Murphy Tosses Immaculate Inning in Defeat at Lehigh Valley

ALLENTOWN, P.A. — The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (71-62) evened the series at Coca-Cola Park on Friday night, a 9-2 final against the Worcester Red Sox (69-64).

Starter Chris Murphy delivered the first immaculate inning in WooSox history in the fourth, striking out Rafael Marchan, Jorge Bonifacio and Johan Camargo on nine strikes.

Murphy’s immaculate inning marks the first for the Red Sox Triple-A affiliate since April 22, 2009, a nine-strike frame tossed by Daniel Bard, who would make his MLB debut a month later.

9 Pitches. 9 Strikes. pic.twitter.com/9KEKsJGIaC

— Worcester Red Sox (@WooSox) September 10, 2022

Murphy ultimately went six innings, allowing four runs (two earned) with eight strikeouts and two walks.

Ryan Fitzgerald got the scoring started in the second with a solo homer, his first long ball since August 10. Since the start of September, Fitzgerald has four extra-base-hits and eight RBI.

Lehigh Valley took the lead on back-to-back RBI doubles in the third by Yairo Muñoz and Darick Hall. Two innings later, Bobby Dalbec tied the game for Worcester with a line drive sac-fly to right.

The IronPigs plated their final two runs off Murphy in consecutive innings—Muñoz put the home team on top with an RBI single in the fifth, and Camargo made it 4-2 with a run-scoring single in the sixth.

After a runless seventh from Geoff Hartlieb, Lehigh Valley plated five in the eighth off Chase Shugart to blow the game open—a Marchan fielder's choice, singles by Bonifacio and Camargo and a two-run single from Scott Kingery.

The WooSox continue the six-game series on the road Saturday at 7:05 p.m. against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. On the mound, Josh Winckowski (2-2, 3.83) faces Hans Crouse (0-2, 11.05). Radio coverage is live at 6:45 p.m. on 98.9 Nash Icon and the WooSox Radio Network.