Phillies MLR 5/21/19: Nick Pivetta and JoJo Romero struggles make us sad

Today’s Probables:

LHV: Tom Eshelman
REA: David Parkinson
CLR: Andrew Brown
LWD: Francisco Morales

Lehigh Valley 9, Syracuse 3

Nick Pivetta - 5 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 5 K, HBP, 6 GB, 3 FB
Malquin Canelo - 2 for 5, R, K, CS (throwing error)
Lane Adams - 3 for 5, R, 2B, 2 K
Deivy Grullon - 2 for 5, R, 2 RBI, K
Mitch Walding - 1 for 4, 2 R, HR, K
Matt McBride - 2 for 5, HR, 5 RBI, K

Nick Pivetta was not sharp last night, but thankfully he didn’t have to be. Mitch Walding (6) hit a solo shot in the 4th and Matt McBride (5) provided a grandslam in the 8th. The walks with Pivetta remain a huge concern, issuing 20 of them in just 37 innings in AAA. The low opposing batting average and high strikeout rate won’t mean anything if he doesn’t fix his command.

Richmond 8, Reading 4

JoJo Romero - 4.1 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 5 BB, 6 K, WP, 5 GB, 1 FB
Luke Williams - 1 for 3, R, 3B, RBI, 2 BB, K
Mickey Moniak - 2 for 5, RBI
Adam Haseley - 0 for 4, BB, K
Darick Hall - 1 for 4, HR, BB, 2 K
Austin Listi - 1 for 5, R, 3B
Cornelius Randolph - 1 for 4, 2B, K
Arquimedes Gamboa - 2 for 3, 3B, RBI, BB, K

I guess the demotion didn’t help JoJo Romero much in his first AA outing of the season. His struggles followed him from AAA and now sports a 10.02 ERA across two levels. I’m thinking we are a couple starts away from shutting him down for an “injury” or at least I hope it is an injury at this point. The Reading offense actually out-hit Richmond 11-8, but were just 2 for 9 with RISP and left 10 on base. Mickey Moniak extended his hitting streak to six games and is batting .350 over his last 10.

Clearwater 2, Daytona 1

Anthony Requena - 6 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, HR, 10 GB, 1 FB
Simon Muzziotti - 1 for 4, HR, K
Alec Bohm - 2 for 4, R, CS
Matt Vierling - 0 for 4, K
Madison Stokes - 1 for 4, K
Nick Maton - 2 for 4, 2B
Jhailyn Ortiz - 0 for 3, RBI, K
Edgar Cabral - 0 for 3
Jake Scheiner - 0 for 3
Dalton Guthrie - 0 for 3, K

Anthony Requena delivered a spectacular start, winning his 3rd game of the season and lowering his ERA to 4.19. Simon Muzziotti blasted his 2nd HR of the season to tie the game and Jhailyn Ortiz’s sac-fly in the 5th put Clearwater ahead. Alec Bohm DH’d last night and is batting .349 in his last 10 games. Nick Maton also swinging a hot bat this season. The 22 year old 2017 7th rounder is slashing .301/.380/.429 with 3 HR and 6 SB. He also has a very modest 24:16 K:BB in 151 plate appearances.

Lakewood 4, Delmarva 2

Jhordany Mezquita - 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, HR, WP, 4 GB, 3 FB
Dominic Pipkin - 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K, HBP, 6 GB, 0 FB
Jonathan Guzman - 1 for 5, 4 K (throwing error)
Matt Kroon - 2 for 5, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 K
Luis Garcia - 1 for 4, R, 2B, K, HBP
Ben Pelletier - 1 for 4, R, 2 K
Abraham Gutierrez - 1 for 4, K
Carlos De La Cruz - 1 for 3, RBI, K
Malvin Matos - 2 for 3, R, 2B, RBI, BB, K, CS
Hunter Stovall - 1 for 3, R, 2B, RBI
Jake Holmes - 2 for 3

Lakewood actually won a game and scored more than a couple runs! Dominic Pipkin picked up the win. The 19 year old has a 3.73 ERA in 31.1 innings with 24 strikeouts to 14 walks. Abraham Gutierrez returned to the lineup after leaving Monday’s game early. Luis Garcia extended his hitting streak to six games and is hitting .294 in his last 10.