(READING, PA) - The Fightin Phils put themselves in a good position to win Sunday's third and deciding game against the Thunder because of a power surge in the second inning. With six straight hits, including home runs from Nick Maton , Arquimedes Gamboa , and Luke Williams , the
(READING, PA) - The Fightin Phils put themselves in a good position to win Sunday's third and deciding game against the Thunder because of a power surge in the second inning. With six straight hits, including home runs from Nick Maton , Arquimedes Gamboa , and Luke Williams , the offense ignited the crowd of 7,503 to take a 5-2 lead. Trenton never let up, scoring twice in the fifth and sixth, plus pouring on five more in the seventh before rain halted play after the seventh inning stretch. The game was eventually called after a near two-hour delay, and in the end, the Thunder had taken two out of three with a 12-6 win to wrap up the second-to-last home series of the season.
With Phillies righthander Jerad Eickhoff continuing his rehab assignment and making his second start in Baseballtown, the visitors struck first for the third straight game when Angel Aguilar crushed a two-run homer to left in the second inning. In their first ups against Thunder starter Shawn Semple , the R-Phils got singles from Luke Williams and Alec Bohm but were unable to score.
That didn't last long, and in the second, Maton and Gamboa went back-to-back to open the inning and tie the score. Jose Gomez and Jack Conley kept the line moving with singles, and Williams broke the tie with his 10th home run for a 5-2 advantage. Another single from Mickey Moniak made it six straight hits in the frame, but a double play helped Semple get out of it with no more runs across.
Eickhoff balked in a run with runners at the corners in the fourth after surrendering a walk to Kellin Deglan and a single to Brandon Wagner . He was lifted after four-and-a-third innings, charged with four earned runs on five hits with two walks and three strikeouts. Aaron Brown entered to get the last two outs in the fifth, but surrendered a two-run homer to Kyle Holder , which got the Thunder within a run at 6-5 after Josh Stephen doubled home a run for Reading with two outs in the fourth.
In the sixth, Adonis Medina started a clean inning in his first relief appearance since 2015. After a one-out walk to Deglan, Rashad Crawford took him deep to right with two outs for his seventh home run and a 7-6 Thunder lead. It got worse from there, with Medina letting in another run on a groundout from Ben Ruta for the second out in the seventh inning. The Thunder capitalized on three walks, loading the bases for Wagner, who got a hold of a pitch and let it fly into the win for a grand slam to left that put the game away at 12-6. Gamboa walked to start the bottom of the seventh, but the rain ruined the rest of the day, and the game was called after an hour and 47 minute delay.
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