Pivetta stifles Baysox with assistance from lineup
Nick Pivetta (4-2) turned in his longest outing of the season and pitched seven shutout innings as the Reading Fightin Phils (25-13) beat the Bowie Baysox (16-21) 9-1 on Tuesday night. It was the first meeting between the two teams since the ELCS last season.
Reading scored a run in the top of the second against Baysox starter Parker Bridwell (1-1) as Rhys Hoskins scored on a sacrifice fly from Jesmuel Valentin. Jorge Alfaro extended Reading's lead to 2-0 off Bridwell as he hit a solo home run with one out in the top of the third. The home run for Alfaro was his second of the season.
The Fightin Phils scored five runs off Bridwell in the top of the fourth to take a 7-0 lead. Jake Fox homered for the second straight-game as he hit his seventh to lead-off the inning. Valentin hit a RBI double while J.P. Crawford hit a two-run single. Bobby Bundy entered the game to replace Bridwell after he just recorded one out. Dylan Cozens hit a RBI double to score Crawford for the final run of the inning.
Reading scored two runs off Bundy in the top of the fifth to take a 9-0 lead. KC Serna scores on a force out induced by Roman Quinn. Crawford hit a RBI double to score Quinn. Tom Windle pitched a scoreless eighth inning. Joely Rodriguez made his first appearance since the end of April. He allowed a run in the bottom of the ninth.
Pivetta retired 20 out of 23 batters faced. Every Fightin Phil had at least one hit. KC Serna finished the night 4-for-5 while Dylan Cozens extended his hitting streak to 10 games. J.P. Crawford had his first three-RBI game of the season while Jesmuel Valentin had his first multiple-RBI game of the season.
The Fightin Phils and Bowie Baysox will meet again on Wednesday night. First pitch is at 6:35 pm from Prince George's Stadium. Fans can listen to the game on Sports Radio AM 1240/FM 98.5 and fightins.com at 6:05 pm.
Tickets for the 2016 season are available online at Fightins.com, by phone at 610-370-BALL, and in-person at FirstEnergy Stadium.