Mud Hens falter in 9th against Lehigh Valley

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — The Mud Hens entered the bottom of the ninth on Saturday hoping for extra innings. The IronPigs had other thoughts.

Lehigh Valley scored once in the last frame to sneak past Toledo 4-3 as the Mud Hens dropped the opener of a four-game road series against the IronPigs.

Lehigh Valley broke up a tie game on Cesar Hernandez' sacrifice fly off Toledo relief pitcher Matt Hoffman to left field, which scored John Suomi from third base.

Hoffman earned the loss, his first of the year. Thad Weber had thrown eight solid innings for the Hens. He allowed seven hits, three earned runs, and two walks to go with eight strikeouts.

Toledo took an early lead on Danny Dorn's solo home run off Lehigh Valley's Tyler Cloyd in the second inning. John Lindsey pushed the Hens' lead to 2-0 on a solo homer to lead off the fourth.

The IronPigs cut Toledo's lead on Cody Overbeck's shot over the fence in the fifth.

The teams traded runs in the sixth with Toledo stretching its lead to 3-1 on Ben Guez' RBI double, scoring Don Kelly. Lehigh Valley came back in the bottom of the inning on Jake Fox's single which plated Hernandez.

The IronPigs tied the game in the eighth when Pete Orr scored on Jason Pridie's single.

Phillippe Aumont earned the win for Lehigh Valley.