Klein's Gem Lifts Pigs to 2-0 Win
Phil Klein tossed seven shutout innings and the Lehigh Valley IronPigs (81-56) held on to blank the Pawtucket Red Sox (71-65) by a score of 2-0 on Tuesday night at Coca-Cola Park.
Klein (5-1) surrendered two hits while fanning nine over seven innings of work. RHP Colton Murray (0.2 IP, 2 H) and RHP Luis Garcia (1.1 IP, H, BB, 2 K) got the final six outs for manager Dave Brundage's squad. Garcia notched his 12th save of the year and extended his scoreless streak to 15.1 IP.
Trailing 2-0, the PawSox had runners at first and second with nobody out in the eighth, but Murray and Garcia combined to escape the jam with a pop out and a pair of groundouts.
The Pigs jumped out to an early 1-0 lead with a run in the first as Nick Williams reached with a two-out double and scored on Darin Ruf's RBI single. Ruf's (2-4, RBI) single extended his hitting streak to 16 games.
In the bottom of the fourth, Cody Asche (2-4, 2B, R) got on base with a two-out double and later scored on Brock Stassi's two-out RBI single to open up a 2-0 advantage for the IronPigs.
Pawtucket starter Justin Haley (7-6) allowed the two runs on six hits to go along with two walks and six strikeouts in 5.2 IP.
The series wraps up on Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. as RHP David Buchanan (8-9, 4.23) will be on the bump for the IronPigs against Pawtucket LHP Henry Owens (9-6, 3.52).