The IronPigs rattled off wins in the first five games of their home series against Norfolk last week as a couple of key players have started to come alive.

Twice in the series, the IronPigs came up with a walk-off home run and throughout, looked quite comfortable battling from behind.

One of the hot bats has been veteran Cal Stevenson.

Going into the All-Star Break, Stevenson was on a 3-for-18 (.167) streak and hitting .222 on the season for Lehigh Valley.

Since then, he is on an 11-for-28 (.393) run in nine games with a four-game hitting streak that began on Thursday night, when he did something that has never been done before in IronPigs history.

The 28-year-old delivered the first ever pinch-hit, walk-off home run in franchise history. Stevenson was pinch-hitting for left fielder Matt Kroon and hit a 2-2 pitch out for the 5-3 win over the Norfolk Tides.

A night earlier, Stevenson was ejected after the umpire ruled that he waited too long to challenge a strike call while he was at the plate. Stevenson argued the call and manager Anthony Contreras joined in, but to no avail.

Oscar Mercado has hits in nine of his last 10 games and is batting .324 (12-for-37) since just before the break.

Mercado, 30, has two home runs and nine RBI during that stretch, and a line of 9-54-.252/.370/.389 to go with 35 stolen bases in 43 attempts, ranking him third in Triple-A baseball with four more than teammate Justin Crawford, who is tied for fourth.

To add an exclamation mark, Mercado threw a runner out at the plate the other night, as did Kroon. Both throws came in Saturday’s game with the score tied 1-1 at the time.

Gabriel Rincones Jr, came close to hitting a ball completely out of Coca-Cola Park Saturday night when he smashed a home run to left field that was measured at 411 feet, and was the hardest hit ball of the season at CCP with an exit velocity of 113.1 miles per hour for his 11th home run of the season.

Rincones has also found some speed and has six stolen bases in the month of July.

Reliever Guillo Zuniga has also gotten hot. The right-hander had a season-high 6.38 ERA back on June 11, and since then has lowered it to 4.78. The velocity on his fastball in the ninth inning and beyond has ticked up to 96.8 miles per hour this season, and he has 34 strikeouts in 32 innings of work.

Adonis Medina got a spot start in a bullpen game on Saturday, and the Pigs hoped he could give them two innings since his season-high in pitches thrown was 29. Instead, he doubled that and threw 58 pitches over the span of four innings, allowing just one run. Lehigh Valley rallied for six runs in the eighth to take a 7-1 win.

WHERE IS EVERYBODY? ... Keaton Anthony hit his first Triple-A home run Tuesday afternoon at Coca-Cola Park. When he got back to the dugout, he found it completely empty. The players gave their teammate the ultimate silent treatment and not only ignored him, but left the dugout. The ball went down a tunnel out of the ballpark in left field and was retrieved by a member of the Service Electric crew who made sure it was returned to Anthony.

ROAD TRIP ... Lehigh Valley heads to Worcester to face the Red Sox – or as fans refer to them, the Woo-Sox – for a six-game series. On Thursday, Aaron Nola will make his first rehab start with Lehigh Valley. Nola went on the IL May 16 with a sprained ankle and mild rib fracture. On his way through the minor league system, he pitched just two games at Triple-A before making his MLB debut and allowed one run in 10.1 innings as an IronPig. Look for him to pitch somewhere in the first three games of Lehigh Valley’s home series next week against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Wednesday’s game is a doubleheader to make up for a rainout earlier in the season.

WHO’S THE OLD GUY? ... David Robertson entered Saturday night’s game in the sixth inning and at 40 years of age, became the oldest player in Lehigh Valley IronPigs history. The Phillies signed Robertson as a free agent last week and have him pitching for the IronPigs to get into game shape before joining the Phillies. IronPigs hitting coach Adam Lind faced Robertson in the majors and hit .308 (4-for-13) against him with a home run, four walks, and six strikeouts.