.
Rucinski allowed two hits and an earned run in two relief innings. Jake Reed took over to start the eighth inning, and Reed struck out four in two innings – including the side in the ninth.
The Red Wings out-hit the IronPigs 10-8.
The loss dropped the Wings 4.5 games behind the IronPigs in the wild card race; the series and homestand concludes Thursday night at 7:05 p.m.
Winning Pitcher: Rivero (1-1)
Losing Pitcher: Rucinski (2-3)
Save: Pinto (1)
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