IronPigs Drop Series Finale to Bisons, 3-2
The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (80-56) dropped the series finale to the Buffalo Bisons (66-71) by a score of 3-2 on Monday night at Coca-Cola Field in Buffalo.
Buffalo jumped out to an early 1-0 lead with a run in the first via Andy Burns' solo shot off of Pigs starter Nick Pivetta.
In the bottom of the fourth, Jesus Montero led off with a single, advanced to second on a wild pitch, went to third on a single and scored on Erik Kratz's RBI single to give the Bisons a 2-0 lead.
The IronPigs cut the lead to 2-1 with a run in the fifth when Cam Perkins (2-4, 2 R) led off with a single, went to third on a single from Cedric Hunter and scored when Jesmuel Valentin grounded into a 6-3 double play.
Buffalo quickly responded in the bottom half of the frame to open up a 3-1 advantage as Ryan Goins drew a leadoff walk, advanced to third on a single and later scored when Casey Kotchman was hit by a pitch from LHP Patrick Schuster (1.1 IP, H, K) with the bases loaded and two outs in the inning.
Pivetta (0-2) allowed the three runs on seven hits to go along with four walks and five strikeouts in 4.2 IP.
Darin Ruf's two-out single in the sixth extended his hitting streak to a career-high 15 games. The streak also ties the longest by an IronPigs player this season after Perkins had a 15-gamer from April 12-May 3.
The Pigs cut the deficit in half with a run in the seventh when Perkins led off with an infield single, advanced to second on an error from Burns, went to third on a groundout and scored on Logan Moore's RBI groundout to make it a 3-2 game.
Herd starter Casey Lawrence (5-5) gave up the two runs (one earned) on six hits while walking one and fanning five in seven innings of work. RHP Ryan Tepera (2.0 IP, H, 2 K) got the final six outs to notch his 18th save of the year.
RHP Dalier Hinojosa (1.2 IP, 2 H, K) and LHP Elvis Araujo (0.1 IP) each had a scoreless outing in relief for manager Dave Brundage's squad.
The IronPigs will return home to open a brief two-game set with the Pawtucket Red Sox on Tuesday night at Coca-Cola Park. First pitch is slated for 7:05 p.m. as RHP Phil Klein (4-1, 1.72) will be on the bump for Lehigh Valley against Pawtucket RHP Justin Haley (7-5, 4.02).