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| BATS FINISH OFF IRONPIGS, 10-3 IN SERIES FINALE |
| Benson Struggles in Third Start For Lehigh Valley |
| The Louisville Bats will take off from Allentown with split in their first ever visit to Coca-Cola Park as they easily dispatched the IronPigs on Wednesday night by the count of 10-3. After holding Louisville to just three runs in the first two games of the series, the Bats offense came alive to outscore Lehigh Valley 18-5 over the last two days to take the season series five games to three. |
| Kris Benson (0-2) continues to struggle in his comeback effort as the right-hander allowed seven runs in just four innings of work and now has an ERA of 11.77 in three starts with the IronPigs. Former Phillies farmhand Matt Maloney on the other hand looked very impressive in his first start against his former organization striking out seven and allowing three runs (one earned) on five hits in six and two-thirds innings. The left-hander was traded last July by Philadelphia in exchange for right-handed pitcher Kyle Lohse at the trade deadline and is now 9-4 as a member of the Bats’ starting rotation. |
| Louisville jumped all over Benson from the get-go scoring four times in the top of the 1st inning. 3B Adam Rosales drove in Michael Griffin with a two-out RBI double down the left-field line to give the visitors a 1-0 lead. Next batter Ryan Hanigan then cleared the fence in left-center for his fourth homer of the season with two on to put the IronPigs in a 4-0 hole before they could come to bat. |
| The IronPigs were retired in order for the first two innings against Maloney but T.J. Bohn broke up any potential history with a base hit leading off the third. After a fielding error by shortstop Paul Janish and a walk to Joey Hammond, Lehigh Valley had the bases loaded with two outs for All-Star Mike Cervenak. The third baseman would not disappoint the Wednesday crowd of 8,274 as he singled through the hole at short scoring two to make it a 4-2 game. |
| But things only got worse for Benson as he allowed three runs on three extra-base hits (two doubles and a triple) to take a 7-2 lead after three and a half innings. Right-handed reliever Jason Anderson would spell Benson in the 5th and would proceed to allow consecutive singles leading off the frame but would only allow one to score on a sacrifice fly by second baseman Luis Bolivar. |
| Jon Knott broke a 2-for-24 slump in the 6th with a solo homer to the Capital BlueCross Lawn in right-center for his 10th of the season. It was his only hit in an otherwise frustrating night for the IronPigs offense which produced just six hits against Bats’ pitching on the evening. |
| Right-handed reliever Joe Bisenius made his first appearance at Coca-Cola Park since April 12 when he came in for Anderson in the 8th inning. Bisenius, who was promoted from Reading prior to the game, allowed two runs on three hits including a two-run double by Chris Dickerson. In 23 games with the R-Phils, he was 2-3 with a 3.62 ERA. |
| The IronPigs will now travel to Alliance Bank Stadium in Syracuse, N.Y. to face the third-place Syracuse Chiefs in a four-game series leading up to the IL All-Star Break from Louisville, K.Y. |
| Game one against the Chiefs will take place on Thursday, July 10 at 7:00 p.m. and you can hear all the action on the IronPigs Radio Network. Join Matt Provence beginning at 6:30 p.m. for 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.” |
| The Pigs’ next home game will by Thursday, July 17 when the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees return to Coca-Cola Park. The night’s activities will commence at 5:30 p.m. with the two teams continue their suspended game from July 3 with Lehigh Valley leading 1-0 in the top of the 3rd inning. After a 25-minute intermission, the IronPigs and Yankees will play a seven-inning nightcap which will be followed by a postgame fireworks show courtesy of Radiology & MRI of Bethlehem. |
| Single-game tickets, new second-half mini-plan packages and group tickets for the IronPigs inaugural season, presented by Capital BlueCross, are on sale now and can be purchased at the Coca-Cola Park Ticket Office, online at www.ironpigsbaseball.com or by calling (610) 841-PIGS. |
