•HIGHLIGHTS: In its first-ever visit to Coca-Cola Park in Allentown, Pawtucket came away with a victory over Lehigh Valley in a bizarre contest in which the PawSox were outhit and squandered numerous scoring chances.

The PawSox had a chance to break the game open in the first inning, but were held to one run on a sacrifice fly by Jed Lowrie. Lowrie was robbed of extra bases when IronPigs left fielder Chris Snelling made an over-the-shoulder catch à la Willie Mays.

Pawtucket was then handed two unearned runs in the second, courtesy of Lehigh Valley starting pitcher Les Walrond, who threw wildly past third base on Chad Spann’s bunt that allowed two runners to score. The play gave the PawSox a 3-1 advantage with none out, but they could not tack on additional runs.

Jonathan Van Every led off the fifth inning with an opposite-field home run to left that gave the PawSox a 4-1 lead.

Joe Thurston added a fifth run for Pawtucket in the sixth inning, but again, the bases were left loaded.

Right-hander Clay Buchholz got his first win in his fifth appearance for the PawSox. Buchholz went six innings in his longest outing for Pawtucket and allowed only an unearned run on six hits. He walked two and struck out eight in a 91-pitch outing. After a shaky start, he retired 10 of the final 13 batters he faced.

•KEY OF THE GAME: Good defense by the PawSox behind Buchholz. In the bottom of the third, Sean Danielson threw out Rich Thompson at the plate from right field for the first out. Later in the frame, Jeff Bailey started an inning-ending 3-6 double play to help Buchholz.

•NOTES: Pawtucket is 5-0 against Lehigh Valley this season. … … The PawSox are 36-2 when they lead after six innings. … Despite intermittent rain, the game was uninterrupted. … Hunter Jones pitched two scoreless innings in relief of Buchholz, and Chris Smith finished up the ninth by striking out the side. Pawtucket was outhit, 10-6, but Walrond issued six walks and Lehigh Valley committed three errors.

•THEY SAID IT: “They know. They read the papers,” Lehigh Valley Dave Huppert said of his players on facing Daisuke Matsuzaka tomorrow night in a rehab start for the PawSox.

•UP NEXT: Pawtucket continues its four-game series against the IronPigs with an afternoon matchup today featuring a pair of right-handers — David Pauley (8-2, 4.04) for the PawSox against the Pigs’ Steve Green (2-0, 2.97).