Lehigh Valley flashes back to April with complete-game win
Sunday afternoon’s regular-season home finale played out the way many games did the first month of the IronPigs’ 2019 season.
They got solid starting pitching, timely hitting with every position player contributing and key defensive plays in their 11th win this year in 18 IronRail Series games, 6-2.
Cole Irvin (6-1) beat the RailRiders for the third time this season, Malquin Canelo’s two-run double sparked a four-run second inning and Nick Williams made a diving catch of a sinking Clint Frazier liner to save at least two runs for the IronPigs (62-68).
Lehigh Valley started the year 16-6 before roster moves left it short-handed and relying on inexperience players for much of the summer.
The IronPigs are six games out of first place in the loss column with 10 games left. They likely will miss the International League playoffs for the first time in four years.
Game notes: Andrew Romine extended his hitting streak to six games with a third-inning single. … Austin Listi had two singles and has at least one hit in 11 of his last 13 games. … Reliever Nick Vincent’s streak of six consecutive scoreless outings since joining the
Phillies organization earlier this month ended when he allowed rehabbing Luke Voit’s RBI single in the ninth. Vincent was released Aug. 2 by the Giants. … The IronPigs are 34-35 at home this season, their worst mark since 2015 (31-41).
Monday’s first game at Syracuse is Lehigh Valley’s final “home” game.
On the mound: Cole Irvin continued his mastery of rival Scranton/Wilkes-Barre with six innings of one-run ball. The left-hander is 4-1 in nine regularseason starts the last two years against the RailRiders with a 1.64 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and a 69.4% strike percentage. He’s struck out 40 and walked four in 55 innings against the perennial International League playoff team. Irvin’s performance Sunday knocked his Triple-A ERA down to 3.94.
Rotation: Dan Straily starts Game 2 Monday in Syracuse. Seth McGarry will pitch Game 1, the suspended game in which the IronPigs are the home team losing 1-0 in the second inning. He last pitched Wednesday for high-A Clearwater (4 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 3 Ks, save).
Damon Jones comes off the temporary inactive list (fatherhood) to pitch Tuesday against the Mets. Enyel De Los Santos goes Wednesday and Jo Jo Romero concludes the fivegame, four-day series in Syracuse on Thursday.
Ramon Rosso starts Game 1 of Friday’s doubleheader in Pawtucket, followed by TBA in Game 2.
Irvin starts Saturday’s contest. It is not known at this point when/if Jerad Eickhoff and recently demoted Nick Pivetta will pitch for Lehigh Valley. Pivetta must report within 72 hours (Tuesday). Eickhoff last pitched five innings Saturday.
Attendance: Sunday’s capacity sellout of 10,100 brings the 2019 season total to 575,985, an average of 8,597 in 67 home dates (three lost because of weather).
The average game attendance stops four consecutive years of declining numbers (9,042 in 2014; 8,769 in 2015; 8,729 in 2016; 8,541 in 2017; 8,511 in 2018).
The three-game sellout against the RailRiders ties the franchise record (30,300) set earlier this season (June 14-16 against Columbus). Both series broke the previous mark of 30,223 on May 8-10, 2015, against Gwinnett.
Lehigh Valley had 23 capacity sellouts this season, most since 2009 (26).
Transactions: Williams returned after a four-day absence for personal reasons. He is the 228th transaction so far this season. The franchise record is 238, set last season.
For perspective, Scranton/ Wilkes-Barre has 311 this year.
Williams’ first-inning single gave him a hit in 18 of his last 23 Triple-A games.
Honored: Ali Castillo and Austin Davis were named IronPigs hitter and pitcher of the year, respectively.
Castillo is hitting .314 with 28 extra-base hits, 56 runs and 53 RBIs in 103 games.
Davis was 4-1 with three saves, a 2.75 ERA and 1.28 WHIP in 37 games. The lefty, currently with the Phillies, struck out 64 and walked 24 in 521⁄3 innings.
Moving on: IronPigs vice president of marketing and entertainment Lindsey Knupp is leaving after 12 years with the franchise. The Northampton High and Shippensburg University graduate also oversees the community relations and multimedia design departments. She started with Lehigh Valley in September 2007 and was promoted to vice president after the 2015 season.
Morning Call reporter Tom Housenick can be reached at 610-820-6651 or at thousenick@mcall.com