Five Run Explosion Powers Chiefs Past IronPigs for Ninth Straight

By James Anderson

Syracuse Chiefs 3rd Baseman Jason Martinson takes a swing 

Syracuse, N.Y. - Momentum can be a wonderful thing.

Bright spots have been hard to come by this season. But the Syracuse Chiefs have something going this year, that the year prior cannot claim -- a nine game winning streak.

And it appears to show no signs of slowing, that momentum or the win streak, after a large five-run 4^th inning that put the Chiefs in front for good to knock off the Lehigh Valley IronPigs 9-5, Wednesday night at NBT Bank Stadium.

After two solidly pitched innings for both squads, Lehigh Valley got on the board first with Logan Moore ripping a ground-rule double down the right field line that got lost somewhere in the IronPigs' bullpen area. Two batters later, Chase d’Arnaud brought in Moore from 3^rd to go up 1-0.

Syracuse answered quickly in the bottom half of the inning, first with a sacrifice bunt by starting pitcher Paolo Espino. That scored Caleb Ramsey, who had walked to lead off. Emmanuel Burriss put one up the middle for a RBI single, reeling in Dan Butler and putting the Chiefs up 2-1. It was a lead they would not relinquish.

The IronPigs tied it up one last time in the next inning, as Kelly Dugan connected on a hit to right to score Tyler Pastornicky to knot it at 2.

After a groundout to start the bottom of the 4^th, Matt den Dekker, attempting to keep pace with the club’s streak, slapped a base hit into right field to extend his hitting streak to nine games. Ramsey followed suit with a hit, and then that momentum started rolling.

Butler turned on a pitch and laced it down the left field line, bringing both men home for a 2-RBI double. It was a pivotal moment in the contest, and Butler spoke after the game of creating opportunities for himself.

“Yeah, I mean I was working on some stuff in the cage today before the game with our hitting coach Joe Dillon, and made a couple adjustments before the game.” Butler said.

Burriss brought Butler around with an RBI double of his own to make it 5-2, and a two-run double from Martinson busted it open, KO’ing the starting pitcher and giving the Chiefs a 7-2 lead. The IronPigs starter, Anthony Vasquez, went just three and two-thirds innings, giving up seven runs on eight hits and took the loss, falling to 7-5.

After the game Chiefs manager Billy Gardner said he is pleased with his team's progress this year.

"I think these guys, we've walked over some hot coals for a while, we had a 12 game winning streak, lost 18 out of 19, you know, but these guys continue to grind it out, play hard to the last out," Gardner said. "They don't give up, and I think the clubhouse environment is really good right now."

Lehigh Valley struck back in the 5^th  an RBI double just sailing over den Dekker’s head in center, and punctuated by a Bogusevic home run bomb to right, scoring two and cutting the score to 7-5. But it would be all the IronPigs could muster, and the Chiefs’ Martinson added a two-RBI double of his own in the 6^th to put to final tally at 9-5.

The Chiefs’ starter Espino went the minimum but picked up the win and is now 5-5 on the year. He went five innings, surrendering five runs on nine hits.

Syracuse plays the final game of the series against Lehigh Valley Thursday at 7:05 PM at NBT Bank Stadium, looking for its tenth straight victory. Richard Bleier (3-1, 2.78 ERA) takes the hill for the Chiefs, vs Jesse Biddle (2-2, 4.88 ERA).