Passed Ball in 10th Costs Pigs in 4-3 Loss
A passed ball with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the tenth allowed the winning run to score as the Lehigh Valley IronPigs (10-9) fell to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (10-9) by a score of 4-3 on Tuesday night at PNC Field.
In the afore-mentioned bottom of the 10th, Donovan Solano reached with a one-out single, advanced to second on a wild pitch, took third on an infield single and with two outs, scored on a passed ball charged to Pigs catcher Andrew Knapp.
LHP Bobby LaFromboise (0.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, BB) was tagged with the loss for the Pigs and drops to 1-1 on the year.
RHP Connor Mullee retired the side in order in the top of the 10th to earn the win for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and improve his record to 2-0 on the season.
Taylor Featherston's solo shot off of RHP Diego Moreno (2.0 IP, 2 H, R, ER, 3 K) in the top of the ninth tied things at three apiece for the IronPigs. It was the second home run of the year for Featherston.
With things deadlocked at three, the RailRiders had the bases loaded with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but RHP Gregory Infante (2.1 IP, 3 H, 3 BB) was able to get Rob Refsnyder to fly out to the warning track in right and end the inning.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre grabbed an early 1-0 lead with a run in the second as Chris Paremelee led off with a single, moved to second and third on a pair of singles and scored when Pete Kozma grounded into a 6-4-3 double play. The RailRiders had bases loaded with nobody out in the inning, but Pigs starter Reinier Roibal was able to escape with just the one run allowed.
In the top of the third, Will Venable (1-3, BB, R) led off with a single, advanced to second on a single, to third on a force out and scored on Darnell Sweeney's RBI single to tie things at one apiece for the Pigs.
Knapp's solo shot in the top of the fourth off of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre starter Luis Cessa gave the IronPigs a 2-1 lead. The home run was Knapp's third of the season.
Cessa (n/d) allowed two runs on four hits to go along with a walk and two strikeouts over 5.1 IP. RHP Diego Moreno got the final six outs to notch his first save of the year.
Scranton used a pair of runs in the home half of the fourth to quickly regain the lead at 3-2 as Lane Adams delivered a run via an RBI single and Ben Gamel knocked home another with a sac fly.
All three runs were charged to Roibal (n/d) who gave up the three runs on six hits while walking a pair and fanning one in 3.1 IP.
Cam Perkins extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a single in the seventh for Lehigh Valley.
LHP Hoby Milner (3.1 IP, 3 K) had a scoreless outing in relief for manager Dave Brundage's squad.
The series wraps up on Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. from PNC Field as RHP Zach Eflin (2-0, 2.70) gets the start for the Pigs against RailRiders RHP Chad Green (0-2, 1.96).