BRIDGEWATER, NJ. – The Reading Fightin Phils (8-6, 38-45) dropped a 6-5 decision to the Somerset Patriots (43-40) in a Wednesday afternoon showdown at TD Bank Ballpark.<\/p>\n
Reading rung the bell in the first inning, as Raylin Heredia belted a double down the left field line to score Bryan Rincon. This was the Phillies no. 30 prospect\u2019s team-best 25th double and his 43rd extra base hit in 82 contests. The two-bagger also extended Heredia\u2019s hit streak to 13 games. Caleb Ricketts then ripped a deep fly ball to left field that deflected off of Somerset center fielder Jace Avina\u2019s glove. The sequence put the Fightin Phils up 3-0.<\/p>\n
Neither side would score again through the first third of this contest, but Somerset dug into the lead in the fourth inning on a Miguel Palma two-run single. Palma\u2019s knock plated both Tomas Frick and Josh Moylan to draw the score to 3-2 after four stanzas.<\/p>\n
The R-Phils answered in the fifth inning, as Pedro Le\u00f3n sent a line drive to center field, sending Rincon home in the process. Le\u00f3n\u2019s RBI knock extended his hit streak to eight contests, and he bolstered the lead to 4-2.<\/p>\n
Reading starter Kyle Brnovich\u2019s day ended after five strong innings, as he allowed just two runs on four hits with four strikeouts in a no-decision.<\/p>\n
The Patriots stormed back in the sixth frame with a rally that would serve to be the difference maker. Somerset held the 5-4 advantage through six innings.<\/p>\n
The Yankees\u2019 Double-A affiliate found a key insurance run in the eighth inning and built the lead to 6-4.<\/p>\n
The insurance run proved pivotal, as Le\u00f3n lofted a ball to shallow right field that ticked off of Moylan\u2019s glove, scoring Luke Ritter and sending Rincon (the would-be tying run) to third base. Escobar stepped up with a chance to tie, but he grounded out to third base to end the contest at 6-5.<\/p>\n
Somerset reliever Geoffrey Gilbert (3-1) got the win, tossing two perfect innings with a strikeout to hold the Fightins hitters at bay.<\/p>\n
Reading bullpen arm Aaron Combs (0-2) took the loss, allowing three unearned runs with a pair of walks while recording just one out.<\/p>\n
Kelly Austin (3) got the save, allowing an unearned run, a hit and a walk while striking one out in the ninth and final inning.<\/p>\n
The Fightin Phils return to the field on Thursday against the Somerset Patriots, Double-A affiliate of the New York Yankees, at 6:35 p.m. RHP Luke Russo will get the start for Reading, and he will go against RHP Chase Hampton for Somerset.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BRIDGEWATER, NJ. – The Reading Fightin Phils (8-6, 38-45) dropped a 6-5 decision to the Somerset Patriots (43-40)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":174536,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[4773,51245,128,130,129,44158,726],"class_list":["post-239262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-_sports_top_stories","tag-milb","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-reading-fightin-phils","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239262\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}