Lehigh Valley is 2-4 on their season long 10 day road trip and they currently sit at 43-48 and in 5th place of the International League, 11 games behind division leading Syracuse. They are 8 games behind Rochester in the wild card race.  The road trip continues with one more in Indianapolis before four games against Louisville leading the IronPigs into the All Star break next week.

Note: Due to the All Star Break, look for the next ‘Pigs report 7/21 or 7/22.

News and Notes:Lehigh Valley was shut out both Sunday and Monday, giving them seven shutouts against this season.

–After two games off, Maikel Franco went 13-28 over the next six games.

–1B Russ Canzler has reached base safely in all 9 games he has played for Lehigh Valley and has added much needed offense to the Lehigh Valley lineup.  He is hitting .333 for the IronPigs.

–SP Greg Smith’s transition to a sidearmer has been very successful.  In his last 4 starts, SMith is 3-1 with a 2.22ERA and  0.86 WHIP. He has walked just 4 and struck out 18 in 24+ innings in those 4 starts.

–In his 16 starts this year, Barry Enright has just 4 quality starts.

–Lehigh Valley infielders have committed the fewest errors in the league (31)

–In their 9-8, 16 inning win last Saturday night, Lehigh Valley set a franchise record for longest game time (5:27) and tied the record for innings (16)

‘Pigs Prospects: Ethan Martin has been just awful since being sent down to Lehigh Valley from Philly.  He has thrown in 5 games and is 0-0 with a 16.50 ERA, having allowed 11 runs on 11 hits in 6 innings of work.  He walked 9 hitters in those 6 innings while striking out 5.

Leandro Castro had a 8 game hitting streak snapped on Monday night, during which he was hitting .447. Over his last 9 games, Castro has scored 9 runs, is hitting .400 and had his 4th walk off hit of the year. Impressive improvements this year are the 21 walks in 79 games as opposed to just 15 free passes in 117 games last year.

Phillipe Aumont has pitched fairly well as of late, having not allowed an earned run in four of the last 5 games.  During that time period (8.1IP), he has walked 5 and struck out 11, so the issues with his control continue but slightly less magnified.  Prior to those five games, Aumont had been nursing a sore elbow which kept him off the mound for a couple of weeks. In 21 games this year, Aumont is 2-1 with a 4.06ERA; 1.59WHIP and .243 opp. avg.

Next week: Perkins, Franco, Knigge, Ruf

‘Pigs League Leaders, Hitting: Maikel Franco is 9th in AB’s (329); Tyler Henson is 5th in strikeouts (88) and 6th in SB’s (16).

Pitching: Barry Enright is 4th in losses(8), tied for the lead in HR allowed (16); has the 3rd worst WHIP (1.57); has the 7th worst ERA (5.22), is 6th in starts(17); Luis Garcia is 3rd in saves (15); Greg Smith is 10th in IP (101.2).

Transactions: Comings: Darin Ruf was activated from the DL.

Goings: SP Chris Bootcheck was sent down to Reading and joined their rotation and INF Rusty Ryal was placed on the temporary inactive list.

Probables: Wed: Enright; Thur: O’Sullivan;  Fri: Lincoln; Sun: Smith