Fightin Phils hope to roll Thunder out of town with a split

The Reading Fightin Phils (36-52) were finally able to put together a combined effort in last night's 10-1 win over the Trenton Thunder (42-50). These two teams will wrap up this four-game series tonight with first pitch from FirstEnergy Stadium scheduled for 7:05pm. The Fightins are now 3-7 against the Thunder in 2014.

Adam Loewen was the catalyst to last night's impressive win, going seven innings allowing six hits and one run which came off of a solo homer in the third inning. Loewen also struck out three while walking none. The Fightins had been relatively quiet up to that point, but once Trenton took the 1-0 lead, the bats said enough is enough. They chased Dillon McNamara, who was pitching for Single-A Short Season Staten Island until yesterday, out of the game in the fourth inning scoring four runs off of him and five total in the inning. That was all they needed as Loewen dialed in from that point on. The Fightins added a run in the seventh, and four more insurance runs to solidify their largest margin of victory since May 4th against Harrisburg. It was also the first time they had scored 10+ runs since June 17th against Akron.   

The Fightins will attempt to win back-to-back games for the first time since June 14th-15th against Altoona which was also the last series they either split or won. Going for the Fightins tonight will be veteran Chris Bootcheck (0-1, 9.00 ERA) who is making his second start with Reading. In his first start in Richmond, Bootcheck allowed five runs off nine hits in five innings with three strikeouts.

The Fightins will get their first look at Zach Nuding (3-2, 2.93 ERA) who is making his 11th appearance and his ninth start for Trenton. Nuding has not allowed a run in two straight starts (11 innings pitched) and has had four scoreless starts with Trenton this year. The Fort Worth, Texas native was selected by the Yankees in the 30th round of the 2010 First-Year Player Draft out of Weatherford Community College.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR: Aaron Altherr has had a couple of brief stints in the big leagues with the Phillies and each time he returns to Reading it takes him a game or two to readjust to double-A ball, but when he does he's as productive as he was in the month of June when he hit .326. He went 2-for-4 last night with two doubles, a run scored, and two RBIs. He has gone 5-for-8 in the past two games with three doubles, and two runs.

After going hitless in the first game of the series, Albert Cartwright has gone 5-for-9 in the past two games with a double, two runs, and two RBIs which he drove in last night. Cartwright has scored a run in three of the last four games.

Carlos Alonso is starting to hit similar to how he was to end the month of May and begin the month of June when he was hitting well over .350. He has a four game hitting streak in which he's hitting .417 with five runs, and two RBIs.

Jake Fox has a four game hitting streak of his own and he's hitting .500 with four runs, a double, a homer, and five RBIs. He's slugging a resounding 0.771 in the four games.