Kingery, Crawford pile up hits in 'Pigs' loss

The Phillies' third- and fourth-ranked prospects again demonstrated why they're near the top of the heap in a deep system on Sunday.
Scott Kingery went 3-for-4 with a homer and three runs scored and J.P. Crawford -- a shortstop playing his first professional game at third base -- was 3-for-5 with an RBI in Triple-A Lehigh Valley's 5-4 loss to Charlotte on Sunday at BB&T Ballpark.

Gameday box score
Kingery continued his breakout campaign, extending his hitting streak to 18 games and boosting his average to .315 through 48 games at the Minor Leagues' highest level. Through 69 games with Double-A Reading, he hit .313/.379/.608 with 18 homers, five triples, 18 doubles and 19 stolen bases to earn a promotion at the end of June.
The jump did little to slow him down. His seventh-inning roundtripper was his eighth for Lehigh Valley, where he also has three triples, eight doubles and eight steals.
During the three-game series in Charlotte, Kingery was 7-for-13 with 15 total bases. MLB.com's No. 56 overall prospect has gone without a hit just once this month -- on Aug. 1 -- while reaching base at a .372 clip over the last 19 games.

Kingery singled the opposite way in the first and dug out an infield hit in the fifth before opening the seventh with a homer off left-hander Brian Clark to tie the game, 4-4.
Crawford, ranked 61st overall, has had a strong August, batting .338/.407/.545 to boost his slash line to .246/.352/.408 in 112 games. A left-handed hitter, he poked one through the right side in the first, lined an RBI single that right fielder Rymer Liriano misplayed in the fifth and knocked a hard-hit ball up the middle in the seventh.

Crawford handled one play at the hot corner -- former IronPig Cody Asche bunted for a hit with one out in the fifth -- but the move may have lasting implications. Aside from three games as a designated hitter, the 22-year-old from the Los Angeles area has played shortstop exclusively since the Phillies took him in the first round of the 2013 Draft.
With Freddy Galvis embedded at shortstop on the big league club and Maikel Franco struggling at third base, a September callup could find Crawford debuting one spot over from his regular position. The Phillies brought first baseman Rhys Hoskins up as an outfielder on Aug. 10.

"This is similar to Hoskins," assistant general manager Ned Rice told Philadelphia media. "We just want to see [Crawford] at different places. It's a fact-finding mission. We'll keep him as versatile as possible. ... We haven't figured out what we're doing in September yet. But it's important for the next few weeks to see how he looks at different places.
"It's just about versatility. It benefits the player and benefits the team when more guys are able to play multiple positions. It just gives [Phillies manager Pete Mackanin] a lot more options at the big league level. The more guys we can bring up who have been exposed to different positions, the better."
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Danny Hayes went 3-for-4 and clubbed two homers for Charlotte, including a go-ahead blast in the eighth. He has 18 homers this season, including three in his last three games.
Michael Ynoa (1-0) worked around a walk and a hit while striking out two over two innings of scoreless relief to pick up the win.