Lively's Gem Helps Pigs to 8-0 Win

Ben Lively was dominant over six shutout innings and the Lehigh Valley IronPigs (77-53) broke the game open late in an 8-0 win over the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (81-49) on Tuesday night at Coca-Cola Park.

Lively (9-5) gave up one hit while fanning one in his 6.0 IP. LHP Elvis Araujo (1.0 IP, H), LHP Patrick Schuster (0.2 IP, H, 2 BB, 2 K), RHP Luis Garcia (0.1 IP) and RHP Dalier Hinojosa (1.0 IP, 3 H, 2 K) combined to toss the final four innings for the Pigs.

The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fifth as Lively and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre starter Brady Lail traded zeroes.

In the afore-mentioned bottom of the fifth, Brock Stassi led off with a double, advanced to third on a sac bunt and later scored on J.P. Crawford's sac fly to give the Pigs a 1-0 lead.

Darin Ruf led off the bottom of the sixth with a single, went to second on a groundout and scored on Stassi's (2-3, 2B, RBI, R) RBI single to open up a 2-0 lead for the Pigs. Ruf's single extended his hitting streak to nine games.

Lail (6-5) allowed two runs on five hits to go along with four walks and two strikeouts in 5.2 IP.

Back-to-back two-out, two-run doubles from Cody Asche and Andrew Knapp in the bottom of the seventh extended the lead for the IronPigs to 6-0. The double for Asche extended his hitting streak to 11 games. All four runs were charged to Scranton LHP Phil Coke (1.0 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, BB, 3 K).

Jesmuel Valentin's (2-3, HR, 2 RBI, 2 R) two-run shot off of LHP Tyler Webb in the bottom of the eighth opened up an 8-0 advantage for the Pigs. The home run was Valentin's second of the season.

Nick Williams (2-5, 2B, R) also had a multi-hit game for manager Dave Brundage's squad.

The IronPigs will open a brief two-game set with the Pawtucket Red Sox on Wednesday night at McCoy Stadium. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. as RHP Nick Pivetta (0-0, 1.64) gets the ball for Lehigh Valley against Pawtucket RHP Justin Haley (7-4, 3.92).