With their 3-2 win on Friday, Lehigh Valley is now 2-3 on their seven game home stand which concludes on Sunday after two more games against Charlotte. Over the last six weeks, the ‘Pigs are 32-18 and are 47-35 overall, good for 3rd place in the Northern Division of the International League, 3 games behind division leading Scranton. In the wild card race, Lehigh Valley sits just 0.5 games behind Rochester for the wild card spot. AFter finishing their series against CHarlotte, Lehigh Valley heads to Scranton for a quick two game series before returning home for two games against Rochester.
News and Notes: Jake Thompson has made six consecutive quality starts.
–C Andy Knapp, OF Cam Perkins and P Edward Mujica were all named to the IL ALL Star game upcoming July 13th in Charlotte.
–Over the last 10 games, the ‘Pigs bullpen has allowed just 2 ER in 26.2IP. Edward Mujica, leading the bullpen corps has converted 11 straight save opportunities.
—Cedric Hunter remains very hot for Lehigh Valley hitting .348 over his last 26 games with 14RBI in those contests.
—Anthony Vasquez is tied for 4th in MILB in wins with 9 between Reading and Lehigh Valley.
–Since June 8th, P Frank Herrmann has made 8 appearances and allowed a lone run in 10IP.
—Cam Perkins has been slumping badly going 2 for his last 26.
—Darin Ruf continues performing at the AAA level hitting for both average and power, with a .326 average in his last 34 games, to go along with a .581 slg %.
–In his last 18 games, RP Luis Garcia is 6-0 with a 1.23ERA (22IP/3ER)
—Emmanuel Burriss has played well since being sent down from Philadelphia hitting in 13 of his 15 starts (.297)
–Taking the loss Monday, Ben Lively lost for the first time in his last 23 starts, spanning almost a year.
–In his last 7 starts, David Buchanan is 1-3 with a 5.95ERA.
‘Pigs prospects: JP Crawford has hit in 15 of his last 19 games, hitting .329 over that span to raise his average to .243 since joining the ‘Pigs. On the year, Crawford is at .254/.362/.338 between Reading and Lehigh Valley with 3HR 24RBI and 10SB. He has played 74 games at SS with 9 errrors this year (.975).
Nick WIlliams has been playing well when not benched, having hit safely in 14 of his last 15 games (.306, HR, 8RBI, 8R). Since JP Crawford arrived on May 20th, WIlliams has hit .319 with 5HR and 21RBI. Over his 275AB, Williams is at .287/.329/.469 with 8HR 39RBI to go along with 5SB. WIlliams is hitting .272 vs LHP and .295 vs RHP.
Next report: Jake Thompson, Ben Lively, Andy Knapp
‘Pigs Probables: Sun: Russell; Mon: Buchanan; Tue: Vasquez; Wed: Thompson
‘Pigs league leaders, Hitting:Nick Williams is 6th in runs (44), 8th in strikeouts (77) and 8th in SLG (.469); ; Tyler Featherston is 8th in runs (41) and 6th in triples (4); Brock Stassi is 7th in walks (36) and 6th in OBP (.374). Pitching: Luis Garcia is 6th in wins (6); Jake Thompson is 7th in ERA (2.76), 2nd in IP (97.2) and tied for the league lead in starts (16); Edward Mujica is 3rd in games (33) and leads the league in saves(21); Zach Eflin leads the league in WHIP (0.88)
Transactions: Comings: P Phil Klein (claimed off waivers), P Elvis Arajuo (from Phillies); Goings: P Edubray Ramos (promoted to Philadelphia)
Phuture Phillies 