IronPigs Shutout Clippers in Series Opener
COLUMBUS, OH - After a forty-five minute rain delay, the IronPigs scored four runs on seven hits to give Columbus starter RHP Zach McAllister his first Triple-A loss since May 2012, as the Pigs shutout the Clippers to win the series opener.
RHP Jeff Manship got the start for Lehigh Valley on Monday, and allowed five hits and three walks over three and two-thirds scoreless innings. Manship was relieved with two outs in the fourth inning after allowing a lead-off, ground-rule double and two, two-out walks to load the bases.
RHP Ethan Martin entered the game to face major league rehabber DH Michael Bourn, and retired the two-time major league all-star for the most important out of the game, reserving a 1-0 lead. Martin would go on to throw three more innings, allowing only one hit and earning his second win of the season.
DH Russ Canzler led-off the second inning with his twenty-eighth double of the season, scoring two batters later when OF Tony Gwynn Jr. tallied the RBI with a sacrifice fly in his first at-bat as an IronPig.
SS Freddy Galvis would add to the IronPigs lead in the fifth inning, laying down a perfect bunt for a two-out single that scored OF Cam Perkins - who had singled to lead-off the inning - from third base on the safety squeeze.
Canzler added two more runs in the eighth inning with his eleventh homerun of the season. The homerun was his ninth as an IronPig in only forty-two games played in a Lehigh Valley uniform.
With a four-run advantage, RHP Luis Garcia entered the game in a non-save situation, but allowed only one hit over the final two innings while striking out three Clippers and sealing the IronPigs fourth victory in the five games of this road trip.
These two teams will continue their four-game series on Tuesday night at 7:05 p.m. as the IronPigs are set to face another Clippers' pitcher with major league experience this season, RHP Danny Salazar. Lehigh Valley will counter with LHP Jo-Jo Reyes, who is looking for his second win as an IronPig.