The Phillies and Jersey Shore BlueClaws were both rained out Friday night, but Lehigh Valley and Reading were on the road and the weather was fine in Florida for the Threshers game in Dunedin. The results all turned out pretty well, too with the teams going 3-0 against their respective opponents. The Phillies will make up their game against the Mets on August 20 and the ‘Claws will have a Mother’s Day doubleheader against Hudson Valley on Sunday.
| R | H | E | |
| Lehigh Valley | 6 | 8 | 0 |
| Syracuse (NY Mets) | 2 | 6 | 1 |
TALK ABOUT W/KO RATIO… Five IronPigs pitchers combined to whiff 15 batters without walking a batter in the win over Syracuse. Bailey Falter had five in three innings, Mark Appel had four in three innings, Michael Kelly struck out the side in his one inning and Nick Duron struck out two of the three batters he faced… Speaking of Appel, he threw three perfect innings in relief of a strong start from Falter, who allowed just two hits in his three innings… The only rough outing of the night was from Aaron Barrett, who gave up back-to-back home runs in the seventh.
WP: Appel (4-0, 1.88), LP: Pena (0-4, 6.59), SV: none
DOUBLE YOUR PLEASURE… Nick Maton is slowly starting to inch his average up, collecting two doubles and an RBI Friday night. After a rough stretch, Maton has his average back to .190 on the season with Lehigh Valley… Austin Wynns was behind the plate and went 2-for-3 with three RBI and Dalton Guthrie didn’t allow his bat to cool off during his IL stint as he doubled and scored twice. His average is at .348.
HR: LV – none; SYR – Palka (8), Meyer (2)
‘PIG NOTES… Infielder Branden Fryman made his Triple-A debut for Syracuse. He is the son of former Major Leaguer Travis Fryman. He went 1-for-3 on the night… Jorge Bonifacio threw a runner out at home in the first inning, cutting down Wyatt Young… The IronPigs are now 16-12 and tied with Buffalo and Jacksonville for the top spot in the IL East.
SATURDAY IN SYRACUSE… LHP Cristopher Sanchez makes his first start of the season for Lehigh Valley going against LHP Mike Montgomery (0-3. 5.31) for Syracuse. Like Falter, Sanchez is being stretched out as a starter rather than coming out of the bullpen like he had been doing in Philadelphia early in the season.
| R | H | E | |
| Reading | 5 | 8 | 0 |
| Portland (Boston) | 3 | 10 | 1 |
A NIGHT FOR THE BULLS… Reading rolled out four relievers from their bullpen to threw seven scoreless innings and preserve the lead in a back-and-forth game with the Sea Dogs. Mike Adams (2 IP), Matt Seelinger (2 IP), Francisco Morales (2 IP), and Brian Marconi (1 IP) combined for seven innings, five hits, zero walks and 11 strikeouts… Reading pitching did give up 10 hits, but all 10 were singles… Left-hander Erik Miller started the game and went two innings, giving up three hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
WP: Adams (2-0, 9.49), LP: Groome (1-1, 4.82), SV: Marconi (4, 3.60)
JUST GET ON BASE… Of the eight hits collected by Reading, just one was for extra bases. One key for them though was that they also collected 10 walks in the game to go with the eight hits. Reading scored three runs on walks with the bases loaded… Vito Friscia has collected hits in eight of his last nine games and has reached base safely in all nine of those games. On the season, he is batting .246 with a .442 OBP.
HR: RDG – none; POR – none
FIGHTIN’ WORDS… Reading is 9-16, 7.5 games out of first in the Eastern League Northeast Division. Somerset leads the division with a 16-8 record, the best record in the EL… Reading players Wendell Rijo and Josh Ockimey are former members of the Sea Dogs. Rijo played one season.
ON THE AGENDA… Saturday’s game will have Jack Perkins (0-3, 10.54) goes against left-hander (0-2, 2.63) in Portland.
| R | H | E | |
| Clearwater | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| Dunedin (Toronto) | 0 | 8 | 0 |
SHUTOUT… Three pitchers combined to shutout Dunedin. Like with other Phillies minor league teams, their walk/strikeout ratio was solid with one walk and seven strikeouts… Lefty Jordi Martinez gave up four hits in four innings for Clearwater before turning the game over to the bullpen. Carlos Betancourt added three strong innings and Cam Wynne shut down Dunedin for two innings.
WP: Betancourt (1-0, 0.00), LP: Tiedemann (3-1, 1.44), SV: Wynne (1, 0.00)
MAKING THE MOST OF A FEW HITS… Clearwater had just four hits in the game, but bunched three of them into the second inning when they scored two runs. Arturo De Freitas led off with a single but was erased on a fielder’s choice before Alexeis Azuaje doubled and Wilfredo Flores singled to left to score both Azuaje and Flores with the only runs of the game.
HR: CLW – none; DUN – none
SHARK NOTES… Clearwater is now 12-10, tied with Tampa for second place in the FSL West. Both teams are one game behind Fort Myers.
SATURDAY IN THE PARK… It’s Andrew Painter Day! Painter will be making his fifth start and has not allowed an earned run in 16 innings of work. He has walked five and struck out 36 on the year and was the Phillies Minor League Pitcher of the Month for April. Even with his strong outings, Painter is just 0-1 with the Threshers.