An ugly week for Lehigh Valley who lost five in a row before breaking their losing streak with a win on Tuesday evening, followed by yet another loss on Wednesday to Scranton. The ‘Pigs return home to face Buffalo in a four game series over the weekend followed by four against Durham at home next Monday thru Thursday.  Lehigh Valley is currently 4-10 and in 6th place of the Northern Division of the International League, 5.5 games behind division leading Buffalo.

News and Notes: Maikel Franco had his 9 game hitting streak snapped with an 0-5 on Monday night.  He followed that up with a multi hit game in Tuesday.

–INF RUss Canzler has hit in 8 of his last 9 games, hitting .429 over that period, scoring 7 runs.

–Brian Bogusevic already has 3 OF assists, leading the team in that category.

–Severino Gonzalez became the first Lehigh Valley pitcher to record a victory in Game 13, Tuesday night.

–Brian Bogusevic has hit safely in 9 consecutive games.

–OF Domonic Brown has made five rehab appearances with Lehigh Valley and is 3-20.

‘Pigs prospects: Severino Gonzalez has looked fairly strong in his first three AAA starts, two of them being quality starts.  He is 1-1 with a 3.57 ERA and 1.25 WHIP and has been able to consistently compete moving quickly through the system.  In his last outing on Tuesday, Gonzalez got the win, giving up just a lone run on 6 hits.  He didn’t walk a batter and struck out 3.

Adam Morgan has made two fairly mediocre starts, followed by a nice start Wednesday during which he gave up 3 earned in 7 efficient innings of work, without yielding a walk. Morgan, who missed all of last season following surgery is trying to build himself back up and this last start should give him confidence to continue to grow.  On the year, Morgan is 0-2 with a 4.50ERA and a 1.44WHIP.  That said, he has yielded just 4 walks in 16 innings of work, often a recipe for success.

Next week: Franco, Murray, Joseph

‘Pigs League Leaders: Maikel Franco is 2nd in AB’s(58), 4th in slg (.569)leads the league in hits(20),leads the league in doubles(8), and is 5th in RBI’s (9); Russ Canzler is 8th in hits(16) and 10th in avg. (.356); Brian Bogusevic is 6th in SB(4).  Phillippe Aumont is 8th in ERA (1.50) and is 6th in walks allowed (8); Jason Berken has the 2nd worst ERA (8.74); Severino Gonzalez is 5th in IP (17.2); Adam Loewen has allowed the 3rd most walks (10)

Probables: Thur: Clemens; Fri: Rodriguez; Sat: Billingsley

Transactions: On Wednesday, RP Hector Neris was called up to Philadelphia.

The Clearwater Threshers added RHP Victor Arano to their roster from extended spring training.

RHP Yacksel Rios was added to 7-Day DL as of April 21.

The Threshers rotation is in doubt.  It is listed as TBD for the next few days.  I would have expected Nunez tonight, Kleven tomorrow, and Rios in Imhof’s slot again on Friday.  With this news, it looks like Arano may join the rotation.