Lehigh Valley won knocking Worcester out of a first-place tie with Scranton. Tyler Phillips pitched well. Three relievers (Jose Cuas, Tristan Garnett, and Dylan Covey) pitched better. The offense clicked coming back from a deficit. Carlos De La Cruz provided the tying and go ahead hit. Darick Hall provided insurance with a HR.
Lehigh Valley (33-37, 67-76, seventh in their division, 3 games remaining) Beat Worcester, 6-3. Tyler Phillips pitched six innings and gave up 3 runs (2 ER) on 3 hits and 2 walks. He struck out three. Jose Cuas, Tristan Garnett, and Dylan Covey each tossed a scoreless inning allowing no base runners. Cuas struck out one, Garnett struck out two, and Covey earned his third save.
The IronPigs overcame a 3-run deficit with 4 runs in the sixth inning. Carson Taylor opened the inning with a walk. Buddy Kennedy reached base on a fielder’s choice while Kennedy made it to third on an error on the catch at second base. Darick Hall walked to load the bases with nobody out. Rafael Marchan reached base on an RBI force out at second base, Taylor scored. Kennedy scored on a sac fly by Ryan McKenna. Ethan Wilson singled to put runners on the corners. Wilson stole second base and scored with Marchan on a 2-run single by Carlos De La Cruz. The IronPigs added 2 runs insurance runs in the seventh. Taylor reached first when he was hit by a pitch with one out. Darick Hall hit a 2-out, 2-run HR (15) to close out the scoring.
The IronPigs pitchers retired the Red Sox in order in 7 of the 9 innings. In the first inning, Phillips faced the minimum after a leadoff single by inducing an inning-ending double play. All the damage occurred in the fifth inning.
Rafael Marchan went 2 for 4 with a run scored, RBI, and double. Jim Haley went 2-4 with 2 RBI and a double.
- #6 RHP, Mick Abel (3-12, 6.46): DNP
- #15 RHP, Seth Johnson (2-1, 2.70): DNP
- #19 RHP, Michael Mercado (2-1, 2.13): DNP
- #21 RHP, Griff McGarry (2-1. 4.70): DNP
- #25 1B, Carlos De La Cruz (.193/.518): went 1-3 with a double
- #28 3B, Otto Kemp (.167/.508): DNP
Reading (28-41, 59-78) finished fifth in their division for the second half.
Jersey Shore (36-30, 74-58) finished third in their division for the second half.
Clearwater (20-40, 64-63) finished last in the second half, but won the first half.
FCL Phillies (33-25) finished third in their division.
DSL Phillies Red (21-34) finished eighth (last) in their division.
DSL Phillies White (26-29) finished sixth in their division.
- #1 SS, Aidan Miller (.250/.544): Reading
- #2 RHP, Andrew Painter: Reading
- #3 CF, Justin Crawford (.333/.835): Reading
- #4 SS, Starlyn Caba (.179/.493): Clearwater
- #5 C, Eduardo Tait (.269/.778): Clearwater
- #7 OF, Dante Nori (.240/.704): Clearwater
- #8 OF, Griffin Burkholder (.500/2.000): Clearwater
- #9 2B, Devin Saltiban (.237/.774): Clearwater
- #10 SS, Bryan Rincon (.202/.669): Jersey Shore
- #11 RF, Gabriel Rincones (.263/.844): Reading
- #12 OF, John Spikerman (.226/.683): Clearwater
- #13 RHP, Jean Cabrera (1-1, 4.85): Reading
- #14 3B, Aroon Escobar (.338/.976): FCL Phillies
- #16 RHP, Alex McFarlane: Clearwater
- #17 3B, Carson DeMartini (.310/.867): Clearwater
- #18 LF, TJayy Walton (.200/.664): Clearwater
- #20 RHP, Pan Wen-hui (0-1, 1.29): Jersey Shore
- #22 RHP, Christian McGowan (0-4, 6.29): Reading
- #23 CF, Emaarion Boyd (.239/.646): Jersey Shore
- #24 C, Caleb Ricketts (.219/.669): Reading
- #26 RHP, Moises Chace (2-1, 3.76): Reading
- #27 LHP, Mavis Graves (7-6, 3.64): Clearwater
- #29 RHP, Micah Ottenbreit (3-9, 4.88): Clearwater
- #30 OF, Raylin Heredia (.245/.737): Clearwater
Transactions
9/19/2024 – Lehigh Valley transferred RHP Zach Haake to the Development List
9/19/2024 – RHP Andrew Schultz assigned to Lehigh Valley from Reading
If anyone is interested, the first 3 files under Rosters and Stuff on the pull-down menu above are up to date (and accurate) as of September 19th.
The Transactions menu option is up-to-date for the 2024 season thru August 31st.
Phuture Phillies 
I wonder, did Phillips earn himself another start in Philly? Did Covey earn himself another look? Did Hall hit his last homer for this organization?
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I would give Phillips another shot. We all know who Taijuan is.
At best, Covey is the long man and he’s replaceable. Whether he’s on the roster or not won’t really matter.
Hall should leave. He didn’t get 1 call up from the Phillies this season. He’s already 29, he needs to do what’s best for him and look for opportunities elsewhere.
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Probably not, probably not, and yes unless he hits one this weekend.
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There’s one more start coming for the 5th SP. plus whoever gets that start will probably not make the postseason roster that will be in need of a long man. I have to think Hall can get a good contract for a year or two in Korea or Japan.
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Hall was a good soldier all the way through. If only Marchan could stay healthy. What a crazy strange season for our minors…
Particularly those who were injured: Painter, Rincones Jr, Pen Wen Hui and so on.
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I really hope that Kingery can get another shot in the majors. It won’t be here, but I think there’s a place for him on a major league roster. What trooper! He hung in there and really continued to work on his game. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if he retired and it wouldn’t surprise me if he made another roster out of ST and spent another 3 or 4 years in the majors away from the expectations and stigma of the contract that did not work out and career arc that never happened.
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As for Marchan. Having watched him, he is totally legit. And he’s a MUCH better player than Stubbs right now. I think they owe it to themselves to give him the first shot to win the back-up job next year, which is very important the last year of Realmuto’s contract. But given his injury history, they are going to have to invest in some back-up catchers they can keep in AAA.
But Stubbs is just insufficient as a hitter. He’s a 53 and 57 OPS+ the last two years. That’s just not good enough, post-game celebrations notwithstanding.
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If Marchan has no options left, then he should definitely be the backup. And if he’s the backup, he won’t be playing every day (maybe 1 start per week) so hopefully, he’ll be able to stay healthy.
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so you’re saying there is a chance???
“We’re just waiting to see how he comes out of it, how he progresses,” Thomson said. “I know there’s a report out there that he’s going to the fall league — that’s not set in stone.”
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