Minor League Report: Crawford leads ‘Pigs to 12th straight win

33807167656_386de4a22c_o

By Brandon Apter, Sports Talk Philly editor

The Lehigh Valley Ironpigs, Triple-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies, are one of the hottest teams in professional baseball. At 26-13, they lead the International League's Northern Division and they kept rolling on Wednesday night with a comeback 11-8 win in Rochester, extending their franchise-best win streak to 12.

There was more than one difference maker in last night's game, but Phillies top prospect JP Crawford had one of his best offensive games of the season, going 3-for-3 with two runs scored and four RBIs. His biggest hit came in the 11th inning, a two-run single to put Lehigh Valley ahead 10-8. 

In his first at-bat of the night, he singled home Roman Quinn, who tripled to lead off the game. In the third, Crawford hit another RBI single, this time to drive in Pedro Florimon. He drew a walk in the fourth as well. Crawford's average moved from .165 to .183 last night, and he's really come alive at the plate in the Ironpigs series in Rochester. Through the first three games of the four-game set, he's hitting 6-for-13 with a double, home run, five RBIs, two walks, three runs scored and 10 total bases. Crawford is hitting .240 in May, which is nothing too special, but considering his April saw him hitting .145, it's a step in the right direction.

"I'm just focused on having good at-bats, putting good swings on the ball," Crawford told MiLB.com. "I want to keep doing the same thing, keep working hard before the game to perfect my swing. I'm just trying to keep working at it, and you make a little progress each day."

Crawford wasn't the only one who had a good night offensively. Lehigh Valley trailed by deficits of 4-1 and 8-4 before taking the lead in extras. Speedy outfielder Roman Quinn fell a double short of the cycle, going 4-for-6 with a triple, homer, two RBIs and four runs scored. Rhys Hoskins hit his ninth home run of the season and Nick Williams also went deep, his third of the year. Switch-pitcher Pat Venditte got the win, tossing 2.1 scoreless frames. Has has yet to allow a run in 21 innings pitched. 

Go to top button