(TRENTON, NJ) - The next week's worth of games against the Thunder will ultimately decide how the final chapter of the 2019 Fightin Phils season is written. For the second straight night at ARM & HAMMER Park, the teams finished up separated by two runs. On Saturday night, the Thunder
(TRENTON, NJ) - The next week's worth of games against the Thunder will ultimately decide how the final chapter of the 2019 Fightin Phils season is written. For the second straight night at ARM & HAMMER Park, the teams finished up separated by two runs. On Saturday night, the Thunder tied the series with two games left in the regular season, riding Miguel Yajure to a 2-0 win before a crowd of 7,189. In his Double-A debut, righthanded reliever Tyler Carr was the main attraction, racking up a career-high six strikeouts in just his 54th appearance.
Mickey Moniak made the first inning look promising with a one-out double in Yajure's second Thunder start, and first in front of the hometown fans. The 21-year-old proceeded to retire the next 10 in order, which was interrupted when Alec Bohm drew a two-out walk in the fourth.
Making his first start against the Thunder, Julian Garcia got off to a strong start by retiring the first six batters on just 20 pitches. He then evaded a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the third, inducing flyouts from Zack Zehner and Hoy Jun Park after a pair of singles and a walk. In the fourth, catcher Orlando Arcia broke the scoreless tie with a run-scoring single, and Park pushed the lead to 2-0 with a one-out single in the fifth.
Garcia (2-2) exited with one out in the fifth after striking out designated hitter Isaiah Gilliam with runners at the corners. That's when Carr came in after being added to the active roster from Clearwater (A+) on Friday. He struck out the last two hitters in the fifth, added two more in the sixth, and finished his night with another strikeout of Gilliam to send the game to the seventh inning stretch.
The R-Phils two best chances came in the sixth and seventh. With one out, Luke Williams reached on a broken bat single, and Moniak followed with a base knock into right field for his second hit. Major League rehabber Jay Bruce then reached on a fielder's choice, ultimately ending his night 0-for-4 for the second straight game. With the tying runs at the corners, Will Carter came in and struck out Alec Bohm to keep the Fightin Phils off the board.
In the seventh, Josh Stephen blopped a double down the left field line, Cornelius Randolph walked, and Arquimedes Gamboa singled to load the bases with one out and put the go-ahead run at first. Carter closed it out, however, getting two strikeouts before James Reeves delivered a perfect eighth inning. Daniel Alvarez made quick work of the ninth, earning his 21st save to give the Thunder their 16th shutout win of the season, and the Fightin Phils 11th shutout loss.
America's Classic Ballpark is proud to be a part of Pennsylvania's Americana Region and was voted the #1 stadium in all of Double-A by MiLB's Ben Hill. Follow the Fightins on Twitter at @ReadingFightins and like them on Facebook via www.facebook.com/fightins. Purchase tickets TODAY, call or TEXT 610-370-BALL, and download the Fightins game and promotional schedule at fightins.com/calendar.
