Reading, PA - Mitch Walding had a big hand in the Fightin Phils (16-11) 2-1 win against the Baysox (16-15) on Monday night at FirstEnergy Stadium, but he couldn't help but talk about the performance he had just seen from Drew Anderson . Having played together on and off the
Reading, PA - Mitch Walding had a big hand in the Fightin Phils (16-11) 2-1 win against the Baysox (16-15) on Monday night at FirstEnergy Stadium, but he couldn't help but talk about the performance he had just seen from Drew Anderson . Having played together on and off the last few years, Walding had seen his share of strong outings from Anderson, but this one might have been the best one yet. In his 48th career start, the righthander went 7.0 innings for the first time and struck out a career-high 10 Baysox, and RBIs from Walding and Carlos Tocci stood up as Reading won its third straight.
In a rematch of the 2015 Eastern League Championship Series, offense was to be expected from two loaded lineups that were one and two in several categories while matching each other with an average of 5.2 runs per game. Anderson, and even Baysox starter Matthew Grimes, held their own early as the latter worked his way into and out of trouble for most of his six innings.
In the first, Andrew Pullin got on with a walk and Tocci singled, but Grimes retired Kyle Martin and Jiandido Tromp to end the threat. With one out in the second, Kingery lent a hand and crushed the first pitch he saw over the center field fence for his fourth home run and a 1-0 Reading lead. The Fightins nearly added to it in the third when singles by Pullin and Tocci put runners at the corners, but for the second time Grimes got the last two outs to leave two more runners on base.
Anderson showed early that this would be his best start of the season up to this point, going three up and three down for the first five innings while only throwing 60 pitches. Keeping a tough lineup off balanced, he used a rising fastball to get a lot of swings and misses, and established a new season-high with his sixth strikeout to end the fifth inning. With history on the line, Anderson's first baserunner came on a leadoff single from Yermin Mercedes in the sixth. With one out, Erick Salcedo served a single into left, but Anderson came back like a lightning bolt with two strikeouts at the top of the lineup to match a career-high with nine.
Showing his versatility, Scott Kingery helped out with a walk to start the fifth before stealing second. A groundout from Pullin got the Fightins leadoff man to third base, and Tocci's third single of the night brought in his 14th run for a 2-0 lead. Grimes' final disappearing act came during his last inning in the sixth, when he had runners at the corners with no outs following a walk to Tromp and a single back up the box by Chace Numata . Two more strikeouts and a groundout allowed Grimes (0-3) to leave trailing just 2-0 as the Fightin Phils left seven runners on base.
Coming out for the seventh for the first time in his career, Anderson threw a 3-1 pitch to old Fightins tormenter Garabez Rosa that was parked into the seats in left for a two-out homer that brought Bowie back to 2-1. Approaching 100 pitches, Anderson (3-0) answered in a big way with a strikeout of Tucker Nathans for his final out, leaving a game with 10 strikeouts for the first time in his career. The dangerous duo of Yacksel Ríos and Jesen Therrien recorded the last six outs without a baserunner, and Therrien grabbed his sixth consecutive save.
America's Classic Ballpark is proud to be a part of Pennsylvania's Americana Region. Season tickets for the 2017 season are available online at Fightins.com, by phone at 610-370-BALL, and in-person at FirstEnergy Stadium. Follow the Fightin Phils on Twitter at @ReadingFightins and like them on Facebook viawww.facebook.com/fightins.
