Phillips Strong Again as Fightins Earn Series Opening Win

BOX SCORE

(Portland, ME) - Six-strong innings from Tyler Phillips and plenty of timely offense led the Reading Fightin Phils to a 7-2 win over the Portland Sea Dogs on Tuesday night to open the final series of the first half.

It was the second-straight quality start for Phillips, who went six innings, while allowing just one earned run on five hits, with four strikeouts. Since allowing eight-earned runs on June 8 against Binghamton, Phillips has combined to throw 12 innings of one-run ball.

Offensively, Reading wasted little time getting started. Matthew Kroon led off the game with a single and moved to second on a groundout from Carlos De La Cruz. Kroon then moved to third on a throwing error and scored thanks to a groundout from Johan Rojas to put the R-Phils up 1-0.

Moving ahead to the fourth, Baron Radcliff worked a walk in his first game back from the 60-day injured list. Casey Martin followed with a double, and with two runners on, Oliver Dunn blasted a three-run home run to center field to extend the Fightin Phils lead to 4-0.

In the fifth, Rojas hit his 15th double of the season, then stole third base; which was his 23rd stolen base of the season and second of the night. With Rojas on third, Jhailyn Ortiz grounded out to score Rojas and grow Reading's lead to 5-0. Then, with runners on later in the inning, Casey Martin had his third hit of the day to score Ethan Wilson and put Reading up 6-0.

The R-Phils would add another run in the top of the sixth. Reading loaded the bases and then Jhailyn Ortiz worked a walk to score Kroon and make it 7-0 Reading. In the bottom of the frame, Nick Yorke hit his ninth home run of the season on a fly ball to center to put the Sea Dogs on the board and make it 7-1. The end of the sixth would finish the day for Phillips.

Cristian Hernandez entered in relief of Phillips in the bottom of the seventh. Tyler McDonough reached on a throwing error from Kroon and came around to score on a double from Nick Yorke to make it 7-2. Hernandez would exit after the seventh and Keylan Killgore would follow for the eighth and throw a scoreless inning. Brett Schulze would follow for the ninth to secure the win for the Fightin Phils.

Looking at some numbers, De La Cruz reached base for the 34th-straight game Dating back to 2009, it is the longest on-base streak for an R-Phil. De La Cruz passed Cameron Perkins' mark of 33 set in 2014. Also, Rojas stole three bases tonight, marking the second time he's done that this season, with the last time coming Saturday against Hartford. It was also the eighth three-stolen-base game of Rojas' career. Kroon, Rojas, and Casey Martin all chipped in three hits tonight.

Phillips earned the win tonight for Reading to improve to 2-4 on the season, while CJ Liu suffered the loss to drop 4-5. WIth the win, Reading improved to 25-38 on the season and Portland falls to 38-26 with the loss.

Reading and Portland are back in action Wednesday night at 6 p.m. RHP Mick Abel is scheduled to start for Reading and Portland will send RHP Isaac Coffey to the mound for his first double-A start. Coverage is available on MiLB TV or the Bally Live App.

The Fightin Phils return home on Wednesday, June 28 to begin a series against the Richmond Flying Squirrels (Giants), that runs through Monday, July 3. Tickets to all games are still available at rphils.com/tickets, by calling 610-370-BALL or in person at the Customers Bank Ticket Office.

The 2023 R-Phils season is presented by Pepsi. Follow the Fightin Phils on Twitter @ReadingFightins, like us on Facebook or follow us on Instagram @Fightins.