Phillies Minor League Roundup, September 4-5, 2012

Reading 4, Trenton 2 (Reading leads series 1-0)

Austin Hyatt 6.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 1 HR, 7 GB, 4 LD, 7 FB (2 pop)
Tyler Knigge 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
Tyson Gillies 0 for 3, K, HBP
Cody Asche 0 for 3, K, HBP
Darin Ruf 1 for 3, 2B, BB, K
Tommy Joseph 1 for 3, HR, K
Leandro Castro 2 for 3, 2B, HR
Jiwan James 0 for 3

After struggling for basically the entire season at both the AA and AAA levels, Hyatt has finally put together a string of good outings in his last three starts. He got through six innings in very efficient fashion tonight, giving up only a two-run homer in the 4th, but then appeared to tire in the top of the 7th when he issued walks to two consecutive batters with one out. Knigge came into the game and induced the next batter to hit into a line drive double play. Joseph and Castro then led off the bottom of the inning with solo homers and that was all she wrote. Justin Friend, who only allowed 1 earned run in 39.2 AA innings during the regular season, gave up a leadoff walk and a single in the 9th but still managed to close out the game without any damage.

Game 2 of this best-of-five Eastern League semifinal will be played tomorrow, again at Reading. (The first-place and second-place teams in each division play one another in this round. Trenton, as the first-place team, nominally has the home field advantage here, but their three home games are Games 3, 4, and 5, which doesn't really seem fair, but whatever.) It's Brody Colvin's turn to pitch, but AA batters have been tearing him to shreds ever since his promotion, so it will be interesting to see what the team decides to do.

As this is a combined two-day roundup, here are Williamsport stats from last night and tonight:

Auburn 9, Williamsport 7 (September 4, 2012)

Jordan Guth (9th round) 2.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 0 HR
Andre Kinder 1.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 0 HR
Chris Nichols (31st round) 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K
Matthew Sisto (20th round) 1.2 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 0 HR
Geoff Broussard (23rd round) 1.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 0 HR
Roman Quinn 1 for 3, BB, 2 K, HBP
Jiandido Tromp 2 for 5, 2B, K
Cameron Perkins (6th round) 2 for 5, 2 2B, K
Christopher Serritella (4th round) 1 for 5
Larry Greene 1 for 4, K
Mitch Walding 0 for 3, BB
Chace Numata 0 for 4, K, threw out 0 of 2

Williamsport 8, Auburn 4 (September 5, 2012)

Jeb Stefan (22nd round) 5.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, 0 HR, 1 HBP, 5 GB, 2 LD, 5 FB
Nicholas Hanson (16th round) 2.2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 0 HR, 6 GB, 0 LD, 3 FB
Steven Inch 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
Roman Quinn 0 for 4, K, HBP, SB
Jiandido Tromp 2 for 4, SH, SB, outfield assist
Cameron Perkins (6th round) 2 for 5, 2B
Christopher Serritella (4th round) 2 for 5, K
Larry Greene 2 for 5, 2B, K
Mitch Walding 1 for 1, 3 BB
Logan Moore 1 for 4, K
Tyler Greene 1 for 4, 2B, 2 K, error

Stefan was moved into the rotation a few weeks ago after a so-so stint as a reliever. This was clearly his best outing of the season in either capacity. Tromp struggled at GCL to begin the season, but then showed signs of getting hot and then was immediately promoted to W'port, which seemed premature. His batting numbers were terrible for the first couple of weeks following the promotion, but now he's got a three-game multiple-hit streak going.