Nola Shines as Pigs Blank Bisons, 3-0

RHP Aaron Nola tossed five shutout innings in his Triple-A debut and the Lehigh Valley IronPigs (26-43) blanked the Buffalo Bisons (32-36) by a score of 3-0 on Thursday night at Coca-Cola Park.

The LSU product scattered four hits to go along with a walk and seven strikeouts in his five innings of work.

Nola (1-0) and Bisons starter Daniel Norris traded zeroes through the first four and a half frames before the Pigs broke through with a run in the bottom half of the fifth.

With a runner at first and two outs in the fifth, Jayson Nix delivered a two-out RBI double that scored Jordan Danks (2-2, BB, R) and gave the IronPigs a 1-0 lead.

Lehigh Valley tacked on an insurance run in the sixth as Cord Phelps plated a run with an RBI bloop double into shallow left centerfield to extend the lead to 2-0.

Norris (1-6) took the loss as he allowed the two runs on six hits over 5.1 IP while walking two and fanning seven.

The Bisons had runners at first and second with nobody out in the seventh, but LHP Adam Loewen (2.0 IP, H, BB, 6 K) was able to bounce back and strike out the side to escape the jam.

Loewen's six strikeouts in relief were the most by an IronPigs reliever since Cesar Jimenez fanned six against Gwinnett on June 1, 2013.

Loewen and RHP J.C. Gutierrez (2.0 IP, 3 H, BB, K) combined for four innings of scoreless relief. Gutierrez got the final six outs for the Pigs to notch his first save of the season.

In the bottom half of the inning, Chase d'Arnaud reached on a fielder's choice with one away, stole second and later scored on Darin Ruf's (2-4, RBI, R) RBI single which gave the IronPigs a 3-0 advantage.

Lehigh Valley continues their seven game homestand on Friday night when they host the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders at 7:05 p.m. RHP Jason Berken (3-4, 3.88) gets the start for the Pigs against RHP Ivan Nova (1-0, 1.50) who is making a rehab start for the RailRiders.