Allentown, PA (June 30, 2023) – The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (37-39, 1-2) led for the first seven-and-a-half innings before a back-and-forth contest fell the way of the Rochester Red Wings (36-40, 2-1) in a 5-4 loss on Friday night.
The IronPigs broke a scoreless deadlock in the last of the third when Jake Cave blasted a solo homer, his 13th of the season. Weston Wilson followed with a triple and Darick Hall drove him in with a sacrifice fly.
Rochester got on the board in the sixth when Erick Mejia legged out an infield single, allowing Jake Noll to score. The IronPigs answered in the bottom half of the inning when Simon Muzziotti floated a single to rightfield to plate Wilson who had walked and stolen second.
In the eighth, the Red Wings mounted a rally to take the lead. With one out Nomar Mazara walked and Noll then doubled him home. Drew Millas then doubled to bring in Noll to tie the game before Mejia tripled to score Millas and put Rochester ahead for the first time in the game.
The IronPigs responded in the last of the eighth. Hall walked and was then pinch-run for by Jim Haley who stole second. A Muzziotti infield single moved Haley to third before Rafael Marchan tied the game with a sacrifice fly.
The tie was short lived as Nomar Mazara laced a two-out RBI single in the top of the ninth to put Rochester ahead, 5-4. The IronPigs got the tying run to third in the bottom of the ninth, but Rochester held on.
Gerson Moreno (5-4) collects his second win of the week for the Red Wings, working 1.2 scoreless frames, allowing just a hit.
Jace Vines (0-3) suffered the loss for the IronPigs, allowing a run on three hits in an inning of work.
The IronPigs and Red Wings continue their series on Saturday, July 1, with first pitch slated for 7:05 p.m.
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