Today's Probables:
Lehigh Valley: Ben Lively vs. Pawtucket
Reading: Tyler Viza vs. Richmond
Clearwater: Shane Watson @ Tampa
Lakewood: Harold Arauz vs. Hickory
Williamsport: Ranger Suarez @ State College
Lehigh Valley 1, Pawtucket 0 [box]
Allowing 10 hits and only picking up four of your own is usually a recipe for a loss, but the Iron Pigs got just enough help from the one and only Darin Ruf on this night. Ruf was the lone offense of the evening, smacking a 7th inning homerun to give Lehigh Valley a 1-0 win. It was his 16th of the season.
Anthony Vasquez scattered eight hits through his five innings of work, but didn't allow a run. The bullpen shut the door by allowing just two hits over the last four frames, with strong work from Colton Murray, Frank Herrmann, and Luis Garcia.
Andrew Knapp went 2-for-3 in the win, and Cody Asche added a hit as well.
The game was delayed for about 20 minutes at the outset due to rain.
Richmond 5, Reading 1 [box]
Oh no, the Fightin Phils are in freefall! Alright, they're still 78-42, but they have now lost four out of their last five games. Go figure that the offense had to disappear on one of the hottest nights of the year.
Tom Eshelman gave Reading a quality start, tossing six innings in the loss. He allowed three runs, two of which were earned. Eshelman pounded the strike zone all night long, and didn't walk a batter while striking out seven; 67 of his 95 pitches were for strikes.
The Fightins did tie the single-season team home run record as Dylan Cozens bashed his 34th of the season. It was the 2004 Reading club that hit 158 homers, which the 2016 team will surpass in style over the last couple of weeks of the season.
Jorge Alfaro and KC Serna each added a hit.
Clearwater 7, Tampa 0 [box]
Tampa 1, Clearwater 0 (Makeup of 8/10 PPD in Clearwater) [box]
A pair of seven-inning affairs took place in Tampa last night, and the Threshers picked up a split. The offense and pitching showed up in the first game, led by Jiandido Tromp's 3-for-4 effort. He scored three of the Threshers' seven runs, added a pair of doubles, and picked up an RBI in the 7-0 win. Tromp has an .811 OPS in 44 August at-bats, as his bat finally is showing some signs of life.
Brandon Leibrandt allowed just one hit in five innings of work, and Austin Davis did the same in his two innings of work to shut the door on Tampa.
In the nightcap, Tromp picked up two more hits, but the rest of the offense was silenced by recent Yankee acquisition Justus Sheffield, who came over in the Andrew Miller trade. He has a 1.04 ERA in his three games for Tampa since coming over in the deal. Look for him to be moving up some prospect lists this winter.
Tampa's lone run came on a double play groundout, which, well, that's just an unfair way to win a ball game, right? The Threshers allowed just one hit in the second game. Ranfi Casimiro went four innings of hitless ball, but three walks hurt him, as did that double play groundout.
Lakewood 3, Hickory 1 [box]
Lakewood 1, Hickory 0 [box]
Another doubleheader? I hope I'm getting paid overtime for this. Well, all's well that ends well here, as the Blue Claws swept a pair of low-scoring games from the Crawdads. Franklyn Kilome started the first game, lasting 5 1/3 innings. He allowed three hits and an earned run, walking four batters and striking out six. He had allowed just one walk in his first two August starts. But hey, 40 strikeouts in Kilome's last five starts is something to talk about. He's not putting up the torrid numbers in August that he had in July, but it's certainly not the April disaster for Kilome.
Cornelius Randolph and Damek Tomscha each had two hits in the contest. Randolph scored on Wilson Garcia's 4th inning RBI single. Deivi Grullon picked up an RBI groundout in the inning as well, and the Blue Claws didn't look back.
Pitching was on display in the second game, with Jose Taveras firing seven innings for the complete game shutout in a 1-0 win for the Claws. The lone offense of the contest was Edgar Cabral's RBI single in the 2nd inning.
The Crosscutters were off last night, but Adonis Medina and Jesus Alastre appeared in the New York-Penn League All-Star Game. Ranger Suarez was named to the team as well, but did not appear due to pitching this past Sunday.
GCL Blue Jays 2, GCL Phillies 1 [box]
Give Mickey Moniak two more hits on the ledger. He has an .817 OPS in 35 games thus far in the GCL. Jhailyn Ortiz picked up an RBI single in the loss. Will Stewart, Luis Gonzalez, Justin Miller, and Kale Fultz pitched in the game.