Defs drop 4th in a row 9-2 to Reading as...
GB gives up 7 runs, 4 earned in 3+ innings as Connecticut gets blown out by the Phillies. RBIs from Antoan Richardson and Travis Denker as the offense could get only 5 hits to go along with 14 Ks in the game. Hopefully the Defs can get one Sunday.
posted by greg8370 at 10:06 PM
6 Comments:
Lame.
Defenders team BA is .213, the lowest in AA. Offense also has the most strikeouts in AA.
The average may be due in part to Dodd Stadium, but the high amount of K's is scary.
Defenders are 6 games out with Reading tomm and Trenton and BMets following that.
Masterson had a spot start for the Red Sox Thursday and did well, Hamden native Jeff Natale is on the DL in Pawtucket with a broken forearm. Bumb deal.
2:59 AM
the line score i read had garrett tossing 6ks in 3...how is that possible?
and ya, the team ba is miserable
wha happened?
these guys need a slump buster
4:48 AM
Garrett k'ed 5 of the first 6 he faced.
Josh Outman, the R Phils pitcher, jacked a home run. He is now 2 for 5 with a double and a dinger this year. He hit .364 over 11 at bats last year. I know he was used as a DH in college, not sure if he also played a position.
11:31 AM
to LC's comment; from today's Reading Eagle:
Josh Outman was known as much for his hitting as for his pitching during his years at Central Missouri State, a longtime NCAA Division II power.
He was a two-way star for the Mules who could’ve been drafted as either a position player or a pitcher. Of course, when you’re left-handed and can throw a 94 mph fastball, baseball scouts don’t give you a choice. You’re a pitcher, period.
Outman definitely hasn’t forgotten how to swing the bat, that’s for sure. His three-run homer highlighted a five-run fifth inning and powered the Reading Phillies to a 9-2 Eastern League win over visiting Connecticut Saturday night.
Outman didn’t do badly on the mound, either, striking out a season-high nine over just five innings. He was dominant at times, inconsistent at others.
Offensively, though, there were no holes in his game. When Defenders third baseman David Maroul dropped a throw on Outman’s third-inning sacrifice bunt, the pitcher displayed his impressive foot speed by hustling all the way to second. It was a key play in the game-changing, four-run fourth.
His first professional homer one inning later all but sealed his first win and showed he’s adept at both sides of the game.
“You just run into a ball every now and then,” he said modestly. “I knew I needed to get the ball into the air, to get a sac fly. I ran into it pretty good and the wind was blowing out to left-center, so that helped me out a lot.
“I definitely played a lot more in the field my first few years in college than I did on the mound. By the time I was a junior I was a little bigger and stronger and had more velocity on my fastball, and I started going more to pitching from there.”
The Phillies are glad he did. They think they’ve got a keeper on their hands, a guy who can step into their starting rotation in the next year or so.
He showed that much with his overpowering fastball, one he constantly busted inside to freeze the Defenders’ right-handers hitters, catching them looking at third strikes seven times.
“I was coming off a bad outing (at Connecticut last Sunday), and I was thinking about it too much in the first inning,” said Outman, who allowed the first three batters of the game to reach and fell behind 1-0. “I got out of it, came in the dugout, took a deep breath and said, ‘I’m not gonna keep doing this.’ I went out there relaxed and pitched my game.”
He struck out six of seven at one point, including the side in the third. It was as brilliant a stretch as he’s displayed since being promoted to Reading last July.
A couple innings later, after the Phillies (11-11) had taken a 9-1 lead over the Defenders (10-12), he became erratic again, reminding everyone that he’s just 23, has made only a dozen Double-A starts and still doesn’t have command of all his pitches.
“He’s got to stay focused enough to go out there and make them beat him with the bat and not put guys on base,” said Reading manager P.J. Forbes, who would have liked Outman to have gone deeper in the game. “At times he had good fastball command, but obviously if you throw 95 pitches in five innings you’re still having a lot of deep counts.”
•Phillers: Relievers Jason Anderson, Zack Segovia and R.J. Swindle followed Josh Outman to the mound with four scoreless innings, allowing just one hit. The four Reading pitchers recorded 14 strikeouts. . . . The Defenders lead the Eastern League with 209 strikeouts in 22 games, an average of 9.5 per game. . . . Outman’s nine strikeouts were his most since joining Reading last July. He struck out a career-best 12 at Clearwater July 18. . . . Outman’s homer was the first by a Reading pitcher since Sept. 1, 2007, when Chris Rojas homered at Harrisburg. . . . Reading pitchers were batting just .120 before Outman’s fourth-inning homer. . . . Reading outfielder Rich Thompson, who once tripled 13 times in a season at Triple-A Nashville, tripled to left in the fourth inning. He has 53 career triples. . . . The Phillies, who hit the road for a six-game trip after today’s game, have played fewer home games than any team in the Eastern League. The Phillies are 5-3 at home, 6-8 on the road.
12:03 PM
Thanks Greg- didn't think to look there. I found one boxscore on line from his college days.
Listening in on the net, defenders in the hole early today, 2-0.
1:32 PM
garrett k'd 5 of the first 6 batters? outstanding....what was he throwing? was the slider working?
8:10 PM
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