Rich ‘Richie T’ Thompson created an ESPN top-10 virtually by himself today after replacing an injured Domonic Brown (who according to reports is
day-today). After a previous 0 hits in 11 tries, Thompson went 2 for 2 with 3 RBIs but the stats don’t tell the whole story***.
Charlotte would begin the scoring in the 4th when Josh Phegley (DH) singled a full-count pitch to right scoring Conor Jackson (3B) who also singled and the ‘Dangerous’ Dan Johnson who was hit with a pitch.
The Knights would get two more in the 5th after a Jose Castro single (2B), Greg Golson would triple and then score on a “soggy dog slobbered tennis ball” throw by Andres Blanco and would lead the IronPigs 4-0 into the seventh.
The kids are always 
cheering no matter what the score and in the bottom of the 7th, LHV would hear them loud and clear. After just 18 at bats for the IronPigs in the first six innings, Andres Blanco (SS) would lead off with a deep shot off the Rothrock sign for a double. Kevin Frandsen then ripped the first pitch past Conor Jackson to put men at first and third bringing up Pig ‘O the Day, Richie T who just did everything right today.
***Proving that he deserves more playing time (and perhaps a promotion at some point) Rich legged out a perfect drag bunt that scored Blanco for the ‘Pigs first run and brought Cody Overbeck to the plate. Then when Overbeck slapped a grounder to second baseman Jose Castro, Thompson in a brilliant base running move, deliberately put himself in a run-down to break up the double-play and keep the inning alive. Hector Luna would then come on to sac fly in the second run for 
LHV. I can bet ya some Philly Pretzels there are many up in the “big show” who do not have the skills Rich Thompson does. {wink}
The Pigs would score again in the 8th when after a Mitchell lead off walk and with two outs, Andres Blanco would single to right. Kevin Frandsen would then do his best ‘Richie T’ impersonation and single another drag-bunt down the third-base line. ***Up comes the man himself who would promptly take the second pitch from Knight’s reliever Brian Bruney and slam it down the line scoring Mitchell and Blanco and tying the game with a pair of 4’s.
Lehigh Valley got 6 innings out of Dave Bush who gave up 6 hits, 4 earned runs with a walk and 3 strikeouts before yielding to B.J. Rosenberg. B.J. tossed two shut-out innings surrendering 3 hits with a walk and 2 strikeouts. Phillipe Aumont came on in the 9th and struck
out the first batter, walked the next, struck out the next batter and proceeded to walk the bases loaded. I noticed Aumont staring in the dugout between pitches as if he was looking for someone to rescue him. Hopefully his back is not still injured and he just had one of the “Aum-outings”. Jake Diekman replaced Aumont and faced the bases loaded, two outs and Charlotte’s leading hitter, Josh Phegley (.373) at the plate. Phegley popped the second pitch to center fielder Derrick Mitchell to end the threat in the 9th and ultimately earn Diekman his first AAA win.
In the last chance before all the buses left, Hector Luna drew a walk followed by a wild pitch by Brian Bruney and advanced to second. Mike Fontenot would use yet another bunt to advance Luna to third and Tuffy Gosewisch with two outs in the bottom of the 9th would single to score Luna. “Pigs FLY!”
A tale of two games
Last night LHV won the game on two, 2 run home-runs. Today they won without anything more than one double, some timely hitting, Richie T, and a bunch of bunts. Whichever method you may prefer both resulted in entertaining games. Hopefully, the ‘Pigs will continue their winning ways tomorrow when Austin Hyatt (2-2, 3.12) gets the nod for the ‘Pigs and Charlie Shirek (3-2, 4.40) for the Knights.
It’s Harry the K bronze statue give-away night – lines begin at 3:30 pm!
Oink On!
Dishing…
noisenation.mlblogs.com 