Lehigh Valley went 3-3 on the week and stood at 6-8, tied for 4th place in the Northern Divison of the International League, 3 games behind division leading Syracuse. Take a look at ‘Pigs who are among league leaders, John Mayberry is 2nd in the league in runs (11), DeWayne Wise is tied for 2nd in triples (2), Cody Ransom is tied for 6th in homers (3), Chris Duffy is tied for 7th in RBI’s (11), and Andy Tracy is tied for 4th in walks (9) and 2nd in strikeouts (19). Pitching leaders include only Nate Bump who is tied for 2nd in Wins (2) and 3rd in innings pitched (20). See below for week in review, ‘Pigs prospects, notes and transactions.

Week In Review:

Monday–Lehigh Valley continued their series with Syracuse on Monday evening and took an early lead on a solo homer by DeWayne Wise(2). The lead stood until the 6th, when the Chiefs got to Lehigh Valley starter Ryan Vogelsong for a run to tie the game.  Vogelsong was wild but effective, going 5.2 innings, giving up just the lone run on 4 hits.  He walked 5 and struck out 7.  JC Romero came on to pitch the 7th in his rehab appearance, and was wild, walking three batters and throwing a wild pitch, forcing in the go ahead run. Syracuse added another in the 8th off of recently activated Oscar Villareal on a Roger Bernadina RBI single to make the score 3-1.  The ‘Pigs cut the lead to 3-2 on an RBI single by Melvin Dorta, but they could muster no more in the 3-2 loss.

Tuesday–A second consecutive outstanding outing by Nate Bump (2-0)who went 7 shutout innings in the 2-1 ‘Pigs win over Syracuse Tuesday night.  Lehigh Valley scored runs in the 2nd (Hoover RBi Single), and 3rd (Wise RBI single) innings to take the lead.  Syracuse was held scoreless before getting a run in the 9th off of Scott Mathieson before Jason Anderson came in and shut the door earning his first save. Both Chris Duffy and DeWayne Wise threw runners out at the plate during the contest.

Wednesday-Pawtucket came in for a quick two game set with Dice K on the hill for a rehab appearance and got the win for the PawSox in the 8-4 victory over Lehigh Valley.  Joe Savery started and again had trouble in almost every inning, leaving with a line of 5IP 7H 4ER 3BB 3K, 92 pitches/56 for strikes. Matters got worse for the ‘Pigs in the 6th as Alex Concepcion was hit around for 4 runs in 0.2 innings.  Offensively for Lehigh Valley, catcher Dane Sardinha knocked his first homer of the year, a solo shot, and a two run single by DeWayne Wise cut the Pawtucket lead to 8-4 in the 7th.  Sardinha, Wise and Rich Thompson all had two hits for Lehigh Valley

Thursday–Lehigh Valley jumped on Pawtucket starter Fabio Castro early and often in the 12-3 Lehigh Valley win Thursday evening.  A Neil Sellers RBI single in the first, followed in the second by a two run single by Luis Maza were the key blows that put the ‘Pigs out in front.  A key error on a double play ball by Pawtucket third baseman Jorge Jiminez gave the ‘Pigs continued life in the second as Lehigh Valley went ahead 4-0.  Brandon Duckworth (1-0) started for Lehigh Valley and pitched very well going five shutout innings, yielding four hits.  He walked two and struck out five. Lehigh Valley added 2 in the 4th (Maza RBI triple, Mayberry RBI double) to make it 6-0 and had huge 7th inning putting a six spot on the board putting the game well out of reach. Many offensive notables including Duffy,( 3-5, 2r, 2B, 2RBI), Maza (4-5, 2r, 3B, 3RBI), Mayberry (2-5, r,2b, 3RBI), Dorta (3-5, 2R), and Thompson (2-4, 2R)

‘Pigs Prospects: John Mayberry–has continued hitting well and has hit safely in 10 of his last 12 games (.350).  His early splits are interesting.  .361 vs. RHP; .165 vs. LHP and .286 with RISP. On the year: .308/.386/.510 with 1HR and 7 RBI

Scott Mathieson–allowed his first earned run in 5 appearances on Wednesday evening.  He started the season with 7 scoreless innings.  He looked very good this week with his velocity in the low to mid 90’s. Left handed hitters have started the year 1-15 off of him.

Joe Savery–A poor outing yesterday for Savery in his start against Pawtucket (see above).  Nothing to get excited about here.  Savery continues to have the same issues that plagued him last year (command). On the year, 0-1 10IP 12H 7ER 5BB 6K; 6.30 ERA, 1.70 WHIP.

Andrew Carpenter– After a rocky first start of the year, Carpenter came back with a very good start his last time out giving up just a run in 6 innings of work. He was scheduled to start the game this evening but was scratched and moved back to start Friday evening (at least for now).

Transactions: On Thursday, Brandon Duckworth was activated from the DL and started.  Reliever Alex Concepcion was placed on the DL with turf toe.

Notes:John Mayberry Jr, won the award for the International Hitter of the Week for the week ending on April 18. Mayberry hit .524 in 6 games leading the league in AVG, OBP, and runs during the week.  On Saturday the 17th, Mayberry tied single game season records with 3 doubles and 4 runs for Lehigh Valley.

–Lehigh Valley begins an 8 game road trip Friday going first to Scranton for four games and then to Rochester for four.

-The honor for the first ejection of the year goes to Cody Ransom, who was ejected for arguing balls and strikes in the game Monday evening. That was followed later in the evening with both DeWayne Wise and Manager Dave Huppert being ejected for arguing balls and strikes as well.

—Brad Lidge pitched a scoreless 6th inning, giving up just a walk Thursday night in Allentown.

–Nate Bump has not allowed an earned run in the last 16.2 innings he has thrown.

–Ryan Vogelsong struck out 6 consecutive hitters during his start Monday.

—DeWayne Wise currently has a modest 7 game hitting streak.

–Lehigh Valley is batting .322 with runners in scoring position.