Reading Fightin Phils get first playoff win in 10 years backed by second-inning outburst
· Yahoo Sports
Hitting is contagious.
And there wasn’t a better team to display one of America’s pastime’s most famous sayings than the Reading Fightin Phils Tuesday evening.
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In their first Eastern League playoff game since 2019, the Fightins, the Philadelphia Phillies’ Double-A affiliate, exploded for 12 runs in the second inning of a 21-4 victory over the Hartford Yard Goats.
“It’s the way it’s been going for us in the second half,” manager Al Pedrique said postgame. “Even when we’re behind, one, two or three guys get on, it is contagious for us right now. We’re getting good pitches to hit. Our guys are giving good at-bats. We’re not giving at-bats away, and they know how important it is to fight, play solid baseball and that’s what we did tonight.”
It has been 10 years since the Fightin Phils last won an Eastern League playoff game, and at FirstEnergy Stadium Tuesday night, that drought ended in front of nearly 6,500 Baseballtown fans.
Reading drove 12 runs across the plate on 10 hits, seeing 80 pitches from three different Yard Goats pitchers. The inning lasted nearly 50 minutes.
“It’s amazing, man,” No. 2 Phillies prospect Aidan Miller said of being on a team that has recorded 51 runs in the past three games. “I feel like ever since I’ve been here, it’s been 10 plus runs a game. So it’s every guy here. Everybody’s contributing, and it’s really cool and hopefully, we keep it rolling.”
Miller, playing in just his fourth game this season since recovering from a back injury and in his first professional game playing third base, was the final Fightin to record a hit in a game where they totaled 16.
On the day, Bryan Rincon, the Phillies’ No. 4 prospect, led the team with five RBIs on 2-for-5 hitting, closing in on a 100-hit season with 94 hits currently.
Aroon Escobar, the No. 6 prospect, Pedro Leon and Austin Murr each drove in three runs in a historic night in Reading, surpassing the MLB record for runs scored in a single postseason inning, held by the Los Angeles Dodgers with 11 runs in 2020.
After falling behind 3-0 entering the bottom of the second inning, the Fightins knew there was work to be done.
Carson DeMartini led the inning off with a single, followed by an Aroon Escobar two-run line-drive home run to left field to get the Reading crowd back into the game.
“What a blast, DeMartini getting us going then Escobar with the home run to kind of silence their big second inning they had,” first baseman Austin Murr said.
Caleb Ricketts and Pedro Leon each blasted doubles to opposite sides of the outfield to tie the game at three apiece.
Rincon singled to drive in another run while the Yard Goats made their first call to the bullpen, with Bryson Hammer taking the ball from Connor Staine.
That was like putting a band-aid on a gun wound. That did not solve much; the Reading bats were too alive.
However, No. 7 prospect Dante Nori and Miller were both sent back to the dugout on a pop fly and strikeout once Hammer entered.
The bleeding seemingly was going to end as the game sat tied, but the Fightins got another whiff of confidence that traveled through 17 batters when it was all said and done.
Raylin Heredia singled before Hammer walked three straight batters, giving Reading a 7-3 lead as the real fun began.
Batting around the order, Leon singled, followed by a bases-clearing triple off the right field fence from Austin Murr for an 11-3 lead, all with two outs.
“Just confidence in our team, confidence that we go out there, and we do our job,” Murr said of their offense. “We don’t try to do too much. There’s no difference between a playoff game and a regular season game.”
Leading to the second pitching change for Hartford, Fisher Jameson entered the game.
After a walk to Rincon, Nori joined the action, punching a hard ground ball to center field to score one last run before Miller struck out for the second time in the inning, eventually ending the bleeding for Hartford.
“It was nice,” Miller said, really taking in the second-inning outburst. “Shoot, even if I was a fan at the game, like this is awesome. I think it was great though, going down 3-0 early and then bouncing back with an inning like that was great. That’s just how you respond.”
The Fightins tried to duplicate their historic second inning right away in the third, with sharp line-drive singles from Heredia and Escobar. Then Ricketts drove in his second RBI of the night before Leon and Murr were walked.
Rincon launched a ball to right field to drive in his third and fourth runs of the night, piling it on the defeated-looking Yard Goats.
Hartford would get one more run across the plate in the sixth, but, knowingly defeated, just tried to get through the game as quickly as possible.
The Fightins tacked on five more runs in the seventh, for safe measure, with two runs getting walked home while another crossed the plate on Hartford’s third error.
Reading generated 12 walks in the game, staying patient and disciplined at the plate, as well as launching the ball past any fielders.
Like in any sport, after a performance of that caliber, it’s easy to let off the gas and take the opponent lightly, but for Pedrique’s ballclub, that is not in the cards.
“As long as we stay humble. That’s one thing I always remind them,” Pedrique said. “No matter what, stay humble. This is a funny game. You have to be careful, and I’m glad we came out and played the game the way we did. I’m glad we swung the bat real good. Defensively, we played well, and then the pitching did a great job.”
Austin Murr stated, “It’s 0-0.”
So, the Reading ballclub knows its season goals are far from over, with the hopes of returning to Baseballtown for Games 2 and 3 next Tuesday and Wednesday for the championship, if they advance.
Evan Gates, who earned the win after striking out two batters in 1.1 innings, was one of five Fightins to step on the mound, allowing just six hits while walking seven batters.
Also, on the mound, starting Phillies No. 1 prospect Gage Wood had an off night following a solid first inning.
To start the game, he struck out leadoff man Jared Thomas on an 86 mph curveball to get him swinging for his 100th strikeout in a Reading uniform, ending the frame on back-to-back 6-3 putouts on nine pitches.
In the top of the second, Wood walked three consecutive batters, all while facing 3-2 counts.
An odd occurrence for the future Phillie, Wood’s fastball velocity dropped to the low 90s and required a mound visit in the inning.
Wood got the next two batters to hit weak contact in the infield, but both generated runs before a single from Cole Messina made it a three-run inning. Wood racked up 34 pitches in the frame.
After four innings, Wood’s day was done at 78 pitches, striking out four batters on a night where he struggled with his command, walking three batters and allowing three earned runs.
“It’s hard, especially for a young guy,” Pedrique said of Wood’s time off in between innings. “We understand it’s the playoffs, we want to win, but we also have to take care of the players to make sure they’re healthy.”
Wood declined to talk to the media postgame following his 18th start since being called up from Clearwater in mid-May.
To wrap up a three-game series between the Colorado Rockies affiliate, the Fightins will travel to Connecticut to play the final two games of the series on Thursday and, if needed, Friday, Sept. 17 and 18.
On Thursday, RHP Cody Bowker (2-1, 4.72 ERA) will make his fifth start, facing RHP Jackson Cox (2-4, 4.29 ERA), the Yard Goats’ No. 8 prospect.
Finishing 40-28 in the second half of the season, the Fightins held a +35 run differential and a 25-16 record against .500-or-better ballclubs.
For the Yard Goats, they won the first-half championship with a record of 39-29 but slowed down in the later summer months with a 26-40 record and split the season series 12-12 with Reading.
If the Fightin Phils advance, they’ll play the Southwest Division winner between the Richmond Flying Squirrels (Giants) and Erie SeaWolves (Tigers).
1995 was the last Eastern League title Reading hoisted, while they haven’t qualified for the league final since 2015.