It was a tough night for pitching in the Lehigh Valley with both Reading and Jersey Shore giving up 10 runs and Lehigh Valley’s bullpen coming apart late in the game to sink the IronPigs. The only pitching success of the night came from the Clearwater Threshers who won 6-1.
| R | H | E | |
| Lehigh Valley | 3 | 4 | 1 |
| Scranton/Wilkes-Barre | 4 | 5 | 0 |
THREE ISN’T ENOUGH… Lehigh Valley managed just four hits against SWB pitching, but two of them were for extra bases… Nick Maton hit his third home run of the season, a two-run shot in the fifth inning and Will Toffey doubled and stole two bases… The IronPigs also whiffed 10 times in the game with four players – Bryson Stott, Darick Hall, Drew Maggi and John Andreoli – all striking out twice in the game… Stott was playing his first game since being optioned to Lehigh Valley on Monday.
HR: LV – Maton (3); SWB – none
AN ERRANT NOTE FROM SINGER… Jeff Singer came into the game to pitch the ninth looking for his first save of the season, but a hit, two walks and a throwing error on Singer all came before the first out of the inning as the RailRiders scored two ninth inning runs to win 4-3. The blown save was the first of the season for Singer… Ricardo Sanchez had his best start of the season with three shutout innings giving up one hit and three walks while striking out five. The three strong innings lowered his ERA to 4.38 with Lehigh Valley… Jonathan Hennigan threw two shutout innings and Connor Brogdon remains unscored upon since returning to the IronPigs, covering a total of 3 2/3 innings.
WP: Greene (3-0, 4.82), LP: Singer (1-1, 2.45), SV: none
PIG NOTES… RHP Bailey Falter was optioned back to Lehigh Valley Monday and LHP Damon Jones was recalled to join the Phillies bullpen. Former Phillies super-utility player Ronald Torreyes, likely unhappy with playing time at Lehigh Valley, asked for and was granted his unconditional release… Scranton took advantage of weak arms behind the plate for Lehigh Valley and stole six bases in the game. Opponents have now stolen 18 straight bases against IronPigs catchers.
COMING ATTRACTIONS… James Marvel (0-3, 12.51) goes for the IronPigs Thursday night against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s Deivi Garcia (0-1, 7.84). The two teams will meet in a doubleheader Friday night with Michael Mariot and Colton Eastman starting for Lehigh Valley.
| Game One | R | H | E |
| Reading | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| New Hampshire | 10 | 14 | 0 |
SILENT BATS… A double from Madison Stokes and a Wendell Rijo home run were the only two hits of the game for Reading, who did manage to draw 5 walks in the game while striking out four times… Jhailyn Ortiz continued to struggle as April nears its end. He is now has one hit in his last 12 at-bats for the Fightins.
HR: RDG – Rijo (3); NH – Clarke (1)
LOUD HITS; FOR THE OTHER GUYS… Three Reading pitchers allowed a total of 14 hits on the night. Starter James McArthur gave up four runs in the first and two more in the third, all earned and lasted just 2 2/3 innings as his ERA ballooned to 10.22 on the year… RHP Bubby Rossman struggled for the second time in his last three outings, allowing three earned runs in 1 1/3 innings of work while Mike Adams, who has struggled in the early going, actually lowered his ERA to 14.04 when he allowed one earned run in two innings of work.
| Game Two | R | H | E |
| Reading | 5 | 8 | 0 |
| New Hampshire | 2 | 3 | 0 |
REDOUNDING… The offense rebounded in game two when they scored five runs on eight hits… Vito Friscia had two hits, including his second HR of the year. His average is climbing slowly and is at .176 through 12 games with Reading this season… Rijo and Hunter Markwardt both also had two hits in the win… The Fightins continued to keep their strikeout numbers manageable this season by adding just 5 Ks to their stat sheet in the second game.
HR: RDG – none; NW – none
R-E-L-I-E-F… RH starter Matt Seelinger was only able to give Reading two innings and was charged with two earned runs. In game two though, the bullpen was much better with Francisco Morales and Braden Zarbnisky going two innings each and Brian Marconi pitching a scoreless seventh inning to give the bullpen five shutout innings in the game.
WP: Zarbnisky (1-0, 0.93), LP: Fraze (1-2, 2.84), SV: Maroni (3, 0.00)
FIGHTIN’ WORDS… Coming into Wednesday’s games, Reading had the lowest batting average in all of minor league baseball at .182, but they went up after their two games in New Hampshire (Blue Jays). Now, the Fightins are batting a robust .187, five points above the Beloit Sky Carp (Marlins). The Midland RockHounds (A’s) have the highest team batting average in the minors at .299 in 17 games… With Seelinger losing his scoreless inning streak, just two Reading pitchers – Brian Marconi (8 IP) and Francisco Morales (11.2 IP) are still unscored upon this season. Morales has allowed one hit and five walks and has a WHIP of just 0.50 while opponents are batting just .028 against him.
ON THE SCHEDULE… Noah Skirrow (1-1, 4.15) starts for Reading against the Fisher Cats Paxton Schultz (1-2, 5.84). The game is scheduled for 6:35 in New Hampshire.
| R | H | E | |
| Jersey Shore | 1 | 6 | 2 |
| Aberdeen | 10 | 14 | 2 |
ONE BIG FLY… The only Jersey Shore run of the game scored on a home run from Baron Radcliff, who homered in the top of the ninth for his first home run of the season. Radcliff also had a double in the game and D.J. Stewart tripled for the first time this year.
HR: JS – Radcliff (1); ABD – Mayo (5)
NEXT VICTIM… It was just one of those nights where probably nobody wanted to be the one being summoned in from the bullpen. Starter Victor Vargas, 21, was hit for three runs in seven innings of work and was followed by right-hander Tyler McKay (2 ER, 2 IP) and Dominic Pipkin who was hammered for five earned runs before he could record an out in the game. After all of that, lefty Erubiel Armenta pitched the final inning and gave up just one walk while striking out two for Jersey Shore.
WP: Roth (2-0, 4.50), LP: Vargas (0-1, 4.15), SV: none
‘CLAW CLIPS… The BlueClaws are hitting just .204 as a team… Radcliff has struck out 24 times in 15 games, covering 53 at-bats. Jared Carr has played in 12 games with 39 at-bats and has gone down on strikes 22 times this season with just two walks. Carr is batting just .179 for Jersey Shore.
ON THE AGENDA… The BlueClaws have not announced a starting pitcher for Thursday night’s game in Aberdeen. The IronBirds will send Justin Armbruester (0-0, 5.40) to the mound.
| R | H | E | |
| Clearwater | 6 | 13 | 1 |
| Ft. Myers | 1 | 1 | 3 |
BIG HITS FOR THE BIG FISH… Third baseman Kendall Simmons and catcher Arturo De Freitas both collected three hits in the game with Simmons scoring two runs and driving in two for the Threshers. Simmons homered and had two doubles in the game to finish with eight total bases. The 22-year old is now batting .286 for Clearwater… Yhoswar Garcia collected two hits in the game… The only player in the starting lineup to not collect a hit was Jadiel Sanchez, who went 0-for-3, but he still has a respectable .288 average on the season.
HR: CLW – Simmons (2), FTM – none
SHUT ‘EM DOWN… Starter Gabriel Cotto allowed two walks, hit a batter and saw a batter reach on an error through the first three innings and didn’t allow a hit until the fifth when Mikey Perez doubled. That would be the only hit of the game for the Mighty Mussels. Fernando Lozano and Malik Binns both threw two shutout innings to cover the final four frames of the game after Cotto exited after five.
WP: Cotto (1-0, 2.57), LP: Ohl (0-1, 7.50), SV: none
FISH FOOD… Over the last 10 games, Marus Lee Sang leads the Threshers in hitting with a .333 average (13-for-39). He also has five RBI, tied for second on the team during that same span, tied with Alexis Azuaje and Hao Yu Lee. Jadiel Sanchez leads the team with seven RBI in the last 10 games… Clearwater extended their win streak to eight straight games to put them at 9-8 and above the .500 mark for the first time all season. They are in third place, one game behind both Bradenton (Pittsburgh) and Ft. Myers (Minnesota), who are both 10-7 on the season.
ON THE FISH MENU… On Thursday, Clearwater will start Matt Osterberg (0-0, 4.32) a left-hander against Ft. Myers. The Mighty Mussels have not announced who will start the game for them.