Five games, two wins last night. Lehigh Valley gave up the lead and lost in a walkoff. Reading split a doubleheader. Jersey Shore lost giving up ten runs forthe second night in a row. And, Clearwater stretched their winning streak to eight games, pulled their record above .500 for the first time this season, and closed to within a game of first place when they one-hit the first-place Mussels last night.
Clearwater (9-8) beat the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels, 6-1. link
Three Threshers’ pitchers combined to one-hit the Mussels. Gabriel Cotto gave up the Mussels’ lone run in the first inning without a hit. A walk, hit batter, wild pitch, and groundout led to the run. Cotto pitched five innings and allowed just the one run, one hit, 2 walks, and struck out four. Fernando Lozano walked one in two innings and struck out four. Malik Binns walked two in two innings and struck out five.
The Threshers’ bats remained hot as they collected 13 hits. They scored a run in the first inning on Jadiel Sanchez’ sac fly. They retook the lead in the third on Kendall Simmons’ solo HR. They added 2 runs in the fourth on Wilfredo Flores’ RBI single. An, they tacked on 2 more in the sixth on Simmons’ RBI double and a throwing error on a pickoff attempt.
Simmons went 3-5 with 2 doubles and a HR. Yhoswar Garcia went 2-4. Arturo De Freitas went 3-5. Garcia stole his 11th base, Flores his second. Cotto picked a runner off first.
Lehigh Valley (9-10) lost to the Scranton/WB RailRiders, 4-3.
Rodolfo Sanchez pitched three scoreless innings and gave up one hit and 3 walks. He struck out five. Joe Gatto pitched one inning and struck out three, but gave up a run on a hit and 2 walks. Jonathan Hennigan pitched two scoreless innings allowing a hit and a walk. Kyle Dohy pitched 0.1 innings. He allowed a single and a walk and was ejected by the home plate umpire after the walk. Nick Duron came in and walked two batters forcing in a run before getting out of the inning on a double play. Connor Brogdon pitched one inning retiring the side after a leadoff walk. Jeff Singer came on for the ninth and failed to get an out. He blew the save and lost the game on a terrible sequence – HBP, BB, RBI double, IBB, walk-off HBP.
The IronPigs took the lead with 3 runs in the fifth on Nick Maton’s 2-run HR and Will Toffey’s steal of home. Other than that the ‘Pigs offense was nonexistent. They went down in order the first four innings and only managed two base runners after the fifth on a single in the sixth and a hit batter in the seventh.
Reading (5-12) split with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, losing 10-2 and winning 5-2. link
Game One: James McCarthy pitched 2.2 innings and gave up 6 runs on 8 hits and a walk. Bubby Rossman stranded an inherited runner and pitched 1.1 innings. He gave up 3 runs on 2 hits and 2 walks. Tyler Adams gave up a run on 4 hits in two innings.
The Phils scored 2 runs in the fourth on Wendell Rijo’s 2-run HR. Their only other hit was a double by Madison Stokes.
Game Two: Matt Seelinger got the start in a bullpen game and gave up 2 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks in two innings. Braden Zarbnisky pitched two innings and let a batter reach on a strikeout wild pitch. No runs, hits, or walks otherwise. Francisco Morales pitched two perfect innings and struck out five. Brian Marconi struck out two in one inning and picked up his third save.
After falling behind in the first inning, the Phils scored in five different innings to earn the win. They scored single runs in the second on a ground out, the third on Vito Friscia’s solo HR, the fifth on Ali Castillo’s sac fly, the sixth on Hunter Markwardt’s RBI single, and the seventh on Madison Stokes’ sac fly.
Vito Friscia went 2-2 with a HR and 2 walks. Wendell Rijo went 2-4. Hunter Markwardt went 2-3.
Jersey Shore (6-11) lost to the Aberdeen IronBirds, 10-1. link
Victor Vargas pitched five innings and gave up 3 runs on 7 hits and a walk. He struck out four. Tyler McKay pitched two innings and gave up 2 runs on 4 hits. Dominic Pipkin faced 6 batters without getting an out. Five of them scored on 3 walks and 3 hits. Erubiel Armenta allowed one of 2 inherited runners to score. He retired the side on a walk and 2 Ks.
The BlueClaws scored a meaningless run in the top of the ninth on Baron Radcliff’s solo HR. Radcliff went 2-4 with a double in addition to his HR. Casey Martin went 2-4. DJ Stewart went 1-3 with a triple. Martin stole his 4th base
Rosters and Stuff
Not up to date, yet.
Transactions
4/27/2022 – RHP Aidan Anderson assigned to Jersey Shore from Clearwater
4/27/2022 – Clearwater activated RHP Konnor Ash from the 7-day IL
4/26/2022 – Reading activated LHP Nick Lackney
4/26/2022 – Jersey Shore transferred RHP Cristian Hernandez to the Development List
4/5/2022 – RHP Konnor Ash assigned to Clearwater
Phuture Phillies 
Malik Binns, an 18th round pick in ’21, has been interesting. In 6 games in CLW, over 10 IP in 2022, he’s given up 1 ER and has 17 Ks but also 7 BBs. He leads the Threshers with 6 Appearances so they are putting him out there when they can. He is also tied for 2nd on the team in Ks. He’s behind Painter and tied with Cotto. The fact that he’s 6’7″ must be intimidating to opposing hitters.
CWater is on a legit hot streak and they’re playing very well on offense and defense. It’s really nice to see some of the young guys putting it together. We now just need some of that success to leak over to Jersey Shore.
Jim – I’ll bet the games are a lot fun right now….
Wilson is off to an awful start. Its early but I am alarmed.
Simmons on the surface is opsing 926 but his OBP is sub 300….have any of you ever seen that before? At 22 I wish he were up in Reading or Jersey Shore at least.
DNAr…Wilson’s first 8 games, hot…..9 for 29,
…last 8 games, cold…. 3 for 29
Maybe he is streaky.
Wednesday was Day Two of the Yhoswar Garcia Festival.
This guy plays all out in using his speed and it affects the scoreboard.
In the first inning, for example, he singled, stole second, advanced to third and scored on a sac fly. He singled on a two-strike count. He lined viciously to the third baseman. The ball popped out of his glove but he recovered in time to throw to first. Garcia dove into the base. He was safe — except that the umpire called him out. The call was so bad even the Ft Myers fans complained about it. It was the second straight day Garcia dove head-first into first base. Someone might want to talk to him about that.
Kendall Simmons had a good night. His home run was a lightning fast line drive. I don’t know the exit velocity, but it was definitely Big League. His double, too.
Final note, shortstop Yu Lee had another solid game defensively. He reminds me of Nick Maton when he was at Clearwater. Not flashy, but definitely solid.
Starting pitcher Gabriel Cotto deserves credit for settling himself down. He started the game with a walk, hit batter and wild pitch that eventually led to a run scored, then pitched well after that.
Pitcher Fernando Lozano had a fun sixth inning — three strike outs, all looking.
Frank … thanks so much for the first hand accounts. Most of us have no shot at ever seeing them and it’s great to hear what you see. Keep it up!
Yes, I agree with Tom, thanks for the updates.
Any velocity on the pitchers? Cotto has so far taken a big step in 2022 when looking at his WHIP.
Tom and Guru, thanks for the comments.
Nothing special on pitcher velo. I did mention that in Tuesday’s game that reliever Alex Garbrick sat 94. Gonna go again tonight so another report tomorrow.
Warm weather playing in April in the northeast, let’s see come July
Used to playing in warm weather
Francisco Morraless really pitching well out of the pen. When is his ETA to Philly?
If he continues to progress, he’ll get a look during ST next season.
I disagree. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from following minor leaguers on this site and from comments of other posters it’s that the developmental time of relievers who show dominance in the higher minors is virtually non-existent. Once a guy shows he can be dominant in AA, he’s actually not that far from the majors. Both Ken Giles and Seranthony started the year in AA, were dominant, had short trips to AAA and spent most of the same year in the majors. If Morales keeps pitching like this he could be in Philadelphia by July or perhaps even sooner.
He could be in Philadelphia in July, but a lot needs to happen. He would still need to show the same sort of results at AAA and there has to be an opening for him. It does help that he’s on the 40 man, but he has to be behind Connor Brogdon for sure. It’s possible, but I think the odds are against him for this year.