Akron 6, Reading 2
After losing two games in Akron, the Reading Phillies find themselves on the
brink of elimination in their best-of-five division series with the Aeros.
Akron scored three runs off R-Phils starter Yohan Flande in the bottom of the
fourth to break a scoreless tie. Carlos Santana opened the inning with a solo
home run, which seemed to shake Flande, who then issued a walk and gave up a
double and another walk to load the bases with nobody out. After a groundball
out scored one run, it looked like Flande might work out of the inning when he
recorded a second out on a pop-out to catcher Tuffy Gosewisch. Jared Heard
delivered a ground-rule double to plate one more run in the inning though as
Akron moved to a 3-0 lead.
Flande was replaced by Scott Mathieson after giving up a leadoff single in
the fifth. Mathieson gave up a base hit, but then recorded a double-play and a
strikeout to end the inning. An inning later though, Mathieson was in trouble
when he gave up back-to-back singles and both runners moved up on a sacrifice
bunt, putting runners at second and third with one out. Again, it was Jared Head
doing the damage as he doubled to left to notch two runs and then scored himself
on a double by Jose Constanza, stretching Akron's lead to 6-0.
Akron right-hander Jeanmar Gomez cruised through the first six innings, but
gave up back-to-back singles to Neil Sellers and Domonic Brown to start the
seventh. Not wanting to take any chances, Akron went to the bullpen to bring in
Carlton Smith, who surrendered a sacrifice fly to Brian Stavisky to give Reading
their first run of the night. A groundout and passed ball moved Brown to third,
but Gosewisch grounded out to end the inning without any further damage. Reading
added an eighth inning run on a double by Ozzie Chavez, who moved to third on a
fly ball by Michael Taylor and then scored on a base-hit by Kevin Mahar, but
Reading wouldn't do any further damage and went quietly in the ninth as Akron
took their second straight game of the series, winning 6-2.
The series now shifts to Reading with Game Three on Friday night, although
the weather forecast isn't very favorable. Mike Cisco, who was a combined 9-7
between Clearwater and Reading, will get the start for the R-Phils. If
necessary, Game Four will be Saturday night, but Reading hasn't announced who
would start that game.
Lakewood Comes Home With a 1-0 Series Lead
After a night off, the Lakewood BlueClaws return home for Game Two of their
best-of-three series with Kannapolis. Trevor May (3-1, 2.56) takes on the
Intimidators Stephen Sauer (6-5, 3.36) as the 'Claws look to clinch and head for
the South Atlantic League Finals for the second time in four seasons. In the
other playoff series, Greenville holds a 1-0 series lead over Asheville as that
series shifts to Greenville Friday night.