EL1 Reading Fightin Phils

R-Phils Defeat B-Mets 3-2 on Saturday

July 23, 2011 - Eastern League (EL1)
Reading Fightin Phils News Release


(Reading, PA) -- The Reading Phillies did a little bit of everything Saturday night, and in turn, beat the B-Mets for the second-straight evening.

Austin Hyatt (9-5, 4.09) was sharp over six innings, Derrick Mitchell drove-in two runs, Paco Figueroa and Freddy Galvis combined on the defensive play of the season, and the R-Phils beat the Binghamton Mets 3-2 in game three of their four-game series on Saturday evening in Baseballtown.

Hyatt, a native of Atlanta, GA, allowed one run on four hits over six innings en-route to his second-straight victory. The 25-year-old struck-out six batters, and is ranked second in the Eastern League with 125 strikeouts this year. He allowed just one run for the second-straight start, and has now fanned 16 batters over his last two games (13 innings).

Offensively, Reading had seven hits, and it was Mitchell, who paced the offense early. The Michigan native continued his career year, as he roped a two-run single in the three-run first inning, which helped Reading get out to an early 3-0 lead. Mitchell now has 62 RBIs on the season - a mark which tied a career-high set back in 2008 with Lakewood.

While Mitchell went 1-3 with two RBIs at the plate, Carlos Rivero also enjoyed a solid day at the dish. Rivero went 2-3 with a run scored - raising his average to .280 on the season, which helped Reading to their second-straight win over Binghamton in the series.

Defensively, Figueroa and Galvis teamed to make one of the finest plays of the season. With two outs in the seventh, Figueroa fielded a ball in the hole between second base and shortstop and flipped the ball (behind his back) to Galvis, who then threw it to first baseman Matt Rizzotti to get the final out to end the inning.

Hyatt left with a 3-1 lead, and it was reliever Mike Cisco, who first came on in relief. Cisco, a native of South Carolina, allowed one run in the seventh inning, which made it just a one-run R-Phils lead. The 24-year-old gave-up a solo homer to Mets right fielder Raul Reyes -- making it a 3-2 game.

Reliever Jake Diekman started the eighth and allowed one hit and a walk over 0.2 innings. The young lefty struck-out one, and gave way to Justin Friend, who got the final four outs for his seventh save of the season.

Reading (53-47) scored all three runs in the first inning off Mets' starter Matt Harvey (0-3, 7.15), who settled in after the first inning. Harvey, a product of the University of North Carolina, walked one and fanned five batters, but could not get out of the first inning without allowing three runs. He was sharp, however, the rest of the way, but failed to get his first career Double-A win.

Jordany Valdespin continued his stellar year at the plate. The 25th best prospect in the Mets organization, as ranked by Baseball America, went 2-4 with a run and a stolen base - his 30th of the season for Binghamton. Eric Campbell also added two hits for Binghamton, which managed just six total hits on the evening.

On Sunday, in the finale, the R-Phils will hand the ball to RHP J.C. Ramirez (8-9, 3.93), while the Mets will send RHP Brandon Moore (7-7, 3.97) to the hill. Brian Seltzer will have the call for all of the action beginning at 5:35 p.m. on ESPN Radio 1240 AM WIOV and readingphillies.com. First pitch is set for 6:05 p.m.

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Eastern League Stories from July 23, 2011


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