Sellout crowd watches Chiefs fall to IronPigs

Biggest crowd since July 4, 2015.

The Chiefs' first sellout crowd in two seasons enjoyed a Fourth of July at NBT Bank Stadium (Danny Tripodi)

By Byron Tollefson

July 4, 2017

The Syracuse Chiefs fell to the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, 8-0, on Tuesday night at NBT Bank Stadium. A sellout crowd of 11,731 watched the Chiefs on Independence Day, the 16th-highest in stadium history.
Lehigh Valley (53-32) kicked off the scoring early in the first inning against Jaron Long. Scott Kingery led off the game by smoking a single past the glove of Irving Falu at third base and into left field. Following a J.P. Crawford strikeout, Jorge Alfaro plated Kingery with a double into the left-center field gap. On the next pitch, Dylan Cozens cranked his 19^th home run of the season into right-center field, scoring himself and Alfaro and putting the IronPigs out in front 3-0.

Another long ball increased the IronPigs' lead in the fifth. With one out, Kingery pulled a 2-1 offering from Long directly down the left-field line for a double. One batter later, Crawford, the Phillies' top prospect according to Baseball America, crushed a moon shot over the right-field fence for a two-run homer and a 5-0 lead for Lehigh Valley.
The IronPigs added to their lead in the top of the sixth. Rhys Hoskins, who was recently named a Mid-Season All-Star, led off with a single to center. A wild pitch from Long allowed Hoskins to advance to second. After a strikeout and a fly out, Herlis Rodriguez singled to left, plating Hoskins.
Lehigh Valley wasn't finished. Tom Eshelman, the IronPigs's starting pitcher, singled to center. Two batters later, Crawford homered to right, for his second long ball of the game. It was his first two-home run game since August 14, 2014 with Clearwater.
The Chiefs blasted nine hits but were unable to score. Eshelman pitched seven scoreless innings for the IronPigs.
Despite giving up six runs, Jaron Long struck out ten batters through six innings of pitching for Syracuse (30-52). It was his career high and the most by a Chiefs pitcher this season.
Syracuse returns to action Wednesday night against Lehigh Valley at 6:35. Greg Ross is on the hill for the Chiefs while former #1 overall pick Mark Appel will pitch for the IronPigs.