Skip to main content

Reading advances to Eastern League Championship Series

jpcraw-tug
JP Crawford, image- Tug Haines
The Double-A Reading Fightins are headed to the Eastern League Championship Series for the first time since 2001 folowing a sweep of the Binghamton Mets in the opening round of the playoffs.

Top prospect J.P. Crawford led the offense, slamming a solo home run and reaching base three times via a walk. Outfielder Nick Williams, acquired in July's Cole Hamels trade, slugged a two-run homer, his second of the series.

Infielder Angelo Morda plated the other Reading run with a sacrifice fly.

Right-hander Ben Lively notched the win, tossing five innings while allowing two earned runs on four hits, striking out six and walking one. The 23-year-old was acquired last off-season from Cincinnati in a trade for outfielder Marlon Byrd.


The bullpen tossed four scoreless innings, capped off with a save by All-Star closer Stephen Shackleford, who led the EL with 30 saves, a team record, in the regular season.

Reading will open the championship round against the Bowie Baysox (Baltimore affiliate) on Tuesday night at home.

In the Class A short-season New York-Penn League playoffs, the Williamsport Crosscutters and the West Virginia Black Bears were rained out on Saturday. The deciding game of their best-of-three division series will be made up on Sunday at 5:05 PM with the Cutters as the host.

This post was originally published on Phillies Nation.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Slick fielding Sam is the Champion of the (PhoulBallz) world!

Phillies Ball(z)girl Sam Arnone was kind enough to answer some questions for the PhoulBallz site and all of you. Sam will be entering her 3rd season as a Phillies ballgirl and is a junior at Drexel University. Sam hails from the great town of Mt. Ephram, NJ. 1- Since the Phillies are the World Champions of baseball teams, are the Phillies ballgirls the world champions of ballgirl teams? - Of Course!!! There are not that many teams that have Ballgirls, so the competition is a little scarce. I would definitely put my team up against any other Ballgirl team with full confidence! 2- What is your routine to prepare for a day of on-field duties? - Before a game, I am always a little nervous. Once I am ready to leave my house and head to the ballpark I triple check my bag to make sure I have my glove and then I check again. I always have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on wheat because it keeps me full and gives me energy for the entire game. I guess I might have to find a new favorite sa

Bubby Rossman's long awaited MLB debut

Eight years after he initially signed a professional contract with the Dodgers and a five-year stretch playing away from affiliated ball, Bubby Rossman became a major leaguer on Wednesday. Added as a substitute for pitcher Kyle Gibson, who is restricted from travel to Canada for the Phillies' series in Toronto, due to his medical inability to be vaccinated from COVID-19, Rossman took the mound for the first time in the majors. Rossman, who was a 22nd round draft selection in 2014 had pitched in 200 professional games before his one-inning outing in the Phillies' 8-2 loss to the Blue Jays. In 27 appearances with Double-A Reading this year, the 30-year-old right-hander has performed well, tallying a 2-2 record with a save, a 3.32 ERA and a .200 batting average against.   The embedded video below features a media session with Rossman from prior to opening day this year, in which the California native discusses his journey through independent baseball and back to affiliated ball wi

2021 Phillies Top Prospects Countdown: #22 SS Casey Martin

Please visit Patreon.com/PhoulBallz in order to support my work, get access to material like this before anyone else and get access to interviews as well as other exclusive content you can't get anywhere else.   A third round draft pick last year, Arkansas junior Casey Martin was quickly signed by the Phillies and consideration as one of the organization's top infield prospects quickly began.  The team's confidence in his ceiling is likely evident in the signing bonus he got, which was reportedly $1.3 million, which was considerably more than slot money dictated by his 87th overall draft position ($685K). The right-handed batting Martin tallied a .311/.393/.545 slash line with 30 homers, 24 steals and 112 RBI in 143 games through his college career at Arkansas.  Reports had him falling in the draft as a result of an injury to the hamate bone in his left hand prior to his 2020 season.  Prior to the procedure, Baseball America projected Martin as a top ten draft pick.