There’s good news to report on both the pitching and offensive sides of the ledger for the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.

After a successful homestand, Lehigh Valley went on the road for six games in Richmond and six more after that in Charlotte. After two rainouts in Norfolk, the Pigs were ready to come out firing and won five of the six games they played against the Tides.

The Lehigh Valley pitching staff struck out 16 hitters Friday to beat Norfolk 4-2. Mick Abel started for the Pigs and struck out eight for the second consecutive start, allowing just an unearned run in 4 2/3 innings. The franchise record for strikeouts in a game is 18, which has been done twice with the last time coming against Louisville on June 11, 2011.

Abel had a one-game audition with the Phillies recently and will be returning to the Phillies this week to start against the Toronto Blue Jays. The move allows the Phillies to put Taijuan Walker back into the bullpen as they slide Abel into Aaron Nola’s spot in the rotation while Nola is on the IL.

Devin Sweet, who earned the win in relief, struck out one in 1 1/3 innings. Sweet was followed by Joel Kuhnel, who struck out three in a scoreless seventh. Seth Johnson picked up in the eighth and punched out two more, while Daniel Robert struck out two in a perfect ninth to record his third save of the season. Johnson ended up being promoted to the Phillies this past Sunday.

In sweeping a doubleheader Saturday in Norfolk, the IronPigs became the first team in all of baseball to reach the 40-win plateau.

The first game went extra innings with Peyton Henry driving in the winning run with a base hit, before Michael Mercado retired the side in order to finish it off for the Pigs. Mercado worked two scoreless frames for the win, allowing just two hits and a walk, striking out two.

In the nightcap, Otto Kemp got the green light on a 3-0 pitch and launched his league-leading 13th home run. Justin Crawford has been hot at the plate and produced a run nearly on his own in the seventh when he singled, stole second, went to third on an errant pickoff attempt, and then scored on Kemp’s sacrifice fly to put Lehigh Valley ahead comfortably 5-1.

Then, in the final game of the series on Sunday, the Pigs declared June to be the start of hittin’ season when they put up nine runs in the third inning.

The nine-run inning opened with an RBI double for Christian Arroyo, before a wild pitch scored Gabriel Rincones Jr. A bases-loaded walk to Rafael Lantigua forced home another, and Crawford followed with his third hit of the day to drive in two more runs. The Pigs loaded the bases with two outs, and Rincones capped the frame with an opposite field grand slam — his sixth homer of the season and second grand slam — to make it 12-1.

The nine runs fell just one shy of the Lehigh Valley record for runs in an inning, which was set on July 26, 2023 against Syracuse when it put up 10 runs.

IN GOOD STANDING … Lehigh Valley (41-16) currently holds the best record in the International League, which would make it first-half champions if it can hold onto that distinction. Currently, Jacksonville has the next best record at 34-23, seven games behind the Pigs. The first half ends on June 23, meaning the Pigs have 18 games scheduled between now and then. In case you’re counting, that puts the magic number for Lehigh Valley to clinch the first half championship at 12. The first-half champion would host the team with the best record in the league over the second half of the season in a three-game LCS in September, and the winner of that series would represent the IL at the Triple-A championship game in Las Vegas.

WELCOME HOME … Parkland High School graduate Gabe Mosser was promoted to Lehigh Valley from Double-A Reading recently, which moves him even closer to home. The 28-year-old pitched for El Paso, the Triple-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres last season and went 7-7 with a 5.40 ERA in 26 starts for the Chihuahuas. He was 2-4 in eight starts for Reading with a 5.01 ERA, and made one start with Lehigh Valley (two earned runs in four innings) prior to being placed on the Developmental List.

WHO’S THE OTHER NEWBIE? ... That would be Josh Walker, who the Phillies acquired from Toronto for cash considerations recently. Walker spent four seasons at Triple-A Syracuse (Mets) and spent part of the 2023 and 2024 seasons in the majors with the Mets, posting a 6.45 ERA in 24 relief appearances over those two seasons. With Toronto this season, Walker had a 7.20 ERA in three relief appearances before being designated for assignment on May 25.