The Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs took down the Columbus Clippers in a game with a whole lot of contact and a plethora of homers this afternoon at Huntington Park. With the 10-6 win, the Iron Pigs clinched the series victories, having taken the first two games of the best of
The Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs took down the Columbus Clippers in a game with a whole lot of contact and a plethora of homers this afternoon at Huntington Park.
With the 10-6 win, the Iron Pigs clinched the series victories, having taken the first two games of the best of three series.
The Iron Pigs struck for the first of their five homeruns in the first inning, courtesy of Joey Meneses in the first. He drilled a two-run shot to left of Clippers' starter Dominic DeMasi for his league-leading 17th bomb of the year and a 2-0 lead.
Yandy Díaz lofted his second homerun of the season over the right field wall to start the scoring for the Clippers in the home half of the first. Despite the Clippers putting three two more hits up after that, Lehigh Valley starter Jacob Waguespack escaped the frame with a 1-0 lead.
The Iron Pigs added two more runs in the second, this time off the bat of Danny Espinosa. His first homerun of the year made it 4-1.
Again, the Clippers rebounded din the home half of the inning. Mike Papi led off with a single and was scored by a Nellie Rodríguez RBI double to pull within 4-2. Rodriguez then moved up to third on a wild pitch and scored on a Drew Maggi sacrifice fly, making it 4-3.
Mitch Walding pounded a solo homer off DeMasi in the third to open things back up at 5-3, and Danny Ortiz roped an RBI single in the fourth to tack on another for a 6-3 advantage.
Cleveland Indians reliever Andrew Miller made his first rehab appearance since hitting the DL on May 26 and tossed a perfect sixth inning, striking out two batters.
Alexi Ogando took over for him in the seventh and promptly gave back-to-back homeruns. First was a two-run homer to Zach Green, followed by a solo job off the bat of Walding, his second of the game.
Rodriguez was not done, however, for the Clippers. With one out in the seventh he crushed a Yacksel Ríos offering over the left field wall to make it 9-4. A few batters later, Maggi punched a single to right, scoring another to bring the Clippers within four at 9-5.
The Iron Pigs added scored their tenth run when Espinosa doubled in Matt McBride against Ogando in the eighth.
The Clippers score one in the bottom of the ninth with a Francisco Mejía sac-fly, but the Lehigh Valley closed things out for the 10-6 win.
The Clippers and Iron Pigs will finish their series tomorrow night at Huntington Park. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
