Skip to main content

Reading loses, down 0-2 in Division Series to Trenton

By
r-pinto-2
Ricardo Pinto, image- Jay Floyd



TRENTON, NJ-- In a game that seemed like a struggle from the moment they fell behind, the Reading Fightin Phils fell behind 0-2 in the best-of-five Double-A Eastern League division playoffs to the Trenton Thunder with a 9-4 defeat at ARM & HAMMER Park on Thursday.

Reading scored first in the contest, taking a 1-0 lead in the opening frame when Roman Quinn, who singled, stole second and moved over to third on a ground out, scored on a sacrifice fly by catcher Jorge Afaro.

In the bottom of the 3rd inning, Trenton went ahead 2-1 on a sac fly by Dustin Fowler and an RBI double by Miguel Andujar against Reading starter Ricardo Pinto.

Pinto would start the 4th inning, but would not record an out as he left the game after opening the frame surrendering a walk, a single and an RBI double. Jesen Therrien would enter the game at that point, surrendering a sac fly to former Phillies prospect Sebastian Valle that put Trenton up 4-1.

Reading got the game back within a single run in the 5th when Quinn knocked in a run on a fielders choice and Christian Marrero plated another run on a ground out.

Trenton clapped back quickly, notching two more runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning on a pair of sac flies putting the Thunder lead at 6-3.

Slugger Dylan Cozens launched a home run out of the park and into the Delaware River to lead off the 6th, trimming the deficit to 6-4.

Thunder reliever J.P. Feyereisen mowed down the meat of the Reading line up, striking out Alfaro with two runners on to end the 7th. He then struck out Cozens, drew a long fly out from first baseman Rhys Hoskins and got veteran masher Jake Fox to ground out.

Right-hander Miguel Nunez gave up three Thunder insurance runs in the 8th as he allowed five straight base runners after retiring the first two batters of the frame. Tyler Jones would toss a scoreless 9th to close it out for Trenton.

"I thought that our bats were good. I think that the bullpen struggled a little bit, but I think, you know, that's a lot of young guys coming into games that had never been in that situation before," Fightins manager Dusty Wathan stated following the game.

Wathan joked after the loss that dropping both road games of the series was all part of the team's plan.

"Well, we were planning to lose the first two and then winning the last three at home because it's way more fun to do it that way," Wathan said with a smirk.

The series continues with game three in Reading on Friday night with lefty Elniery Garcia (12-4 record, 2.68 ERA in 20 outings for Class A Advanced Clearwater) slated to make his Double-A debut for the Fightins.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PhoulBallz Q&A with Mike Stutes

By
Mike Stutes completes "The Reading Phils Mike Tri-fecta" over three days, here on PhoulBallz.com. Stutes, a 22 year old, was an 11th round selection by the Phillies in the 2008 amateur draft. Stutes, a right handed starting pitcher, helped lead Oregon State to the College World Series championship in both 2006 and 2007. Stutes and teammate Vance Worley are the first players to begin a season at Reading the year after being drafted since Pat Burrell did it in 1999. Stutes was the Phils' minor league pitcher of the month in August '08, when he went 4-1 with a 1.72 ERA in 6 starts. Check out my Q&A with the third Mike below. Can I get you to talk about the coaching staff and how they help you deal with ups and downs? They've been real positive with me. I started out good and then I hit a rough patch. They've stuck with me through it all. I haven't heard any negative words from them. Every day they try to come out, work with me, try to get me turned around...
5 comments
Read more

Jason Knapp Q&A

By
PhoulBallz .com was fortunate enough to meet with Phillies prospect Jason Knapp just one day after he caught the attention of the baseball world with his 7 shut out innings, 14 strike out performance against the Indians' Lake County team. - I asked Jason, the Lakewood BlueClaw , for some thoughts about his big game... I had pretty good command of three pitches (fastball, curve, change up). I was on the same page with my catcher, D'Arnaud , and I ended up, ya know, I felt pretty good. - In a great performance like that, how much credit goes to Travis D'Arnaud , the catcher? More than you might expect, definitely. I didn't shake him off once. He told me what to throw and I do what I'm told. And if it works out, a lot of the credit goes to the catcher. - Does the lack of run support (Lakewood has scored 3 total runs in his 3 starts), in your few starts, increase your stress level, or enhance your focus? No, I just try to go out and do my job every outing. Ya know, we...
5 comments
Read more

Yankees Fans Misled By Pepsi Promotion

By
**** Today, New York Yankees fans attended a Pepsi promotion in Times Square hoping for chances to win opening day tickets to the new stadium, but the tickets, which were difficult to track down due to poor organization on Pepsi's part, were actually for a game in June. Furthermore, the 250 pairs that were promised were actually only 100 pairs. The fans, who were made to sprint through traffic over multiple city blocks when locations for the promotion changed, quickly turned against the soda brand by pooring out their beverages and chanting anti-Pepsi phrases. Yankees fans are even threatening a boycott of Pepsi. An appearance by Yankee great Goose Gossage could not even settle the angry mob, as he had to be whisked away, as a precaution, according to the Daily News . Ooo , I'd hate to see what "the worst fans in sports" (Philadelphia fans) would have done to their free Pepsi cans and beloved reliever in that situation. Because this happened in a non-Philly city, th...
5 comments
Read more