We officially began the second half of the season on Tuesday evening with a 5-4 win over Buffalo and  Lehigh Valley now sits at 28-45 and in 5th place of the Northern Division of the International League, 14.0 games behind division leading Buffalo. Lehigh Valley is now 7-4 over their last 11 games after losing 15 of their previous 18 contests.   The ‘Pigs begin a 8 game home stand with 3 games against Louisville over the weekend followed by 3 against Scranton early next week.

News and Notes: RP Adam Loewen has a four game scoreless streak spanning 6.2IP.  He has allowed just 3 hits and struck out 14 over that time period.  With the merry-go-round of pitchers getting a shot in Philly, if Loewen strings together another 3-4 good outings, his number may be called.

–Brian Bogusevic, who has a July 1st opt out, has now hit safely in 55 of his 62 starts and has not gone back to back games this season without a hit.

—Hector Neris currently has a 13.2 inning scoreless streak.

—Anthony Vasquez has made seven starts for Lehigh Valley this year. He has left three of them having not yeidled an ER.

–Since May 14th, P Jason Berken is 2-2 with a 1.85ERA while appearing as both a starter and a reliever.

–Prior to Tuesday’s promotion, OF Aaron Altherr was hitting .293 with 6HR 29RBI and 8SB for Reading.

–Over his last 25 games, INF Tyler Henson is hitting just .186.

–After 7 consecutive scoreless innings spanning 6 games, Jake Diekman was called back up to Philadelphia,   Diekman had 3 saves during that time period.

‘Pigs Prospects: Next week a look at Aaron Nola, Gabriel Lino and Aaron Altherr

‘Pigs League Leaders, Hitting:Brian Bogusevic is 9th in AB’s(258), 8th in runs(35), 2nd in hits(81) and 6th in avg (.314)

Pitching: Joely Rodriguez is 6th in losses(6), has the 2nd worst WHIP (1.84) and is 3rd in walks allowed (37); Adam Morgan is 7th in losses(6) and has the 6th worst WHIP (1.58); Phillippe Aumont is 2nd in ERA (2.35) and 2nd in walks allowed (41); Cesar Jiminez is 4th in games (27)

Transactions: Comings: Dustin McGowan (from Philly), Aaron Altherr (From Reading); Hector Neris (optioned from Philly). Edgar Duran (activated from DL)

Goings: Jayson Nix (Released), Adam Morgan (promoted to Philly), Phillippe Aumont (Philly, then DFA); Jake Diekman (promoted to Philly), Darin Ruf (Promoted to Philadelphia)

Probables: Thur: Aumont; Fri: Vasquez; Sat: Billingsley; Sun: Gonzalez