IronPigs hang on for 5-4 win to stay out of basement

FROM THE MORNING CALL

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — When9 the International League season ends three weeks from today, there's a pretty good chance that IronPigs pitcher Brian Mazone will lead the league in losses.

But that won't tell the story of how the veteran left-hander has performed this summer.

Mazone allowed one earned run over six innings, lowering his ERA to 3.71, but had to settle for a no-decision in Lehigh Valley's 5-4 win over Rochester on Sunday afternoon at Frontier Field.


An errant pickoff throw by reliever Michael Schwimer led to an eighth-inning sacrifice fly by pinch-hitter D'Angelo Jimenez — Rochester's third unearned run in the game — that tied the game at 4-4. But John Mayberry Jr.'s leadoff homer in the ninth, his 14th, down the left-field line snapped the tie.

Scott Mathieson gave up a leadoff single in the ninth and later issued a one-out walk but got the final two outs to preserve the win for Mike Zagurski (2-3), only the third in 19 games for the IronPigs (47-74). The save was Mathieson's club-record 21st save and first in three weeks.

Rochester (46-77) saw its five-game win streak come to an end and fell two games behind the IronPigs in the IL's Northern Division.

Mazone, (6-12) allowed eight hits, struck out five and walked one. In his last 13 starts he is 3-6 despite a 3.35 ERA.

Mazone took a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the sixth but two errors by third baseman Cody Ransom led to two unearned runs for the Red Wings that tied the game. However, Andy Tracy followed singles by Ozzie Chavez and Mayberry with a grounder through the right side for an RBI single that chased in Chavez to snap the deadlock and put Mazone in position for only his second win in his last eight starts.

The IronPigs later loaded the bases in the inning but Mayberry was thrown out trying to score on Chris Aguila's fly to right to end the inning. They also squandered a second-and-third, one-out threat in the eighth when Rochester shortstop Matt Macri turned an over-the-shoulder catch of Chavez's flare into left center into an inning-ending double play when Paul Hoover broke for the plate.

Overall the IronPigs (47-74) stranded 11 base runners, hitting into three double plays, and were 3-for-16 with runners in scoring position.

A leadoff double by Brian Bocock and Chavez's RBI single gave the IronPigs a 1-0 lead in the third, and Matt Rizzotti followed a leadoff walk to Ransom in the fourth with an RBI double that doubled the lead to 2-0. Dustin Martin's leadoff double led to Erik Lis' sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fourth cut the lead in half, but a hit-batter and a walk set up Ransom's two-out RBI single in the fifth that restored Lehigh Valley's two-run lead.