Pigs Fall to Chiefs in 12th, 2-1
Neftali Soto's walk-off single in the bottom of the 12th was the difference in the game as the Lehigh Valley IronPigs (74-51) fell to the Syracuse Chiefs (56-69) by a score of 2-1 on Thursday night at NBT Bank Stadium.
Steve Lombardozzi drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the 12th, advanced to second on a sac bunt and scored on Soto's RBI single to give the Chiefs the 2-1 win.
RHP Dalier Hinojosa (0.2 IP, H, R, ER, 2 BB, K) was tagged with the loss for the Pigs and falls to 1-2 on the year.
RHP Erik Davis (1.0 IP, H, 3 K) earned the win for Syracuse with a scoreless inning of relief to improve to 7-4 on the year.
Syracuse had runners at first and second with one out in the bottom of the ninth, but RHP Colton Murray (2.0 IP, 2 H, R, ER, BB) got pinch-hitter Zach Collier to pop out to short and Lombardozzi grounded to third for the final out.
The game was scoreless until the top of the fifth as Pigs starter Nick Pivetta and Chiefs starter Michael Brady traded zeroes.
In the afore-mentioned top of the fifth, Cody Asche's solo shot off of Brady gave the IronPigs a 1-0 lead. The home run was Asche's third of the season.
In the home half of the inning, Syracuse had runners at first and second with nobody out, but Pivetta struck out the side to end the inning.
Pivetta (n/d) gave up three hits while walking a pair and fanning nine over six shutout innings.
Brady (n/d) allowed the one run on four hits to go along with eight strikeouts over 7.0 IP.
Syracuse tied things at one apiece in the bottom of the eighth as Caleb Ramsey led off with a double and scored on Matt Skole's RBI single.
LHP Patrick Schuster (1.0 IP, 2 BB, 2 K) and LHP Hoby Milner (2.0 IP, H, 3 K) had a scoreless outing in relief for manager Dave Brundage's squad.
The series continues on Friday at 5:05 p.m. with a doubleheader as RHP Phil Klein (2-1, 1.64) gets the ball for the Pigs in game one against Chiefs RHP Taylor Hill (6-10, 4.63). In game two, LHP James Russell (3-5, 3.79) will toe the rubber for manager Dave Brundage's squad against Syracuse RHP Paolo Espino (7-10, 3.55).