| LEHIGH VALLEY HEADS HOME AFTER 7-3 DEFEAT |
| Walrond Looks Sharp in Losing Effort for IronPigs |
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| The Lehigh Valley IronPigs lost their tenth consecutive series and finished their eight-game Ohio road trip 2-6 as they fell to Toledo Thursday night 7-3 from Fifth Third Field. Mike Hessman hit his league-leading 12th home run and Erick Almonte drove in four for the Mud Hens who took the first ever season series with Lehigh Valley six games to two. |
| Toledo starter Chris Lambert (5-1) won his fifth start in a row and beat the IronPigs for the second time this season. The right-hander pitched a near flawless 8.0 innings and allowed just one run on two hits while striking out five lowering his ERA to 2.21. He ran into trouble in the first inning when Brandon Watson doubled to lead off the game and scored on a groundout by Mike Cervenak. |
| The Mud Hens answered quickly in the bottom half of the opening stanza when LF Freddy Guzman tripled off of IronPigs starter Les Walrond and would come in on a ground ball by Almonte to tie the game 1-1. Almonte’s second RBI came in the third when his sac fly plated CF Clete Thomas that gave the home team a one-run advantage. |
| Walrond (0-2) pitched well despite suffering his second loss in as many starts for Lehigh Valley. The veteran lefty continues to stretch his arm out for the purposes of starting for the IronPigs after starting the year as a reliever for the Triple-A Iowa Cubs. Walrond threw 63 pitches, 38 for strikes, and allowed two runs on just two hits while walking one and striking out four. |
| Things started to get away from the IronPigs in the sixth when Hessman launched a two-run blast off of J.D. Durbin that gave the IL West Division leaders a 4-1 lead. Durbin, who surrendered five runs in 2.0 innings of work, has allowed a home run in his last six appearances for Manager Dave Huppert’s ballclub. The Mud Hens would tack on three more runs on a run-scoring single by Thomas and a two-run base hit by Almonte to make it a 7-1 game. |
| The IronPigs rallied for two runs in the ninth capped off by an RBI double by the hot hitting Jon Knott who had entered the contest hitting .421 since joining Lehigh Valley. Following a walk issued to Jason Jaramillo, the IronPigs had the bases loaded with one out in the ninth but Brennan King grounded into a 1-2-3 double play to end the game and dropped Lehigh Valley to 5-30 on the season. |
| The IronPigs return home to begin an eight-game homestand starting on Friday night when the Columbus Clippers make their first ever appearance at Coca-Cola Park. Game one starts Friday at 7:05 and immediately following the game, a post-game fireworks show will commence as part of Friday Night Fireworks presented by Chevrolet. Also, Fly-Away-Friday presented by the Lehigh Valley Airport will award a lucky fan a trip for two to Florida on Allegiant Airlines. |
| Matt Provence and Jon Schaeffer will have the call beginning at 6:35 with the AT&T pre-game show on flagship station 90.3 FM WXLV and 95.1 HD-2 WZZO, “The Digital Home of the IronPigs.” And be sure to catch “The Snort Report” every Friday afternoon from 4-5 p.m. for the latest news and information regarding the IronPigs on Sports Radio 1470 The Fox. |
