Pigs Rally Comes Up Short, Fall 7-6

The IronPigs (67-49) made a late rally, but came up short as they fell 7-6 to the Norfolk Tides (54-62) Tuesday night at Coca-Cola Park before 8,755 fans.

Two three-run frames from the Tides was too much for the Pigs to overcome, however, the Pigs gave it a shot.
Lehigh Valley had a three-run frame of their own in the bottom of the eighth inning, as Ty Kelly singled home Dylan Cozens who singled to lead off the frame to make it a 7-3 game at the time. With Kelly and Pedro Florimón aboard, newcomer Nick Rickles hit a bloop to shallow right field, going in between the first baseman and second baseman's glove to allow both runners to score to make it a 7-5 contest.
The rally was cut short as Andrew Pullin struck out pinch hitting for Matt Williams to end the Pigs threat in the eighth.
Alexis Rivero would toss a 1-2-3 top of the ninth, striking out one of the three batters and inducing fly outs for the other two outs in the frame.
The Pigs brought the top of their lineup to the plate in the bottom of the ninth, however, Scott Kingery would ground out to short and J.P. Crawford flew out to center to bring the Pigs to their final out. Rhys Hoskins then stepped to the plate and lifted a 2-1 pitch over the right-center field fence to bring the Pigs within a run as they trailed 7-6.
The home run for Hoskins was his 28^th on the season, adding on to both his International League lead and the new Pigs single-season home run record.
Dylan Cozens then came to bat and would unfortunately strike out to end the game.
The Tides built their early 7-0 lead primarily off the long ball, as Fransico Pena hit a solo shot to lead off the fourth inning to give Norfolk a 2-0 lead.
Later in the inning, Luis Sardiñas launched a two-run shot to double the Tides lead to 4-0 after four.
With two runners on in Alex Castellanos and Mike Yastrzemski, David Washington hit a three-run shot to give Norfolk a commanding 7-0 lead.
All seven runs for the Tides came off Pigs starter Brandon Leibrandt, who surrendered the seven runs on 10 hits while striking out seven batters in six innings. The southpaw suffered his first loss since May 24 with the Reading Fightin Phils.
In his previous six starts, the 24-year-old had only yielded a combined six earned runs.
The series concludes with game three of the three-game series against the Norfolk Tides Wednesday night at Coca-Cola Park. The Pigs will send right-hander Tom Eshelman (7-3,2.86) and the Tides will send righ-hander Alec Asher (2-1, 3.05). First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
The 2017 Season is the IronPigs 10^th Anniversary season at Coca-Cola Park and 10^th as the top affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. The IronPigs are debuting the brand-new Bacon, USA, Membership Program this season -- a year-round IronPigs experience pass featuring numerous new amenities such as savings on parking at games and at the Majestic Clubhouse Store at Coca-Cola Park, on-field VIP access to watch batting practice, access to an annual holiday party, an invitation to an exclusive player and coaches photo session and more. For more information, visit ironpigsbaseball.com or call (610) 841-PIGS (7447). Memberships and group outings are on sale now.
The 2017 IronPigs baseball season is presented by Capital BlueCross.