ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Lehigh Valley scored five runs in the bottom of the seventh inning after Rochester had the tying run on base in the top half of the frame as the IronPigs beat the Red Wings 10-1 Sunday afternoon at Coca-Cola Park.
The Red Wings (65-51) had the bases loaded with one out in the seventh but Daniel Palka flied out to short left and Byungho Park popped out to the pitcher to end the inning. Rochester had the same situation in the second inning – bases loaded and one out – and didn’t score.
The IronPigs (70-45) used a leadoff walk and three singles in the second inning to take a 2-0 lead against Wings starter Jason Wheeler (9-3). Cedric Hunter hit a two-run homer in the fourth to give Lehigh Valley a 4-0 advantage.
Rochester had chances against IronPigs starter Ben Lively (7-4) but didn’t break through until the seventh when Buck Britton doubled to open the inning and scored on a John Ryan Murphy single. The Red Wings left nine men on base thru the first seven innings and finished 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position for the game.
Lively was replaced after Murphy’s one-out single in the seventh. James Russell entered and surrendered a single before an error loaded the bases. Lively alllowed one run on five hits and three walks with four strikeouts in 6.1 innings.
Alex Wimmers took over for Wheeler to begin the bottom of the seventh. Wheeler was charged for four runs on eight hits and four walks with one strikeout in 6.0 innings. He settled in after the Hunter homer in the fourth, retiring eight of the final nine men he faced.
Lehigh Valley used two doubles, three singles to score five runs off Wimmers with two of the runs unearned after an error in the inning. The IronPigs scored a run in the eighth against Neil Ramirez to cap the scoring.
The loss drops Rochester 5.5 games behind Lehigh Valley for the wild card lead and 7.5 behind Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in the International League North with 28 games to play.
Next Up: Rochester will use the final scheduled off day of the season on Monday to regroup for the final 28 games of the season. The Red Wings open a three-game series at Syracuse (Nationals) on Tuesday with all three games beginning at 6:35 p.m. LHP Pat Dean opposes Chiefs RHP Taylor Hill in game one.
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