EL1 Reading Fightin Phils

Senators' Gilliam 'Perfect' Pitcher to Bottle up Fightins

Published on June 9, 2013 under Eastern League (EL1)
Reading Fightin Phils News Release


READING, Pa.---Jerad Head hit a pair of two-run home runs and Rob Gilliam threw five perfect innings as the Harrisburg Senators (32-30) routed the Reading Fightin Phils (23-37), 8-2, in front of 6,882 fans Sunday afternoon at FirstEnergy Stadium.

Following a stretch of five games where he held opponents to two earned runs or less, Fightins starter David Buchanan struggled early out of the gate. Led by Head and his first two-run blast, Harrisburg hitters attacked the Atlanta native for three runs on two hits in an inning which saw the Fightins record two errors. Prior to today, the Fightins had gone a season-long five games without an error.

It appeared as if Buchanan settled in after retiring the side in the second inning, but the Senators increased their lead via Head's second blast of the day. The Reading pitcher gave up a couple of runs again in the fifth inning on another Head run-scoring hit and sacrifice fly by Destin Hood.

Head concluded his day by going a season-best 4-for-5 at the plate with two home runs, four RBIs, and four runs scored.

Reading's offense was limited most of the game by Senators starter Gilliam, who tossed five perfect innings before exiting heading into the sixth. Gilliam, who is making his return from an offseason surgery, struck out five batters and fired 57 pitches, 38 of which were strikes.

Soon after Gilliam exited, Andy Gonzalez stroked the first hit of the day for the Fightins off Matt Swynenberg to break the Senators' perfect game. The Harrisburg reliever proceeded to load the bases after Gonzalez's hit by plunking pinch-hitter Anthony Hewitt and walking Tyson Gillies. Albert Cartwright grounded into a fielder's choice, but plated Gonzalez to snap the shutout. Tommy Mendonca followed with an RBI single to score Reading' s final run of the afternoon.

Out of the Reading bullpen, Luis Garcia, Jay Johnson, and Kyle Simon each pitched a scoreless inning. After eight starts for the team this year, Hector Neris returned to the bullpen and gave up one run on two hits in one inning of relief.

LHP Austin Wright (0-3, 11.51 ERA) gets the call in the 12th Annual Morning Game Monday morning against Harrisburg's RHP Blake Treinen (5-5, 3.97 ERA). Tune into Oldies 1340 WRAW-AM or MiLB.TV for the game broadcast with Fightins play-by-play announcer Anthony Oppermann starting at 9:05 p.m.

Fightins Fillers: Heading into today, Reading led the Eastern League in fielding percentage with Altoona at .976, and the team had a league-low 52 errors in 59 games. They had three errors today...With three hits on Sunday, Reading tied a season-low that they accomplished twice this season.

Check out the Reading Fightin Phils Statistics

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Eastern League Stories from June 9, 2013


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