Pigs Begin Four-Game Series With Bulls

The IronPigs (60-37) and Durham Bulls (59-37) begin a four-game series Thursday night at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

Fresh off a sweep of the Gwinnett Braves, the Pigs continue their Southern League play with a four-game series against the Durham Bulls.
The Pigs will send RHP Jake Thompson (3-11,) against Bulls RHP Austin Pruitt (0-0, 2.29).Today's starting pitching matchup is presented by Allentown Family Foot Care, which provides the latest in medical and surgical treatments of the entire foot and ankle. Learn more at affc.com.
RHP Jake Thompson makes his 18^th start of the season for the Pigs, having dropped his last four outings. In his last outing, the Dallas native tossed four 2/3 innings as he surrendered just one earned run on three hits but walked four batters as well.
RHP Austin Pruitt makes his fourth start and ninth overall appearance for the Bulls tonight. Pruitt has yet to have a decision in the minors this season, but has won five games at the Major League level with the Tampa Bay Rays. In his last outing for the Bulls on July 14, The Woodland, TX native tossed four innings yielding three runs on six hits while striking out three.
The IronPigs (60-37) rallied for a four-run ninth inning to defeat the Gwinnett Braves (47-48) by the score of 5-1Wednesday night at Coolray Field. 
The Pigs yet again used some late inning magic, scoring four runs in the top of the ninth inning to take the series over the G-Braves.
With the score tied at 1, Logan Moore  would walk with one out in the frame. Moore's walk was followed by an infield single from Herlis Rodriguez  to move the go-ahead run in scoring position.
Andrew Pullin  then pinch hit for Michael Mariot , and would send a ground ball throw the legs of Gwinnett's first baseman Carlos Franco . The ball then trickled down the right field line, allowing both Moore and Rodriguez to score and Pullin would advance to third on the error by Franco.
With a 3-1 lead, the Pigs were not done. Scott Kingery  followed Pullin with RBI single, scoring Pullin to up the Pigs lead 4-1. After a J.P. Crawford  line out, Rhys Hoskins  walked putting runners at first and second for Dylan Cozens . Cozens would single to right, and Kingery would hustle around the bases to give the Pigs a 5-1 advantage.
Pat Venditte  would come on to close out the game in a non-save situation in the ninth. He made quick work of Dustin Peterson  who sent a sharp ground ball that clipped Venditte, but the ball was recovered by Kingery and thrown on to Hoskins to record the out. Venditte would surrender a base hit to Micah Johnson  before getting Carlos Franco and David Freitas  to fly out to end the game.
Both starting pitchers had the exact same pitching lines, with neither factoring into the decision. The Pigs Zach Eflin  and Gwinnett's Andrew Albers  both tossed seven innings, surrendering just one run on five hits while walking three batters and striking out five batters.
Mariot spelled Eflin in the eighth inning, as the right-hander notched his sixth win of the season. He would toss just one inning while striking out a batter.
The Pigs would score first in a pitcher's duel, as Hoskins would come around to score on a sacrifice fly from Héctor Gómez  to give the Pigs the 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth.
However, the G-Braves would answer right back as Freitas singled home Johnson to tie the game at 1 in the bottom half of the inning.
For the series, the Pigs scored 13 of their 18 runs in the series from the eighth inning or later to sweep the G-Braves in the three-game series.
 The 2017 Season is the IronPigs 10^th Anniversary season at Coca-Cola Park and 10^th as the top affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. The IronPigs are debuting the brand-new Bacon, USA, Membership Program this season -- a year-round IronPigs experience pass featuring numerous new amenities such as savings on parking at games and at the Majestic Clubhouse Store at Coca-Cola Park, on-field VIP access to watch batting practice, access to an annual holiday party, an invitation to an exclusive player and coaches photo session and more. For more information, visit ironpigsbaseball.com or call (610) 841-PIGS (7447). Memberships and group outings are on sale now.
The 2017 IronPigs baseball season is presented by Capital BlueCross.