Judge, Strong Pitching Lead 5-0 Win over Reading

Aaron Judge drove in four of the five Thunder runs and the Thunder pitching staff delivered their seventh shutout of the season as the Thunder took the series from Reading with a 5-0 victory in front of 5,998 fans at ARM & HAMMER Park on Thursday night.

Judge (2-for-3, 2B, HR, 4 RBI) drove in the game's first run with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first. Dan Fiorito followed with a run-scoring single of his own to take an early 2-0 lead for the Thunder against LHP Tom Windle.

With one out in the bottom of the third, Tony Renda singled, Greg Bird walked and Judge drove them both home with a double to left-center.

Armed with a 4-0 lead, RHP Eric Ruth (W, 5-0) settled in and fired six shutout innings to record his sixth consecutive quality start. Ruth allowed just five baserunners, struck out three and lowered his season ERA to a sparkling 1.71. Over his last seven starts, Ruth has allowed just five earned runs in 43.1 innings pitched (1.04 ERA).

Andury Acevedo and Caleb Cotham combined to strike out two and allow one baserunner over the final three innings to complete the win.

Tony Renda (2-for-4, 2 R) joined Judge with a multi-hit game. Cito Culver (1-for-2, BB) is batting .333 over his last 21 games and Greg Bird (1-for-3, BB, 2 R) reached base for the 33rd time in 36 games played this season.

Your Thunder will embark on an eight-game road trip to Bowie and Richmond beginning at 7:00pm on Friday night in Bowie. RHP Brady Lail (3-3, 2.81) will take the ball for the Thunder, RHP Joe Gunkel (3-1, 2.30) will throw for the Baysox. Listen live to Thunder baseball beginning at 6:45 on 91.3 WTSR and online at Trentonthunder.com.