Berroa powers Lehigh Valley past Rochester to snap four-game skid

Otto Kemp’s four-hit night and six shutout innings from the bullpen gave Lehigh Valley exactly the kind of clean, promotable response it needed, lifting the IronPigs past Rochester 6-3 on Thursday night at ESL Ballpark and ending a four-game skid. After getting punched in the mouth early, Lehigh Valley answered with better contact, a power swing from Steward Berroa and a relief corps that never let the Red Wings back into the game.

Rochester struck first with two runs in the opening inning, using an Andrés Chaparro single to pressure the IronPigs before Lehigh Valley settled in. The response came fast in the second. Paul McIntosh doubled home Christian Cairo, Berroa followed with his fourth home run of the season, and the IronPigs had flipped the game in one inning. Rochester tied it in the third on Andrew Pinckney’s RBI groundout, but Lehigh Valley quickly restored control in the fourth when Berroa singled home Cairo again for his second RBI of the night.

That sequence mattered because it showed where the IronPigs have been vulnerable during the skid and where they still can separate themselves. Kemp, a 26-year-old left fielder who entered the night hitting .280 with a .333 on-base percentage and an .873 OPS, kept the offense moving with four hits and drove in an insurance run. Liover Peguero added another RBI single in the eighth, giving Lehigh Valley the cushion it needed after Berroa had already set the tone with his home run and two-run effort. For Kemp, a productive night like that does more than fill a box score. It strengthens the argument that his bat belongs in the conversation as one of the more notable names to follow in the IronPigs’ lineup.

The bigger separator was the bullpen. After the starter exited in the fourth, Lehigh Valley’s relievers threw six scoreless innings to shut down any hint of a Rochester rally. Michale Mercado opened the relief chain with two shutout frames and three strikeouts, Grant Holman added two more scoreless innings, and Seth Johnson finished the eighth and ninth with minimal damage. Holden Powell took the loss for Rochester, but the Red Wings never found the answer once Lehigh Valley created separation.

The win improved Lehigh Valley to 20-22 and dropped Rochester to 22-20 in the middle of a six-game road series that had already produced a 3-0 shutout loss on Tuesday and a 13-11 slugfest defeat on Wednesday. After those two games, Thursday’s steadier showing felt more important than the final margin. It gave the IronPigs a road win built on timely hitting, one decisive homer and a bullpen that finally provided the kind of stability a club on the edge of .500 badly needed.