Squirrels Come Up Short Against Philles
The Squirrels got after R-Phils' right-hander Vance Worley quickly in the first inning. With one out, Brandon Crawford singled up the middle. Conor Gillaspie followed a double to the alley in left-center field that scored Crawford from first base with the game's first run. A batter later, Clay Timpner plated Gillaspie with an RBI single through the right side of the infield and the Squirrels held a 2-0 lead.
Reading responded against Squirrels' right-hander Mike MacDonald in the second. Matt Rizzotti started the inning with a single and remained at first as the next two batters were retired. With two outs, Ozzie Chavez ripped a double to left-center field that brought Rizzotti around to cut the Richmond lead in half. Freddy Galvis followed with an RBI single to tie the game, 2-2.
MacDonald was right back in trouble in the third when Quintin Berry led off the inning with an infield-single. He promptly swiped second base and came in to give Reading the lead when Domonic Brown stroked a double off the wall in right-center field. Rizzotti followed with a double to the left-field corner and Brown came around for a 4-2 lead. Michael Spidale followed with a single to score the third run of the inning and a throwing error on Crawford allowed a fourth run in for a 6-2 lead.
Juan Ciriaco led off the Richmond fourth with a triple and Nick Noonan brought him home with a sacrifice fly to shave a run off of Reading's advantage.
MacDonald (1-3) began the fifth inning, but walked the first two batters before being lifted. He took the loss, turning in four-plus innings, allowing six runs - five earned - on nine hits. He walked two and struck out two in his third loss of the season. Wilmin Rodriguez entered in relief and completed the fifth for MacDonald.
Worley (3-2) settled in to work a strong seven innings for the win. He allowed three runs on six hits, walking three and striking out four. Matt German handled a scoreless eighth inning and Michael Schwimer took the ninth, as Reading snapped a three-game losing streak.
Reading capped the scoring with their final run in the eighth inning. Rafael Cova was charged with the final run of the night, snapping a personal 11 2/3 scoreless innings string for the right-hander.
Game two of the three-game series is scheduled for 6:05 PM at FirstEnergy Stadium on Saturday night. RHP Ronnie Ray (0-1, 5.68) will make the start for Richmond against RHP Jason Anderson (0-0, 1.80) for Reading.