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Pigs lose another close one

ALLENTOWN - Another day at Coca Cola Park and yet another frustrating one-run loss.

A pair of errors led to three unearned runs and the Bison bullpen sat the IronPigs down as Buffalo nipped Lehigh Valley 6-5.The IronPigs struck first. Clean up hitter John Mayberry singled and scored on first baseman Neil Sellers double to give Lehigh Valley a 1-0 lead.Lehigh Valley starter Nate Bump got nickel and dimed all day as bloops and dinks found holes and errors doomed his start. He gave up a weak single to Emmanuel Garcia who was sacrificed to second by Bison starter Tobi Stoner.With one out, Jesus Feliciano grounded to IronPig shortstop Brian Bocock who caught Garcia in a run down. As Lehigh Valley's Cody Ransom was tagging Garcia, the ball squirted free allowing runners at first and third with one out.Andy Green and Mike Hessman would add RBI singles to give Buffalo a 2-1 edge.In the fourth, Josh Thole led off with a double and scored on Feliciano's sacrifice fly. With two outs and two on, Green lined a single to centerfielder Rich Thompson. His fielding error allowed another run to score."Every time we made an error, they capitalize on that," Huppert said.Green collected a second RBI in the sixth. His sacrifice fly drove in Feliciano who had tripled to lead off the inning to give Buffalo a 6-2 lead.The IronPigs got back into the game. Mayberry singled, stole a base, and scored on Ransom's double. Sellers' sacrifice fly drove in Ransom to cut the score to 6-4. Another Sellers RBI in the eighth cut the gap to one but Buffalo's John Lujan struck out the side in the ninth.Sellers, a .300 hitter with power at Reading, had one of his best days since the season started by going 2-for-3 with a sacrifice and three runs batted in."It's nice those hits fell today, especially with men on," Sellers said. "Hopefully we can get a few more those as a team.""He hasn't struck out much all year, he's hit the ball well," Huppert said of Sellers. "He works hard, comes to play every day and gives you a quality at-bat."The frustration through the whole season to date wore on Sellers as he tried to find the solution to his hitting woes."I've done a little bit of everything. I think I was over thinking," Sellers said. "It's nice if you can keep this game simple. Hopefully I am out of (the slump)."Two of the best prospect in the Met organization racked up three hits.The International League's top hitter Jesus Feliciano had three hits to raise his average to .383. He also drove in a run and scored two.Catching prospect Josh Thole also had three hits.Brian Schneider completed his rehab stint by catching all nine innings.Although he was hitless in eight at-bats, he still expects to be activated Tuesday when the Phillies visit the Mets.