Chiefs beat IronPigs, Mathieson in the ninth

FROM THE MORNING CALL

On most nights Scott Mathieson has been lights out at the back end of the IronPigs bullpen.

But on those nights when he's not, the hard-throwing right-hander gets into trouble awful quickly.

Mathieson surrendered a tie-breaking homer to Michael Martinez on his second pitch in the ninth inning, then later gave up an RBI triple that provided the eventual winning run as Syracuse held off Lehigh Valley 5-4 Tuesday night at Coca-Cola Park.


Martinez's homer to right center, his first in 74 Triple-A at-bats, snapped a 3-3 deadlock, and after a two-out walk to Danny Espinosa, Brian Bixler capped a four-hit night with a triple to right center to give Syracuse (52-78) a two-run cushion.

And the Chiefs would need both of those runs, nearly giving the game away in the bottom of the inning. Greg Dobbs drew a one-out walk from winner Josh Wilkie, who threw a pickoff away before his first pitch to John Mayberry Jr. to move Dobbs into scoring position. Mayberry followed with a slow roller to the right side that squirted through first baseman Jason Botts' legs, and second baseman Seth Bynum compounded that miscue by throwing the ball past first base in a late attempt to get Mayberry, allowing Dobbs to score and cut the deficit to a run.

Wilkie then got Andy Tracy to foul out to catcher Wilson Ramos in front of the IronPigs dugout, but Cody Ransom kept the game and his 11-game hitting streak alive with a single on what would have been a routine grounder to Bixler at third — except he was guarding the line. But Adam Carr finally nailed down the Chiefs win when Melvin Dorta went after his first pitch and grounded out to short.

It was the sixth loss for Mathieson (3-6).

Vance Worley had an erratic six-inning stint, allowing 10 baserunners on nine hits and a walk but only three runs. After allowing just one run in his first 13 2/3 innings in Triple-A, Worley has now allowed 15 earned runs in his last 25 innings for a 5.40 ERA.

Syracuse took a 1-0 lead in the first on a single by Espinosa and a double by Bixler, but the IronPigs answered in the bottom of the third against Mike Chico. Rich Thompson led off the inning with his second single, then went in hard at second to break up a potential double play off the bat of Dobbs. Mayberry followed with a single to left, and both Dobbs and Mayberry roared home when Tracy lined a double down the right-field line.

But the Chiefs matched those two runs with two of their own in the top of the fourth. Worley looked to be out of the inning when he got ahead of Chico 1-2 with runners at first and second with two outs.

But Chico bounced the next pitch through the right side for an RBI single, leaving runners at first and third when Pete Orr beat the cut-off throw from Tracy to first. Then, Leonard Davis hit a bouncer into the hole on the right side that was knocked down by Dorta but went for an RBI infield single.

Worley walked Espinosa before getting Bixler on a pop-up to end the inning, then faced the minimum six batters over his last two innings thanks to a strong 4-6-3 double play turned after Orr's leadoff single in the sixth.

But Dobbs and Mayberry combined to tie the game in the bottom of the fifth inning. Dobbs opened the inning with a double down the right-field line, his first extra-base hit in 30 at-bats with the IronPigs, then scored when Mayberry dumped his second single into right center. But Chico got Tracy, Ransom and Dorta on flyouts to prevent further damage.

Pinch-hitter Neil Sellers had a two-out double off ex-IronPig Joe Bisenius in the sixth, but Bisenius' former teammate at Reading was stranded when Thompson went down swinging.

An inning later, Dorta reached third with one out on an infield single, a throwing error, and a wild pitch. But Wilkie struck out Dane Sardinha, and after an intentional walk to Brian Bocock, got pinch-hitter Ozzie Chavez on a comebacker to end the inning.

http://www.mcall.com/sports/baseball/ironpigs/mc-ironpigs-0824-20100824,0,6198301.story