Minor League Roundup March 18th: Former Threshers Dominate Intrasquad Exhibition

CLEARWATER, Fla. – No days off at minor league camp, as the Phillies system kicked off the weekend with intrasquad exhibition games on Saturday morning at the Carpenter Complex in Clearwater, Florida. Former Threshers players helped the visiting side to a 6-1 victory, with three RBIs from 2022 Threshers catcher Caleb Ricketts and three strikeouts from 2021 hurler Samuel Aldegheri. Phillies minor league camp continues with games against the Toronto Blue Jays minor leaguers on Monday, March 20 and 1:00 PM.

Justin Crawford swung at the first pitch of the day and lined a single the opposite way. He moved to second on a Danny Wilkinson balk and stole 3rd, but back-to-back strikeouts ended the top of the first without a run scored.

Former Thresher Victor Lopez started for the home team. He struck out the first batter before Troy Schreffler grounded a pitch up the middle for a base hit. The 2022 Threshers outfielder advanced to second on a two-out infield hit by Felix Reyes and scored on a single from Yemal Flores that put the home team up 1-0 after the first.

Yoniel Ramirez retired the side in order in the top of the second. A catcher’s interference put a man on base with two outs in the home half, but Ricketts got the last laugh with an inning-ending pickoff at third.

Crawford reached on an error in the third, and stole his second base of the day on a delayed steal. The inning was rolled over after Ricketts drove him in on an RBI single to tie the game at one. Schreffler led off the bottom of the third with his second hit of the day and immediately stole second base. He advanced to third on a groundout but former Threshers’ reliever Josh Bortka got out of the jam on a flyout.

Jean Cabrera pitched the top of the fourth, which began with runners on first and second for situational training purposes. An errant throw on a grounder scored Bryan Rincon from second and moved Wilfredo Flores to third, who scored on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Emaarion Boyd to make it 3-1 visitors. Boyd stole second and scored on an error to extend the lead to 4-1.

Aldegheri, a Thresher in 2021, looked dominant in his two innings of relief. The left-hander retired the side in order in the bottom of the frame. He recorded two strikeouts in the fourth, including one to end the inning.

Crawford walked and stole his third base of the day in the fifth. Ricketts tripled in two runs to give the visiting side a 6-1 advantage.

The first batter of the bottom fifth reached on an error, but Aldegheri shut the door by retiring the next three in order. “My job was to stop the hitters, and I think I did a good job at that” said Aldegheri. “I’ve worked a lot on that during spring training and I’m happy I got it done the right way.” Aldegheri finished the intrasquad exhibition game with his third strikeout of the day, completing a 6-1 victory for the visitors.

Keep up to date on more coverage of Phillies minor league camp on ThreshersBaseball.com…You can purchase tickets for the Threshers season, with the Home Opener on Tuesday, April 11th, at ThreshersBaseball.com/tickets or by calling 727-467-4457…The Box Office at BayCare Ballpark is also open daily to purchase Phillies Spring Training and Threshers tickets…The hours are 10 AM-5 PM Monday through Friday and 10 AM-3 PM on Saturdays.