Pigs Late Comeback Comes Up Short, Fall 8-5

The IronPigs (35-16) late comeback effort came up short as they fell 8-5 to the Indianapolis Indians (28-22) Tuesday night at Victory Field in Indianapolis.

Pedro Florimón led off the ninth inning with a solo home run to try to jump start a late Pigs rally as he narrowed the deficit to 8-5. After Héctor Gómez struck out, Cameron Perkins doubled off the center field wall and J.P. Crawford walked to bring the tying run to the plate. Jorge Alfaro then struck out, and Dylan Cozens lined out to center field to end the game and the potential Pigs comeback.
The Indians plated three-run innings in the fourth and sixth innings as they handed the Pigs their first series opening loss since May 6 against the Buffalo Bisons.
In the fourth inning, Danny Ortiz doubled home Jason Rogers to give the Indians a 2-1 advantage. Indians starter Tyler Eppler then helped himself out as he sent a two-run infield single as Rhys Hoskins had trouble catching the ball at first, allowing Danny Ortiz and Jacob Stallings to make the score 4-1 after four.
Erich Weiss sent a sacrifice fly to left field to score Stallings in the bottom of the sixth to give the Indians a 5-3 advantage after Perkins homered in the top of the fifth for the Pigs and Hoskins sent an RBI groundout to third to score Cozens to make it a 4-3 Indians lead heading into the sixth.
Cristopher Bostick then added on to the Indians lead with a two-run homer to center field, giving the Indians a 7-3 lead after six.
In the seventh, Crawford continued his hot hitting as he drilled a RBI double to right, scoring Flormin to bring the Pigs within three as they trailed 7-4. For Crawford it was his fourth consecutive two-hit game as he finished 2-for-4 with a run scored and the RBI double.
Danny Ortiz then tripled to right in the bottom of the seventh, scoring Rogers to give the Indians an 8-4 lead after seven.
Pigs starter Jake Thompson picked up his second consecutive loss after tossing 5 1/3 innings, allowing seven runs (four earned) on nine hits.
With the two home runs in the game, the Pigs have now hit a league leading 58 home runs this season, and have hit 41 of those 58 home runs in the month of May. More impressively the Pigs have launched 31 homers in their last 15 games, including hitting at least one home run in nine of their last 10 games.
 Game two of the three-game series is set for Wednesday night at 7:05 p.m. with the Indianapolis Indians at Victory Field. Right-hander Tom Eshelman (2-0, 1.82) will start for the Pigs, and the Indians will send left-hander Cody Dixon (4-2, 4.94)
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.