Early Deficit Sinks IronPigs in Loss

ALLENTOWN, PA - The Lehigh Valley IronPigs were shutout by the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders on Saturday, dropping the third game of their four game series by a score of 7-0 at Coca-Cola Park.

The IronPigs' offense fell dormant as five Railriders' pitchers combined to throw the six-hit shutout. David Huff tossed four and a third scoreless innings, while allowing just two hits and striking out two batters.

Mark Montgomery, Chase Whitley, Sam Demel and Matt Daley combined for the final four and two thirds, and allowed just four hits between the four of them. They walked one and struck out five. Whitley (1-0), who pitched two innings in relief, earned the win, his first of the season.

For Lehigh Valley (35-33), Raul Valdes got the start, and tossed six innings of four-run ball, but the Railriders were able to jump on him early and their lead was never in jeopardy.

Valdes hit the first batter of the game, Addison Maruszak, and things went downhill in the first inning from there. Three straight singles from J.R. Murphy, Zoilo Almonte and Dan Johnson helped Scranton/Wilkes-Barre out to a 2-0 lead. They scored another run in the inning on a Josh Bell sacrifice fly.

Johnson, who had been struggling this year with a .219 average and just .125 average off lefties, came through against the lefty Valdes and finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Murphy had three hits in six trips, scored a run and drove in a run, while Maruszak and Bell had an RBI apiece.

The Railriders (30-36) rapped out 16 hits, and despite leaving 14 men on base, they were 6-for-13 with runners in scoring position.

Valdes (1-2) took the loss for Lehigh Valley while his ERA sits at 4.20. Valdes had allowed only two runs in his previous 11 innings (two starts) before today.

Josh Fields was the only IronPig to collect two hits in the game, as he went 2-for-4. Cody Asche, John Suomi, Cody Overbeck and Pete Orr each had a hit, and Cesar Hernandez had one walk. Those were the only base runners for Lehigh Valley.

Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz made a Good Shephard Rehabilitation Network appearance in the game, starting at catcher and playing for five innings. He flied out in both of his trips to the plate. Ruiz, who is rehabbing a strained hamstring, said post-game that he felt strong throughout the day.

"I feel great," Ruiz said. "I'm real happy the way that I feel today. I'm really excited, I think I'm close, you know, and we'll see tomorrow. It was another big day for me so I hope everything goes well."

Ruiz will remain with the IronPigs for Sunday's game, but will not travel with the team on the road after that.

"I have another game [here] tomorrow, seven innings, and then I come back to Philly, and practice with the big league team and [then] my schedule is to go back to Reading for two games and see what happens after that," Ruiz said.

Tomorrow's game will feature lefty Tom Cochran (2-2, 5.08 ERA) on the hill for Lehigh Valley opposite right-hander Ivan Nova (2-0, 2.45 ERA) for the Railriders. First pitch is at 1:35 p.m.