Larry Shenk’s Phillies Minor League Report: 4/7/19

Phillies Nation was honored to have Larry Shenk join the ranks of our regular contributors during this past off-season.

“The Baron” is the former Philadelphia Phillies head of community relations, a role in which he served the organization for more than four decades. Larry is also a 2018 inductee to the Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Fame.

In addition to the Phillies alumni and history work which Larry has been sharing with readers here at Phillies Nation, his “Minor League Report” pieces will now also run with us all during the season as well.

Strike 3
Two pitching staffs lead their respective leagues in strikeouts after three games. Reading pitchers have struck out 41 in 28 innings. Clearwater, 44 in 26 innings.

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Lehigh Valley, International League North Division
**IronPigs (2–1) won a doubleheader (7-inning games) over visiting Rochester . . .
Ranger Suarez on the mound as four-game series ends 1:35 Sunday afternoon against the Red Wings.

Game #1: Pounding out 14 hits, the Pigs coasted to a 12–3 win over the Red Wings . . . RF Jan Hernandez, 3–4, 2 R, 3 RBI, 1st HR. 3B Mitch Walding, 2–4, R, 5 RBI, 1st HR. LF Lane Adams, 2–4, R, RBI, 1st HR. 1B Damek Tomscha, 2–4, R, 2 2B . . . WP Jerad Eickhoff (1–0), 5 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 SO, HR; first win since 8/25/17 when he was the Phillies. Victor Arano, 1st appearance, 1–0–0–0–0–1.

Game #2: Despite being held to four hits, the Pigs made good use of them in a 4–1 win . . . 2B Phil Gosselin, 3B Mitch Walding had RBI hits, LF Shane Robinson hit 1st HR and C Deivi Grullon scored on a balk . . . WP: Enyel De Los Santos (1–0), 5–4–1–1–0–10. James Pazos, 1–0–0–0–0–1; SV (1), Josh Martin, 1–0–0–0–0–1.

 

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Reading, Eastern League East Division
**Fightin Phils (3–0) rolled to 8–1 victory over Portland behind a 15-hit attack and 16 combined strikeouts by three hurlers who allowed just two hits . . . 2B Jose Antequera led the offense, 4–4, BB,2 runs, his first game of the young season. CF Mickey Moniak, 2–4, R, BB, 3 RBI; included was his 3rd 2B. In first 3 AA games, Moniak is hitting .417, 6 RBI. C Henri Lartigue

, 2–4, 2 RBI, R, BB . . . WP: David Parkinson (1–0), 5–1–1–1–3–10; followed by Jakob Hernandez, 2–0–0–0–0–4 and JD Hammer, 2–1–0–0–0–2 . . . Bailey Falter as series concludes at 1 o’clock Sunday afternoon in Portland.

 

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Clearwater, Florida State League North Division
**Threshers (1–2) won their first game, 8–3, over Dunedin as five different players had multi-hit games and four pitchers combined to strike out 16 Blue Jays . . . CF Roman Quinn, 3–3, BB, 3 R, RBI, SB; RF Simone Muzziotti, 2–5, 2 R; 2 hits, 2 RBI for LF Matt Vierling, SS Nick Maton, 1B Madison Stokes . . . WP: Alejandro Requena (1–0), 5–3–1–1–2–8; contributing strikeouts, Grant Dyer (3), Austin Ross (2), Jonathan Hennigan (3) . . . Andrew Brown, 1 Sunday afternoon at Blue Jays at Jack Russell Stadium.

 

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Lakewood, South Atlantic League North Division
**BlueClaws (0–3) lost, 8–1, to the Hickory Crawdads before a crowd of 7,337 . . . C Abrahan Guttierez, 2–4, 2B, lone RBI, SB . . . LP: Jhordany Mezquita (0–1), 4–5–4–4–2–6 . . . Victor Santos in series ends at 1:05 Sunday afternoon.

Lakewood is last in the SAL with a .147 team batting average, 14 hits in 3 games; only extra base hits are 4 doubles.

 

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LARRY SHENK IS AUTHOR/EDITOR OF THE PHILLIES.COM ALUMNI SECTION AND PROVIDES REGULAR MINOR LEAGUE REPORT PIECES FROM HIS PHILLIES INSIDER BLOG. PHILLIES INSIDER PIECES RE-PRINTED AT PHILLIES NATION BY PERMISSION OF LARRY SHENK. PHILLIES ALUMNI PIECES WITH BY HIS PERMISSION ALONG WITH APPROVAL FROM MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL AND THE PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES.