Big Day by Susdorf Leads Pigs to Victory, 5-4

ROCHESTER, NY - A big game from OF Steve Susdorf led the Pigs past the Red Wings 5-4 in a back-and-forth finale on Sunday at Frontier Field in Rochester.

The veteran outfielder went 3-4 on the day, but the timing of his hits and 4 RBI were most important to the Pigs victory, with all three of his hits either tying the game or giving the Pigs a lead. Susdorf got the Pigs' scoring started in the fourth inning, when the first homerun of his season accounted for two runs, tying the game 2-2. The longball was the third in the International League career for the third-year IL veteran, and first since August 25th of 2013, a span of 224 at bats.

The IronPigs took their first lead of the game in the sixth inning, when Susdorf added to his RBI total by doubling to right field and scoring 1B Jim Murphy who had walked to start off the frame. Rochester would quickly answer in the bottom half of the inning, when a sacrifice fly and an RBI-single off of RHP Phillippe Aumont would score both runners inherited from the last of LHP Greg Smith's outing, giving Rochester a 4-3 lead and putting Smith in danger of a sixth-straight loss.

The Lehigh Valley lefty would get off the hook two innings later, when 3B Maikel Franco doubled to right field, driving in OF Cam Perkins and tying the game 4-all. The IronPigs would then call for the heroics of the Fresno State University product again, as Susdorf drove in what would be the winning run on a two-out two-strike single to left field that scored Franco.

A one-two-three eighth inning from RHP Tyle Knigge set the stage for Lehigh Valley closer RHP Luis Garcia to close out the Red Wings and seal a series split for the Pigs. The IronPigs victory, as well as Garcia's team-leading streak of 24.2 straight innings without allowing an earned run, came into real jeopardy as the Red Wings loaded the bases with one out against the hard-throwing right-hander. Garcia would then bare down and retire the heart of Rochester's lineup as he struck out 3B Deibinson Romero before getting 2013 IL Player of the Year 1B Chris Colabello to fly out to end the ballgame.

Despite being out-hit 40-22 in the series, the IronPigs (34-36) managed a split with the Red Wings (39-30), who entered the series at the top of the IL North standings. Lehigh Valley now sits 6.5 games back of IL North-leading Syracuse, with the Charlotte Knights coming to Allentown on Monday to begin a four-game set. The Pigs-Knights series opener will have a first pitch time of 7:05 on German Heritage Night featuring an IronPigs Stein Glass Giveaway, presented by West Side Hammer Electric.