Pigs Drop Second Straight to Bulls, 3-1

The Lehigh Valley IronPigs dropped their second straight to the Durham Bulls with a 3-1 loss on Tuesday night at Coca-Cola Park. Lehigh Valley falls to 5-15 with the loss while Durham improves their record to 11-9.

The Bulls took an early lead in the top of the second as IronPigs RHP Paul Clemens issued a trio of walks in the inning before Leonardo Reginatto knocked an RBI single to left to open the scoring.

Corey Brown gave Durham a 2-0 advantage in the fourth with a long home run to right field. It was the second round-tripper of the season for Brown.

Clemens lasted four innings and allowed two runs on three hits with five walks and nine strikeouts. The nine strikeouts were a season-high for an IronPigs pitcher and the most by a Lehigh Valley hurler since Tyler Cloyd fanned 10 on May 3, 2013 against Indianapolis. However, Clemens was dealt the loss and drops to 0-2 on the year.

The Pigs were finally able to solve Bulls southpaw Scott Diamond in the bottom half of the sixth as Darin Mastroianni reached on a fielder's choice with one out, stole second and scored on a bloop RBI double by Tyler Henson to cut the lead in half.

Diamond pitched seven innings and allowed one run on six hits, did not walk a batter and fanned four as he earned his second win of the year to move his record to 2-0.

RHP Tyler Knigge (2.0 IP, 2 H) tossed a pair of scoreless innings out of the bullpen for Lehigh Valley in relief of Clemens.

The Bulls touched up RHP Colton Murray (2.0 IP, H, R, 0 ER, 2 K) for a run in the seventh as Taylor Motter led off with a double, stole third and scored on a throwing error charged to Pigs catcher Rene Garcia.

RHP Hector Neris (1.0 IP, BB) recorded a scoreless top of the ninth for manager Dave Brundage's IronPigs.

Walks continue to be an issue for Pigs pitching as Durham had more walks (7) than hits (6) on the night and the pitching staff has now issued 100 walks through the first 20 games of the season.

Lehigh Valley put runners at second and third with two outs in the ninth but Ronald Belisario got pinch-hitter Cord Phelps to fly to center to end the threat. Belisario collected his third save of the season.

The two clubs will be back at it on Wednesday night at 7:05 p.m. from Coca-Cola Park as LHP Joely Rodriguez (0-1, 5.68) gets the ball for Lehigh Valley while RHP Andrew Bellatti (0-0, 2.38) goes for Durham.