Cairo’s walk-off double lifts IronPigs past Columbus, 8-7

Christian Cairo ended it with a double into the left-field gap in the bottom of the ninth, sending Tommy Pham home and lifting Lehigh Valley to an 8-7 walk-off win over Columbus at Coca-Cola Park. The finish capped a game that kept swinging back and forth, and it gave the IronPigs their second walk-off of the week.

Columbus landed the first punch when Bo Naylor unloaded a grand slam in the first inning, scoring Dayan Frias, Angel Genao and Ralphy Velazquez. Lehigh Valley answered immediately with three runs of its own, using a Keaton Anthony sacrifice fly and a two-run double from Bryan De La Cruz to close the gap. That pattern never really stopped. Dylan Moore tied it with a solo homer in the second, Angel Genao put Columbus back in front with a solo shot in the third, and Felix Reyes drew Lehigh Valley even again with a sacrifice fly in the fourth.

The Clippers kept forcing the pace, and the IronPigs kept taking it back. A balk in the fifth brought Genao home, but De La Cruz answered with his second RBI double of the night to make it 6-6. Then the game settled just long enough for Moore to change it again, turning on an 0-2 pitch in the eighth for his second homer of the night and Lehigh Valley’s first lead, 7-6.

That edge lasted only until the ninth, when Columbus pieced together back-to-back doubles from Joe Lampe and Milan Tolentino to tie it again. Trevor Stephan was left to absorb the loss, charged with the walk-off run without recording an out.

Cairo, 25 and the son of Miguel Cairo, delivered the final blow against his former organization. The shortstop had also homered on July 8. Seth Johnson earned the win after being tagged with a blown save.