IronPigs snap six-game losing streak in Toledo

TOLEDO, Ohio — Perhaps the IronPigs should consider playing all their games in the morning.

Neil Sellers' first Triple-A home run highlighted a nine-run outburst for Lehigh Valley over the first two innings, and four relievers combined for 6 1/3 scoreless innings in an 11-6 win over Toledo Wednesday afternoon that snapped a season-long six-game losing streak.

The game began at 11:15 a.m. after a 40-minute rain delay, and the win was the third this year for the IronPigs (19-33) in so-called Education Day games (they had won both such games at Coca-Cola Park). It is also their fifth straight victory over two years in games that began before noon.

Before the game the Phillies announced that outfielder Dewayne Wise has exercised a June 1 out clause in his contract and has become a free agent.

The IronPigs banged out 16 hits, 10 of them in the first two innings as they chased Alfredo Figaro (4-2) after just 12/3 innings. All 10 hits came with two outs to produce all of the early runs.

The IronPigs three hottest hitters — Sellers, Andy Tracy and Melvin Dorta — continued their surges.

Sellers, who hit a combined 36 homers the last two years at Double-A Reading, followed three straight singles, including a run-scoring hit by Cody Ransom, with a three-run homer. The red-hot Sellers later added a ninth-inning single, giving him seven multi-hit games in his last 10 starts, and he's now 17-of-37 (.459) over his last 11 games and 21-of-60 (.350) in his last 16.

Tracy went 3-for-5 and is now 9-for-17 in six games since returning from a shoulder strain and is hitting .339 over his last 16 games, raising his average from .198 to .251.

Dorta had two hits and knocked in two runs and is now 10-for-27 (.370) in his last 11 games.

John Mayberry Jr. added three hits, including a two-run home run in the sixth to provide some big insurance runs.

Toledo (30-23), which had an eight-game home-win streak snapped, answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning against Brandon Duckworth, but the IronPigs bounced back with four more runs in the second, again all with two outs. Mayberry, Tracy, and Ransom all had RBI singles before Dorta capped the inning with a two-run single.

The Mud Hens chased Duckworth with a three-run third that cut the deficit to 9-6, but Ryan Vogelsong came in to get the final out of the inning, then combined with Alex Concepcion, Oscar Villarreal and Mike Zagurski to blank Toledo the rest of the way on six hits.

Vogelsong (2-2) picked up the win by allowing two hits and striking out four in 21/3 innings.

Toledo did load the bases with nobody out in the eighth against Villarreal, but the veteran right hander used a strikeout and a double-play grounder to escape unscathed.

From the Morning Call