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With consecutive swings of the bat, the RailRiders looked poised to steal a win on Wednesday night.
Lehigh Valley had other ideas.
The IronPigs shook off back-to-back home runs by Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in the top of the eighth by tying the game in the home half and winning it 4-3 on Darick Hall’s walk-off single in the ninth.
It was a missed opportunity for the RailRiders in the tight race for the IL East title, as Durham lost for the first time in six games on Wednesday.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (78-64) remains a game-and-a-half behind the Bulls (80-63) for first place with eight games left on the schedule.
Third-place Jacksonville (76-66) also lost to stay 3.5 games back.
The RailRiders had trailed nearly the entire night in Allentown after giving up a pair of runs in the bottom of the first on a home run by Scott Kingery off of starter Jhony Brito.
Ryan LaMarre got a run back to make it 2-1 in the fourth on an RBI single, but the RailRiders struggled to come up with a key hit with runners on for most of the night.
Things turned around in the top of the eighth when Vinny Nittoli, who started the season with the RailRiders until he was released in July, took over on the mound for the IronPigs.
With one out, Chris Owings launched a 2-2 pitch over the fence in center field to tie the game. Nittoli stayed in to pitch, and his first offering to the next batter, Ben Rortvedt, also left the yard to give the RailRiders a brief lead.
It didn’t last.
A walk, a balk and a wild pitch by Jacob Barnes put a runner on third, and Jorge Bonifacio brought home the tying run with a single from there.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre managed to get two runners on in the top of the ninth before the IronPigs escaped the threat and then put the game away in the home half.
Anthony Banda hit the first batter and then was charged with a throwing error after fielding a bunt to put runners at the corners.
Banda got one out before Hall stepped in and sent an 0-1 pitch into right field to win the game.
LaMarre led the offense with three hits while Owings finished 2-for-4 with a double and a homer. Rortvedt also had two hits.
Banda took the loss on a night the RailRiders used seven pitchers after Brito exited with two outs in the second inning.
Albert Abreu and Stephen Ridings joined the team after having their rehab assignments transferred from Double-A Somerset. Abreu pitched the sixth and Ridings took the seventh. Both allowed a hit with Ridings picking up two strikeouts.
Matt Krook had the longest stint, going three innings while allowing three hits and two walks.
The six-game series continues at 7:05 p.m. today in Allentown and runs through Sunday.