Rahl's five hits lead Chiefs past IronPigs

The Syracuse Chiefs, the Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, topped the Lehigh Valley IronPigs 8-3 on Saturday. The Chiefs jumped out to a big lead with five runs in the first inning. Outfielder Chris Rahl picked up his second five-hit game of the season in the win.

Syracuse (40-55) got to Lehigh Valley starter Tom Cochran early. Eury Perez led off with a double down the third-base line. Rahl followed with a double to the wall in left field to plate Perez. Danny Espinosa then hit a single to left field that scored Rahl to give the Chiefs a 2-0 lead. After a Tyler Moore walk, Chris Marrero tacked a ground-ball single to right field to make the score 3-0. With two on and nobody out, Zach Walters doubled to left-center field to give Syracuse a four-run advantage. A couple of batters later, Josh Johnson laced a double to center field to put the Chiefs up 5-0 and drive Cochran from the game.

The Syracuse bats stayed hot in the second inning off of Lehigh Valley (50-47) relief pitcher Zach Miner. Perez singled to center field to start the frame and then stole second. Rahl followed with a single to left field that scored Perez to put the Chiefs up 6-0.

The barrage of runs continued in the fourth. Rahl led off with a single for Syracuse and moved to second on a fielding error by Lehigh Valley center fielder Cesar Hernandez. Following an Espinosa walk, Moore reached first on a fielding error by third baseman Cody Asche. Rahl scored on the play to give Syracuse a 7-0 lead.

Lehigh Valley finally got on the board in the eighth. Steve Susdorf and Hernandez both walked to start off the inning. Chiefs reliever Cole Kimball then came in for Tatusko. The first batter, Freddy Galvis, doubled down the right-field line to score the first IronPigs run of the game. Kimball then threw a wild pitch while Asche was at the plate that allowed Hernandez to score from third. Following a walk, Leandro Castro grounded into a double play, but Galvis made it home from third and Lehigh Vallley cut the deficit to 7-3.

Despite the two inherited runners scoring, Tatusko picked up the win. He tied a season high with seven innings pitched.

The Chiefs came back with a run in the bottom of the eighth inning. Rahl started off the frame with a triple to center field - his fifth hit of the evening. Espinosa then hit a sacrifice fly to center field that scored Rahl to give Syracuse an 8-3 lead.

Jeff Mandel pitched a scoreless top of the ninth to clinch the game for the Chiefs.

Syracuse and Lehigh Valley wrap up their two-game set Sunday at 2:00. Left-hander Danny Rosenbaum takes the bump for the Chiefs, while the IronPigs send left-hander Greg Smith to the hill.