Opening night arrived for the Phillies’ affiliates and two of four games were postponed. But the two who played were victorious.

Zach Eflin pitched five one-hit innings in a rehab start for Clearwater.

Seranthony Dominguez hit 98 mph on the radar gun.

Five BlueClaws had two-hit games including Mickey Moniak and Cord Sandberg.

Luke Williams had two RBI.

Lehigh Valley and Reading had their games postponed.

Lehigh Valley (0-0) v Pawtucket Red Sox – Postponed: Rain, make up in Sunday double header.  Everybody pushed back – Jake Thompson on Friday, Ricardo Pinto on Saturday, and Ben Lively and Nick Pivetta on Sunday.

• #1 Crawford
• #3 Alfaro
• #4 Williams
• #6 Quinn
• #9 Cozens
• #12 Pivetta
• #13 Hoskins
• #17 Pinto
• #20 Appel
• #25 Lively
• #30 Valentin

Reading (0-0) v Portland Sea Dogs – Postponed: Rain.  Tom Eshelman on Friday, Tyler Viza on Saturday, Drew Anderson on Sunday, Shane Watson on Monday, and Brandon Leibrandt on Tuesday.

• #11 Kingery
• #18 Garcia – 7-Day DL
• #22 Anderson
• #23 Arano – 7-Day DL
• #24 Tocci
• #28 Canelo

Clearwater (1-0) beat the Dunedin Blue Jays 3-1 behind strong pitching performances by Zach Eflin, Seranthony Dominguez, and Jeff Singer.  Next up Jose Taveras on Friday, Franklyn Kilome on Saturday, Cole Irvin on Sunday, Alberto Tirado on Monday, and Blake Quinn on Tuesday.

Eflin was making a rehab start and was limited to five innings or 75 pitches.  He made the most of his appearance going 5.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K.  He threw 56 pitches/44 strikes.  His fastball sat at 93-94 mph although his range was 91-96 mph.  His last pitch of the evening hit the catcher’s mitt at 95 mph for his sixth strike out.

The Jays game plan seemed to be to take pitches.  They took 14 of 17 first pitches from Eflin.  He took advantage and threw 13 of 17 first pitch strikes.  Eflin had impeccable command.  He only threw 12 balls and threw more than one ball to only one batter, his only three-ball count which ended in a strike out.

Eflin avoided hard contact.  In addition to his 6 strike outs, he got 3 pop ups, 4 ground ball outs, a ground ball single, a ground ball with a throwing error, and a fly ball out.  His called strikes were inflated due to the Jays taking so many first pitches.  He got 6 swinging strikes. His strike outs were evenly split between fastballs and off speed pitches –

• swinging at an 87 mph pitch after a 95 mph FB
• swinging at an 87 mph pitch after a 96 mph FB
• looking at an 80 mph pitch after an 80 mph called strike
• swinging at a 93 mph pitch after three consecutive balls
• swinging at a 93 mph fastball after an 85 mph slider
• looking at a 95 mph FB after a 93 mph FB

Seranthony Dominguez followed and threw 2.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K.  He threw 34 pitches/22 strikes.  His fastball ranged between 94-98 mph.  He walked the first batter he faced, then got his pitches under control.  He set up his slider with fastballs.  His 4 Ks came on pitches of 84, 86, 86, and 83 mph.  Two sliders, 2 change ups?  The one run he gave up scored when a two out pop up dropped among four lpayers in the infield.  The runner easily scored from second.

Jeff Singer entered and recorded a six-out save.  His fastball was in the low 90s as he recorded 3 strike outs.  He gave up a two-out, ground single in the ninth.  But the hardest hit ball was a first-pitch line drive back through the box that Singer nonchalantly caught and flipped to an infielder.

Combined, the three Threshers pitchers no-hit all the Blue Jays not named Dan Jansen. While Jansen went 3-4 with singles off each of the Clearwater pitchers, the rest of the Jays went 0-28 with a walk and 13 strike outs.

Eflin laid out the blue print for the Threshers starting pitchers.  Hold the opponent scoreless until the offense can scratch out a couple runs.

And scratch they did.  After Zach Coppola led off the bottom of the first with a walk and was caught stealing after being picked off, the Threshers didn’t have another base runner until a throwing error in the fourth inning gave them a one out base runner.  Damek Tomscha punched a check-swing double off the first base bag.  Jose Pujols drove in the game’s first two runs with a ground double inside the third base bag on a 3-2 pitch.  The hit came off an off speed pitch. He had missed badly on the same pitch when the count was 3-1 and the ball was out of the strike zone.

The Threshers tacked on another run in the fifth inning.  Emmanuel Marrero reached first with two outs when he was hit by a pitched ball.  He moved into scoring position when he stole second base.  Zach Coppola brought him home with a ground single to center.

The Threshers collected two singles over the remaining three innings.  A line drive double play ended a scoring threat in the seventh inning.

Aside from the five-hit support the offense provided, the Threshers defense was worrisome.  They committed three charged errors, and bobbled a couple other balls that robbed them of the opportunity to turn double plays.  They looked a little shaky catching a couple of other balls in the air.  Hopefully, some of these can be attributed to a strong 17 mph breeze that blew from left to right.

The game was completed in two hours flat.  The pitch clock and inning clock were never factors in the game.

• #5 Kilome – first start on Saturday
• #10 Randolph – 0-4, reached on an error, run, 2 K
• #27 Garcia – DNP
• #29 Pujols: 1-3, double, 2 RBI, 1 K

Lakewood (1-0) beat Kannapolis 7-5.  JoJo Romero gave up 4 of the 5 runs in his four innings, but walked none and struck out five.  Mauricio Llovera was touched for an unearned run in the sixth and left with a couple runners on base.  Zach Morris stranded the runners and went on to pick up the win.  Ismael Cabrera picked up the save.  Next up Sixto Sanchez on Friday, Ranger Suarez on Saturday, and Adonis Medina on Sunday.

The BlueClaws rallied from an early 4 run deficit with 3 runs in the fourth and took the lead with 2 runs in the fifth.  After Kannapolis tied the game in the sixth, Lakewood retook the lead with 2 runs in the eighth.

Darick Hall drove in their first run on a sacrifice fly after singles by Brito, Gamboa, and Moniak loaded the bases.  Luke Williams infield single plated the second run.  And Cord Sandberg’s double brought home the third.

The BlueClaws loaded the bases again in the fifth.  A Luke Williams fielder’s choice and throwing error accounted for the tying and go-ahead runs.

Alex Wojciechowski put Lakewood ahead to stay with a pinch hit, RBI single in the eighth.  A passed ball allowed the final run to score.

The BlueClaws collected 13 hits.  The first 6 batters in the line up each had two hits – Daniel Brito, Arquimedes Gamboa, Mickey Moniak, Darick Hall, Luke Williams, and Cord Sandberg.

Their pitchers struck out 10 Intimidators while walking only two.  The BlueClaws drew one walk but only struck out 3 times.

• #2 Moniak – 2-5 with 2 runs scored
• #7 Sanchez – first start on Friday
• #16 Medina – first start on Sunday
• #19 Brito – 2-5 with a run scored, and 2 K
• #26 Romero – 4.0 IP, 8 H. 4 R. 4 ER, 0 BB, 5 K

Williamsport (0-0)

• #8 Gowdy
• #15 Stobbe
• #21 Ortiz

GCL Phillies (0-0)

DSL Phillies (0-0)

DSL Phillies2 (0-0)

Here’s the affiliate scoreboard from MiLB.

Extra Innings:

• Former Phillie slugger Ryan Howard agreed to a minor league deal with the Atlanta Braves.  MLB Trade Rumors has the story here.
• 4/6 – Phillies sent RHP Zach Eflin on a rehab assignment to Clearwater Threshers.
• 4/6 – Edgar Garcia assigned to Clearwater Threshers from Lakewood BlueClaws.
• 4/6 – Deivi Grullon assigned to Clearwater Threshers from Lakewood BlueClaws.
• 4/6 – Emmanuel Marrero assigned to Clearwater Threshers from Lakewood BlueClaws.
• 4/6 – Wilson Garcia assigned to Clearwater Threshers from Lakewood BlueClaws.
• 4/6 – Cornelius Randolph assigned to Clearwater Threshers from Lakewood BlueClaws.
• 4/6 – Jan Hernandez assigned to Clearwater Threshers from Lakewood BlueClaws.
• 4/6 – Cole Irvin assigned to Clearwater Threshers from Williamsport Crosscutters.
• 4/6 – Tyler Gilbert assigned to Clearwater Threshers from Lakewood BlueClaws.
• 4/6 – Clearwater Threshers placed DH Zach Green on the 7-day disabled list.
• 4/6 – Clearwater Threshers placed IF Derek Campbell on the 7-day disabled list.
• 4/6 – Blake Quinn assigned to Clearwater Threshers from Lakewood BlueClaws.
• 4/6 – Franklyn Kilome assigned to Clearwater Threshers from Lakewood BlueClaws.
• 4/6 – Seranthony Dominguez assigned to Clearwater Threshers from Lakewood BlueClaws.
• Organization Rosters are up to date.