LAST TIME OUT: A five-run fourth powered the 'Pigs to an 8-4 win on Saturday night over Charlotte, giving them a chance to split the series on Sunday. Jordan Luplow and Cal Stevenson each hit solo homers and Kody Clemens knocked in a pair with a double. Tyler Phillips earned his third straight win, allowing four runs over seven innings, retiring the final 11 hitters he faced. Darick Hall had three hits as well in the game. Taylor Lehman and Jose Ruiz chipped in with a scoreless inning apiece in relief.
TODAY’S OPPONENT: Johan Dominguez makes the start on Sunday for Charlotte. Dominguez worked in relief earlier this week, working 1.1 scoreless innings, allowing just a walk back on Friday. He's made two starts already this year and has gone as many as five innings which was back on April 2 against Norfolk. SUNDAY SPLITS: The 'Pigs will be going for their third consecutive series split on Sunday against Charlotte. They earned a split last week against SWB by winning the series finale, while they dropped the series finale the week prior against Durham to split that series.
IF YOU'RE NOT FIRST YOU'RE LAST: The 'Pigs had scored first in seven consecutive games going into Saturday before they finally saw Charlotte get on the board first in the very first inning (the 'Pigs scored anyways in the last of the first just out of habit). Despite getting on the board first often of late, the 'Pigs went just 3-4 in those games and are 6-7 on the year when scoring first.
CHICKS DIG THE LONG BALL: After hitting just three homers in their first eight games, the 'Pigs have gone homer crazy since. They homered in 10 consecutive games, including hitting multiple homers in five of those games. That streak came to an end on Tuesday against Charlotte. During their streak, the 'Pigs hit 18 homers in the past 10 games which was tied for the most in the International League during that stretch. Strangely, it took the 'Pigs until the third game of the series to homer against Charlotte (Darick Hall) before they had their first multi-homer game of the week on Saturday (Luplow, Stevenson).
LONG BALL HALL: Darick Hall blasted his second homer of the season in the series finale against the RailRiders. It capped off a series for Hall where he went 8-for-20. In Hall's past 14 games, he's homered three times and driven in 14 runs, going 19-for-54 (.351). Hall needs just six more homers to tie Andy Tracy (69) for most homers in franchise history and 39 RBI to tie Tracy (261) for the RBI mark. He's driven in a run in six straight games, his longest run since also going six straight games from 8/4/21-8/10.
FRUIT LUP(LOW)'S: Jordan Luplow just saw a seven-game hitting streak come to an end in the series finale against SWB. Despite the 0-fer, Luplow still went 7-for-22 against SWB and was 13-for-30 during his streak with four homers and a 1.300 OPS. Luplow has eight multi-hit games to begin the season, all coming in his past 16 games, including his first four-hit game of the year on Friday night. Luplow homered for the fifth time this year on Saturday, tying him with Scott Kingery for the team lead.
BABY DAHL: David Dahl just saw his 12-game hitting streak come to an end as he struck out as a pinch-hitter on Friday night. He was 17-for-41 (.415) over the 12 game run and also reached base in in his first 14 games of the season.
KODY KOMES BACK UP: Kody Clemens got his first recall of the season as the Phillies recalled him on April 22 to take the place of Bryce Harper who was placed on the paternity list. Clemens was optioned back down to Lehigh Valley on April 25 after homering in his only start for the Phillies. He had slashed .270/.333/.508 with four doubles, one triple, three home runs, 11 RBI and 13 runs scored for the IronPigs through 16 games this season. From April 9-17, Clemens collected six extra-base hits in a seven-game span and registered two three-hit games during the stretch.
ONE STEP FORWARD, ONE STEP BACK: So far this season, the IronPigs have not had a winning streak (or losing streak) longer than two games. The 'Pigs have now lost back-to-back games three times (3/30-3/31, 4/17-4/18, 4/23-4/24) but have ripped off back-to-back wins just twice (4/6-4/7g1 and 4/12-4/13).
SILENT KNIGHTS: Last year, the 'Pigs and Knights played just three games, all coming at Coca-Cola Park out of the All-Star break. The 'Pigs swept the series, thanks in part to a phenomenal pitching display. 'Pigs pitching recorded two shutouts to open the series and allowed just one run total, stringing together 23 consecutive innings to start the series.
PRESIDENT BUCHANAN: An executive order of no walks, David Buchanan has now strung together three straight outings without allowing a walk, encompassing 19.1 innings. He's allowed just four runs for a 1.86 ERA during the stretch. The longest walk-less streak in franchise history was Dave Bush in 2012, who went 30.2 IP.