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Tuesday’s Probables:
Lehigh Valley: Ben Lively vs. Rochester
Reading: Tyler Viza vs. Bowie
Clearwater: Franklyn Kilome vs. Charlotte
Lehigh Valley 9, Rochester 0 [box]
We had a big ol’ “TBD” listed for the Iron Pigs yesterday morning. With Jake Thompson in the Majors and Aaron Nola set to make a rehab stint possibly as early as tonight, there is plenty of shuffling going on when it comes to the minor league rotations. That shuffling led to Tom Eshelman being moved up from Reading to Lehigh Valley for a start with the Iron Pigs. It went swimmingly.
Eshelman pitched eight shutout innings against Rochester, allowing just four hits in the process. He walked one and struck out six in the process, pounding the strike zone all night long; with 64 of his 87 pitches for strikes.
At the dish, there was plenty of offense to go around, with everyone in the starting lineup having at least one hit. Jorge Alfaro was 2-for-4 with an RBI double. Rhys Hoskins had two more hits and a run scored. Even Ty Kelly joined in on the action with his first AAA homer of the season.
Reading 2, Bowie 1 [box]
With Eshelman moving to Lehigh Valley, Drew Anderson was bumped up a day and responded with his best start of the season. Anderson tossed seven innings of one-run ball, notching ten strikeouts and not walking a single batter.
Carlos Tocci had three hits on the evening, making him 9 for his last 23. Naturally, they were all singles, but hey, that’s what the guy does. Mitch Walding added a second inning homerun.
Jesen Therrien, who has been pretty much unhittable this year, shut the door for his 6th save of the season.
Clearwater 2, Charlotte 1 [box]
Hey, why not keep the good pitching theme going? It was Jose Taveras getting the job done for the Threshers, hurling seven innings of one run ball. He has not allowed more than two earned runs in any of his six starts this season, and lowered his ERA to 1.70 with the victory.
The lone offense of the evening for both teams came in the third. Jose Garcia answered Charlotte’s run in the top half of the inning with a two-run double. Deivi Grullon had the only other hit of the evening for Clearwater.
Columbia 5, Lakewood 1 [box]
The Blue Claws were unable to complete the MiLB organization sweep in Columbia, nor their own four-game sweep of the Fireflies. Jordan Humphreys shut Lakewood down in in his seven innings of work. Bailey Falter put together a six inning, three-earned run quality start, but the bats were too silent.
Brett Barbier had the lone RBI of the evening, while Mickey Moniak went 1-for-4. Lakewood has the evening off before starting a series with Greenville on Wednesday.