Chuck King shines in Triple-A debut as IronPigs top Bulls 5-3

Lehigh Valley got the exact kind of return it needed from a fresh arm. Chuck King threw six innings in his Triple-A debut Thursday night, allowed two runs on four hits, and gave the IronPigs a 5-3 win over Durham at Coca-Cola Park.

King did not need overpowering stuff to make the night work. He walked three, struck out five, and kept the game from tilting while Lehigh Valley built an early lead and protected it late. For a club that has already leaned on depth this season, the outing looked like immediate value: length, stability and a clean handoff to the bullpen in a game that could have turned messy.

The IronPigs set the tone right away. They opened the bottom of the first with three straight hits, then Otto Kemp drove in the first run. Christian Cairo followed with an RBI groundout to make it 2-0, and Carter Kieboom capped the inning with an RBI single for a quick 3-0 cushion. That mattered because it let King attack the zone with a lead instead of pitching from behind, and it gave Lehigh Valley room to manage the rest of the night on its own terms.

Durham pushed back, but never quite got control. Tatem Levins, activated from the injured list before the game, homered in the second inning in his first Triple-A at-bat to cut the deficit to 3-1. Brock Jones then used a safety squeeze in the fourth to pull the Bulls within a run. Lehigh Valley answered immediately in the fifth, when Bryan De La Cruz singled home a run and Cairo added a sacrifice fly to restore a two-run edge at 5-2.

The Bulls kept scraping. Carlos Colmenarez delivered a two-out RBI single in the ninth, but Jonathan Hernández finished it off for the save.

The win gave Lehigh Valley seven of the first nine meetings in the season series against Durham and extended a strong run that already included the first 4-0 start in franchise history and three straight one-run wins earlier in the year. It also strengthened the case that King could be more than a spot start, especially for a pitching staff that needs innings as much as it needs outs. The teams were scheduled to meet again Friday at 6:35 p.m., with Ryan Cusick set to start for Lehigh Valley and Jon Heasley for Durham.