Lehigh Valley wasted no time in making a statement in their latest series against the RailRiders.
The IronPigs collected five hits in their first six at-bats on Tuesday, breaking out for four quick runs in a 5-2 win over Scranton/Wilkes-Barre at PNC Field.
The RailRiders had taken four out of six from the IronPigs when they met in Moosic from May 11-16 but managed just five hits on Tuesday, scoring both runs on a double by Armando Alvarez in the bottom of the fourth.
Lehigh Valley put the division-leading RailRiders (16-7) in a hole right from the start when Scott Kingery doubled and scored after singles by Mickey Moniak and C.J. Chatham.
RailRiders starter Nick Green got a fly out to right before Rafael Marchan followed with an RBI single. Ruben Tejada singled home a run, and another came home on the play on Trey Amburgey’s throwing error.
Green managed to regroup and retire the next two batters to keep the damage at 4-0 and then threw three scoreless innings before exiting to open the fifth.
The IronPigs’ only other run came in the top of the sixth after loading the bases against Addison Russ with one out. Russ nearly escaped,, but a wild pitch allowed a run to score to make it 5-2.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre tried to piece together a rally with two outs in the bottom of the ninth as Chris Gittens drew a walk and Socrates Brito singled to bring the tying run to the plate. Derek Dietrich flied out to right to end the game.
The RailRiders bullpen pitched five innings of two-hit ball to keep the team alive, striking out seven but also walking four.
Alvarez had two hits to lead the offense. Amburgey, Brito and Dietrich had the other hits, all singles.
Tuesday marked the relaxing of certain COVID-19 restrictions at PNC Field in light of changes made by Gov. Tom Wolf. The team announced an attendance of 2,716.
The series continues at 6:35 p.m. Wednesday.