R-Phils Stumble to Second in 8-5 Loss to 'Dogs

(Reading, Pa.)---All it took was one doomed inning for the Reading Phillies (22-15) to fall behind the Portland Sea Dogs (14-24) in an 8-5 loss Tuesday night at FirstEnergy Stadium. It was team’s second series loss of the season and the first to the Sea Dogs.

Following a successful first inning where starter Drew Naylor retired the side, Portland rattled off two home runs in the first three at-bats of the second inning thanks to Reynaldo Rodriguez and Matt Spring. Derrik Gibson then scored on a fielding error by Troy Hanzawa, but the damage wasn’t done as Heiker Meneses scored on an Oscar Tejeda ground out.

Naylor (L, 2-1/6.60 ERA) settled down, though, after the rocky second inning and finished his third start of the season by allowing six runs (five earned), five hits, four walks while striking out four batters.

Sea Dogs starter Andy Ranaudo (ND, 0-0/9.00 ERA) looked shaky early and gave up three walks over the first two innings. Ranaudo was making his 2012 debut after spending the first month and a half of the season in extended spring training. The LSU product is regarded as the fourth-best prospect in the Boston Red Sox organization and the best pitching prospect in their farm system.

Ranaudo seemed to settle down until the fourth inning where he was tagged for three runs on homers by catcher Sebastian Valle and Miguel Abreu. He exited the game at the conclusion of the inning and ended the night surrendering four hits, four earned runs, and three walks. He also struck out two.

The R-Phils had a trio of multi-hit performances in the ballgame as Abreu, Cesar Hernandez, and Steve Susdorf each teed off two hits apiece.

Reading reliever Justin Friend kept his 4.1 innings scoreless streak intact, although he yielded a two-run double that saw runs credited to Jordan Whatcott, the pitcher who preceded Friend.

Reading looks to win the series finale when Phillies number one prospect Trevor May (5-2/2.83 ERA) makes his eighth start of 2012 against Portland’s LHP Chris Hernandez (2-2/2.11 ERA) at 11:35 a.m. on Wednesday at FirstEnergy Stadium. Tune into 1340 WRAW-AM on the radio dial or online at www.1340wraw.com starting at 11:05 a.m. for the pre-game show and game broadcast with the voice of the Reading Phillies, Brian Seltzer.

A 2012 R-Phils Team Photo will be given away to the first 3,000 students in attendance at Wednesday’s Education Day presented by Zeswitz Music.

Tickets for all 2012 regular season home games, as well as all Baseballtown All-Star Classic events, can be purchased online at www.RPhils.com, by phone at 610-370-BALL, and in person at the R-Phils Ticket Office at FirstEnergy Stadium. The 2012 season featuring the Baseballtown All-Star Classic at America’s Classic Ballpark is presented by Pepsi.