Minor League Games - Sunday, May 28, 2017

[kikutaro]

Louisville Bats (16-32) @ Lehigh Valley IronPigs (34-15) 6:35 pm | Gameday
N/A vs. Nick Pivetta (4-0, 1.04)

Notable

Roman Quinn 3-6, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 2B, 3B, K, SB
J.P. Crawford 2-2, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2B, 2 BB
Dylan Cozens 2-4, R, 3 RBI, HR, BB, 2 SB
Taylor Featherston 1-4, 2 R, BB, 2 K
Nick Williams 2-5, 2 R, 4 RBI, 2 HR, 2 K
Logan Moore 2-5, R, 2 K
Pedro Florimon 0-2, 2 R, BB, K
Nick Pivetta 1-3, R, 2 RBI, 2B, K

Nick Pivetta (W, 5-0), 6.0 IP, 6H, 2R, 2ER, 0BB, 4K, game score: 56

Reading Fightin Phils (23-22) @ New Hampshire Fisher Cats (19-29) 4:05 pm | Gameday
Shane Watson (2-3, 5.71) vs. Sean Reid-Foley (2-3, 5.81)

Notable

Scott Kingery 2-5, R, 2 K, 2 SB
Malquin Canelo 0-5, 4 K
Andrew Pullin 2-5, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2B, HR, K
Kyle Martin 0-4, 2 K
Carlos Tocci 2-3, R, BB, K
Angelo Mora 1-3, 2 RBI, 2B, BB, SB
Mitch Walding 1-4, 2 K

Shane Watson 4.1 IP, 6H, 2R, 2ER, 5BB, 4K, game score: 42
Yacksel Rios 2.2 IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 2K
Jesen Therrien (BS, 1), 1.0 IP, 2H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 0K
John Richy (L, 1-2), 0.1 IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 1K

Clearwater Threshers (28-23) @ St. Lucie Mets (25-26) 1:00 pm | Gameday
Franklyn Kilome (2-2, 3.63) vs. Marcos Molina (1-1, 3.00)

Notable

Zachary Coppola 2-4, R
Wilson Garcia 2-4, 2B
Deivi Grullon 0-4, 2 K
Cornelius Randolph 2-4, K
Grenny Cumana 3-3, 2B

Franklyn Kilome (W, 3-2), 7.0 IP, 5H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 6K, game score: 78
Jeff Singer (S, 11), 2.0 IP, 1H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 2K

Delmarva Shorebirds (19-29) @ Lakewood BlueClaws (29-21) 7:05 pm | Gameday
Travis Seabrooke (2-3, 5.45) vs. Nick Fanti (3-0, 1.52)

Notable

Arquimedes Gamboa 1-3, R, 2B, BB
Raul Rivas 2-4, 2 R, RBI, 2B, K
Mickey Moniak 1-4, 2 RBI, 2B, K
Darick Hall 0-4, 2 K
Henri Lartigue 0-4, 2 K
Edgar Cabral 1-4, 2 K
Luke Williams 2-3, R, RBI, 2B, SB

Nick Fanti (W, 4-0), 6.0 IP, 5H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 9K, game score: 72
Will Hibbs (S, 7), 3.0 IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 1BB, 3K

(click on the start time for box scores)

[phillychuck]

The report (supposedly second-hand from Moniak's Dad) is that Moniak is day-to-day with a bruised right hand, not broken. Could be out for as much as a week--he had the same injury (to the same hand) in HS and it kept him out week then.

Jailyn Ortiz was injured in extended spring in an OF collision but is also day-to-day.

Thanks to Jim Peyton at phuturephillies for the reports.

[Patchmk88]

Great game by Kilome today.

[scorcher]

In the last few days Randolph busted through the Mendosa line. Maybe he's starting to figure it out.

[bigegypt0417]

moniak in the line up.

[bigegypt0417]

LV with 12 runs through 4.

Crawford with 2 more hits.
cozens and Williams with HR's.

[Philsmania]

Crawford cracks the Mendoza Line!

[Soloman_grundy]

Williams is absolutely ridiculous right now.

[phillychuck]

Louisville can't wait to leave town...but they have the Memorial Day game tomorrow, too. Appel is starting, so there's that...it's nice for Appel that the LV staff showed confidence in him as a starter by moving Pinto to the 'pen. Maybe he'll get things going.

Louisville has given up 9, 13, and 14 runs to LV in the first three games.

[BostonRoss]

rkeden and I went to the Reading game in New Hampshire. All the offense was early or late. Reading lost on a walk off home run in the 10th by the bleach blond catcher, who got to show off his do twice in the 10th inning, once when he got hurt on a pitch to Kingery, and when he tossed his helmet before jumping into the pig pile at home plate..

First, the Kingery report. He was the DH today. Solid line single over the second baseman's head to lead off the game, followed by a steal of 2B. He got under a pitch in the third that ended up a moderately deep fly ball. Called out on strikes on a questionable call in the 5th. Struck out on a high 3-2 pitch in the 8th. Dropped a single in front of the center fielder in the 10th and stole second again. The swinging strikeout looked bad, but otherwise he had a solid game though not up to his recent standards!

Pullin has nothing to prove at this level. He looked good when i saw him in New Hampshire last year and looks just as good. Both his homer and double were to left center field. he did have a little trouble with a lefty reliever in the 10th, swinging at two breaking pitches in the dirt before weakly grounding to 1B. He does not have much of an arm, though. He couldn't throw out a runner on a fairly shallow sac fly and bounced a throw to the cutoff man another time. I know there isn't really a spot for him at LV, but he does not need to be in AA anymore.

Kyle Martin does not look like much of a hitter, but he made three excellent defensive plays, including a diving stop and toss to Therrien to temporarily stop the Fisher Cats from tying the game.

Tromp didn't hit but had a nice throw to nail a runner at the plate. Tocci looked good and drew a key walk in the ninth inning rally. Angelo Mora may be a minor league utility guy, but he had a clutch two-run double with two outs in the ninth inning to give the Phillies a short-lived lead. (Personally, I think the names Angelo Tocci and Carlos Mora would make more sense.)

Watson started out OK but was wild. He was very lucky to escape the 4th and fell apart completely in the 5th. He must have thrown a hundred pitches in less than five inning; he had a lot of three ball counts. Rios looked great; he gave up a couple of long fly balls but nothing close to a hit. Nunez was not good, nor was Therrien. He gave up only two hits, but only one of the four hitters who didn't give himself up didn't hit the ball hard. Looking at Therrien's stats, hopefully this was an aberration. Richy whiffed the first hitter but gave up a long home run to RF to end it.

I may have the game winning home run ball. I left through the RF gate and found a ball across the street beyond the RF fence. I'm waiting for the blond guy to offer me some bling.

[Squire]

Has been an exciting couple of weeks for our hitters in the system.

[rkeden]

What BR said! Well done. I will add a few comments. Attendance was 6500. I looked down the list of the Pharm games today and attendance was great everywhere. I know baseball isn't the "National Game" anymore in the eyes of our youth but folks are still coming out to the old ballpark and having fun.

More specifically, as BR stated, Kingery and Pullin were the obvious stars of the game and hit ropes in nearly every at bat. Pullin's home run was crushed, way over the left center fence and far deeper than the 380' marker. A few depressing points-- 13 strikeouts against hard throwing pitchers but all of whom had 6-ish ERAs. I keep rooting for a Nick Williams-like turn-around from Mitch Walding but it doesn't appear imminent.If you were to cast a 3rd baseman in a movie, Mitch would get the role. He looks athletic, good arm, seems to have all the assets but just looked over-matched at the plate and is hitting about .170. Looks like the future of 3rd base at the parent club is either a switch by Galvis/Hernandez or a free agent. The cupboard is bare!

A nice day in a great minor league stadium and another chance to sit and talk baseball with Rossi. I'm guessing we have been meeting at pharm games for 5 years now but who is counting? Seems like the Phils keep sending us enough stud players to make it more than talk, as we try to anticipate the futures of our better young players, But the friendship and talk is reason enough to hang out!

[fish]

Crawford cracks the Mendoza Line!

The juice is back in his bat too- dating back to last year the ball looked like it was dead coming off his bat. I take it to mean he's got his hips working again- very good sign that he's turned the corner.

[phillychuck]

Fish--look at the juice on this HR from Saturday:

Video Highlights & Clips - MiLB | Lehigh Valley's Crawford launches third homer...

The video doesn't do it justice...that thing almost knocked down the wall behind the fans that tried to catch it.

More highlights from the Iron Pigs, who are doing it this weekend with minimal help from Hoskins:

Video Highlights & Clips - MiLB | Lehigh Valley IronPigs Multimedia

[andyb]

Crawford cracks the Mendoza Line!

The juice is back in his bat too- dating back to last year the ball looked like it was dead coming off his bat. I take it to mean he's got his hips working again- very good sign that he's turned the corner.

There may be something developmentally where his swing was never really geared for mid-level power. He could get away with things in the lower minors that did not work when pitchers had a little better control in AAA (and Reading masked it a bit since it helps all power). If this slump forced some important adjustments in his swing then it is a good thing. The talent and batting eye are still there. He has always had the strength to hit for more power. Just not the hitting approach to realize that tool. I still think he settles in as a 12-15 HR type guy which is plenty if the rest of his game remains sound. I was probably a little optimistic on his chances before the season as there were some hidden development issues that got exposed. For this team to be good, however, he needs to win the job.

[allentown]

I'll be interested to see what he looks like today. At the end of last season, he was just weakly slapping easy ground outs to the IF with no use of his lower body. Early this season, his swing looked better, but he still wasn't hitting the ball hard. I want to see how different his swing, especially his hip action looks now. Perhaps this was a lingering injury issue or very bad mechanical habits stemming from injury. Yes, you were overly optimistic early this season, because very little of what you said was there in his offensive game was actually showing up in his ABs. Great contact and plate control skills did not correlate to his 22 April Ks in 76 AB without power. In May, he has almost exactly halved that K rate. Yes, he needs to win the job for the team to succeed, but what the team needs bears no correlation with his ability. Let's hope a corner in either health or mechanics has definitely been turned and that the improvement sticks.

[andyb]

The early season K rate was a little out of line with everything in Crawford's past though. 15.3% in AAA last year. 17.4% this year but was in the mid-20s for the first 3-4 weeks of the year.

There were reasons for optimism in his plate discipline and polish even coming off of last year. The defense has always been there too and it was not outlandish to say that he was as good as Galvis and there are certain things that can only be learned at the major league level. The reality also is that Galvis is a sub-300 OBP shortstop that probably is never more than a 1-2 WAR player.

Not sure if there are injury issues that contributed to the slump. Most likely it was some swing reconstruction that they wanted him to work on. I still maintain that it will be a good thing if he can come up and win the SS job in the second half of the season. He is still our best prospect and the youngest player on the AAA team. Hoskins is performing the best and has no place to play on the big club. Finding a trade partner for either Joseph or Hoskins is probably the right thing to do for the team as we just can't carry 2 RH first basemen.

[bigegypt0417]

Quinn, Crawford and Williams are not in the line up.