Lehigh Valley Sweeps G-Braves in Extras
ALLENTOWN, PA - Andrew Knapp stroked a two-out, bases-loaded single in the bottom of the 11th inning off Ryan Weber to propel the Lehigh Valley IronPigs (37-29) to a 2-1 walk-off win over the Gwinnett Braves (30-37) Thursday night in the finale of the three-game series at Coca-Cola Park.
In the bottom of the 11th, Emmanuel Burriss led off with a single against Weber (L, 0-3) and moved to second on a bunt. Weber intentionally walked David Lough before the G-Braves' righty hit J.P. Crawford to load the bases. Knapp then lined an 0-1 pitch to left field, giving Lehigh Valley the three-game sweep.
The IronPigs took five of the seven games played between the two teams in the last week and Gwinnett has now lost three in a row following a five-game winning streak.
Gwinnett scored first as Ozzie Albies led off the top of the third with a triple to right-center off Lehigh Valley starter Jake Thompson. Emilio Bonifacio put the G-Braves on the board with a groundout to the right of the mound, bringing in Albies.
However, the IronPigs tied the game with a run in the bottom of the fourth. Cedric Hunter and Burriss collected back-to-back singles against G-Braves' starter Lucas Harrell before Darnell Sweeney walked to load the bases. Then Thompson grounded out to second, scoring Hunter to make it 1-1.
Harrell equaled a season-high with eight strikeouts over 5.0 innings, allowing just five hits and the one run. He walked three and threw 60 of his 98 pitches for strikes. Rob Wooten worked 1.0 inning and Matt Marksberry allowed just a walk over 2.0 scoreless frames, while striking out three. Jose Ramirez struck out one in a perfect ninth inning before Weber came on in the 10th and 11th innings, yielding three hits and a run, while issuing a walk and striking out one.
Thompson scattered five hits over 8.0 innings for Lehigh Valley, walking two and striking out four. He also picked up an RBI in three plate appearances. Edward Mujica allowed a hit and worked out of trouble in the ninth before Frank Herrmann (W, 3-1) picked up his second win in the series by going 2.0 innings and allowing just one hit.
Ronnie Mustelier led the G-Braves with a 2-for-5 night. Albies' triple was his only hit in five at-bats, while Matt Lipka, playing in his first Triple-A game, went 1-for-3 including a single in his first at-bat. Daniel Castro was 0-for-1 as a pinch hitter and saw his eight-game hitting streak come to an end.
Knapp, Hunter and Burris were each 2-for-5 for Lehigh Valley.
The G-Braves continue the road trip Friday night with the first game in a three-game series against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. Gwinnett will send lefty Manny Banuelos (0-1, 5.40) to the mound against right-hander Kyle Haynes (1-1, 4.89) for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. and Tony Schiavone has the call of the action beginning at 6:35 p.m. on 97.7 FM.
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The Gwinnett Braves are the Triple-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. Follow the G-Braves at GwinnettBraves.com, facebook.com/GwinnettBraves1 and twitter.com/GwinnettBraves. Tickets are on sale now at the Coolray Field Ticket Office, call 678-277-0340 or visit GwinnettBraves.com/tickets.