Skip to main content

BlueClaws victorious in Jersey Shore and High A debut

Ben Brown, image- Jay Floyd
LAKEWOOD, NJ- In the inagural contest under their new moniker and their initial contest as a Class A Advanced level club, the Jersey Shore BlueClaws were victorious, as they downed the Hudson Valley Renegades by a score of 6-2 on Tuesday night.

Starting pitcher Ben Brown, who underwent Tommy John surgery in the summer of 2019, tossed four scoreless frames, striking out six and walking one.  

After the Renegades took a 1-0 lead on an RBI double by third baseman James Nelson off of reliever Tyler McKay in the top of the 5th inning, the BlueClaws did not wait long to clap back.  

A looping opposite field single by right fielder Jhailyn Ortiz plated two runs to give the BlueClaws the lead.  Catcher Logan O'Hoppe launched a homer in convincing fashion, plating Ortiz, to pad the home club's lead.

Jersey Shore's third and fourth batters in the lineup lead the offense again in the 7th inning when Ortiz plated another run on a single and O'Hoppe laced a double to score Ortiz, giving the 'Claws a 6-1 lead.

Braden Zarbnisky earned the win with two scoreless innings in relief.  Dom Pipkin closed out the victory, allowing a run in two innings pitched.  

The win puts the BlueClaws' record at 9-11 all-time on opening day.  

This was the club's High A debut after spending their first 19 seasons as the Phillies' Class A affiliate.  The change was a result of widespread reallignment of affiliated minor league teams during the most record off-season.  

The BlueClaws also underwent a rebranding this past winter.  In an effort to better represent their home territory, the team did away with claiming Lakewood as home and instead now holds down the entire Jersey Shore region.

BlueClaws manager Chris Adamson was hired more than a year ago, but as a result of last year's cancelled minor league season, due to the pandemic, he was making his debut in the Phils organization.  

Adamson spoke of Ben Brown's spring season and overall progress prior to the opener:

"He's been electric.  Velocity's been up.  One of the biggest things, to be honest, is he's really just trusting his body.  Everytime he gets on the mound, he's trusting it.  He's the strongest he's ever been and he really used last year to make a lot of strides to move forward.  He got strong physically and learned a lot about himself from a mental standpoint.  He just goes out and competes his butt off every single day."

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Rappers in Phillies Caps

Weekend greetings to you phine pholks out there. Today's post features pictures of rappers wearing Phillies caps. Why rappers in Phillies caps, you ask? Because... Any other questions? We will start things off properly by going with a highly recognizable hip hop star. 50 Cent stays constantly relavant by consistantly creating radio friendly material to help sell (G) units, while he "keeps it real" by still rapping about the thug life he lived before becoming the 2nd highest earning black entertainer in America. 50 is seen here in a recent interview rocking a throw-back Phillies cap. Next up we'll use a throw-back screen cap from what may be the very first major appearance by a rapper wearing Phillies gear. Chuck D, of legendary rap group Public Enemy, wore a Phillies cap in the music video for rap anthem Fight The Power in 1989. The song was the lead single from the soundtrack for Spike Lee's film Do The Right Thing . Next up we'll go with some home grown tal...

Lidge Shaky, T-Mac Honored in Trenton

TRENTON, NJ- Brad Lidge made his second rehab appearance for the Double A Reading Phillies on Thursday night and it didn't go as well as the veteran reliever or the team had hoped. Lidge struggled with his command and turned in a rather poor outing for the club that entered the night in a playoff race, 1 game behind division rival Trenton for the Wild Card spot in the Eastern Division. On the disabled list since spring training with a strained right rotator cuff, Lidge experienced an elbow strain when he was working back from that issue in late May. In his outing against the Yankees affiliate in Trenton, Lidge displayed difficulty with his control as he threw three wild pitches, hit two batters, walked another and gave up a single, all while letting up two earned runs on 28 pitches in 2/3 of an inning. After the disappointing performance, Lidge was composed and focused on some positive aspects, having reached 89 and 90 MPH on scouts' radar guns, according to some reports. ...

Drabek Preparing For Next Step

The transition has been easy for Kyle Drabek. In December, he was part of a package of young prospects that was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for ace pitcher Roy Halladay. Now, as though nothing has changed, he's right back where he was last season...the star prospect on the pitching staff of a team in the Double A Eastern League. Drabek has often stated that he wanted to stay in the Philadelphia organization, who drafted him in the first round of the 2006 amateur draft. The 22-year-old thought after the midseason trade rumors, that surrounded him possibly going to Toronto last year, passed with no action that all the turmoil was over and that he could simply relax and focus on getting to the big leagues with the Phillies. That wasn't the case, as the deal eventually came to fruition over the off-season. In the Blue Jays system this season, Drabek doesn't have to worry about being dealt. He only has to concern himself with opposing batters and working on his secondary pit...