Charlotte Knights can’t hold lead, fall to Lehigh Valley 4-2

Cedric Hunter’s go-ahead two-run single in the top of the ninth lifted the Lehigh Valley IronPigs (28-25) on the way to a 4-2 win over the Charlotte Knights (28-27) on Thursday night at BB&T BallPark.

A pair of walks and a single loaded the bases with one out to set the stage for Hunter’s single, which gave the Pigs a 3-2 lead. Will Venable followed with an RBI double into the right center-field gap to provide an insurance run for Lehigh Valley.

All three runs were charged to Knights right-handed pitcher Michael Ynoa, who was tagged with the loss and drops to 1-3 on the year.

Right-handed pitcher Luis Garcia got the win for the Pigs to improve to 3-1 on the year. Edward Mujica tossed a scoreless bottom of the ninth to notch his 14th save of the season.

Charlotte had taken a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the eighth when Tim Anderson led off with a single, advanced to second on a sac bunt, to third on a wild pitch and later scored on the second wild pitch of the inning by Garcia.

The game was scoreless until the top of the fifth as Pigs starter James Russell and Knights starter Erik Johnson traded zeroes.

In the top of the fifth, Brock Stassi’s solo shot off of Johnson gave the IronPigs a 1-0 lead. The home run was Stassi’s second of the season and extended his hitting streak to five games.

Charlotte tied things at one apiece in the bottom of the sixth with Omar Narvaez’s solo shot. Later in the inning, the Knights had the potential go-ahead run at second with two outs, but Severino Gonzalez fanned Matt Davidson to end the threat.

The series continues on Friday at 7:05 p.m. as right-handed pitcher Zach Eflin (5-1, 2.81) will be on the bump for the IronPigs against Charlotte right hander Jacob Turner (3-3, 5.50).

This story was originally published June 2, 2016 at 10:57 PM with the headline "Charlotte Knights can’t hold lead, fall to Lehigh Valley 4-2."