Matt Kroon Slugs Go-Ahead Homer in the Eighth as IronPigs Down WooSox

Allentown, Pennsylvania (September 19, 2023) – The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (79-64, 43-27) kept pace in the postseason picture thanks to a clutch Matt Kroon homer, slipping by the Worcester Red Sox (77-68, 38-31) by a final of 4-3 on Tuesday night at Coca-Cola Park.

A double from Cory Rosier and walks to Nick Sogard and Enmanuel Valdez loaded the bases for the WooSox to begin the game. Ronaldo Hernandez then bounced into a double play that scored Rosier, giving Worcester the first run of the game.

The IronPigs equalized in the bottom of the first inning. Kody Clemens walked to begin the inning and with one out Darick Hall singled him to second. Kroon then drilled a single up the middle to score Clemens and tie the game.

Worcester pulled back ahead in the fourth on a Stephen Scott solo homer but the IronPigs answered right back in the bottom of the inning with a Clemens RBI groundout to tie the game.

With runners at the corners and two outs in the seventh, a wild pitch allowed Rosier to score from third, giving Worcester the lead again. Esteban Quiroz tied the game for the IronPigs in the bottom half with an RBI groundout.

Kroon’s big blow came with two outs in the eighth. Down in the count 1-2, Kroon belted a solo homer, his third with the IronPigs, to give the IronPigs their only lead of the night, 4-3.

Taylor Lehman (5-0) worked a scoreless eighth to grab his fourth win in five outings. He walked one and struck out one. Andrew Bellatti (S, 6) earned the save, working around a walk in the ninth by striking out two.

Justin Garza (2-1) suffered the loss for Worcester, allowing a run over 1.1 innings on one hit, striking out three.

The IronPigs and WooSox continue their series on Wednesday, September 20 with first pitch slated for 6:45 p.m.

Follow the IronPigs on Twitter at @IronPigs and like them on Facebook via www.facebook.com/LHVIronPigs.

The IronPigs are presented by Capital BlueCross.

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