EL1 Reading Fightin Phils

Valle's Late Night Showing Pumps up Fightins

Published on June 14, 2013 under Eastern League (EL1)
Reading Fightin Phils News Release


READING, Pa.---After waiting (and wading) through a nearly two-hour rain delay, Sebastian Valle drove home Anthony Hewitt in the eighth inning as the Reading Fightin Phils (25-39) eased past the Bowie Baysox (30-32), 4-3, Thursday night at FirstEnergy Stadium.

After Luis Garcia silenced Bowie bats in the top half of the inning, Anthony Hewitt drew a lead off walk against Bowie reliever Zech Zinicola. Fellow outfielder Zach Collier laid down a successful sacrifice bunt to advance Hewitt to second, setting the stage for the catching prospect. Valle then dropped a single to right field to drive in Hewitt for the decisive run.

Valle's RBI single capped off standout night as he went 3-for-4 with two RBIs. Since taking over starting catching duties following Cameron Rupp's promotion to Lehigh Valley, the Reading veteran is hitting .400 (6-for-15) in four games with two RBIs and two runs scored.

Reading's win looked all but certain as the rains started coming down in the sixth inning. The team jumped on the board in the second inning after Anthony Hewitt scored on Valle's first run-scoring single. An inning later, Tyson Gillies singled and Albert Cartwright was hit-by-pitch to get on base for Tommy Mendonca. Mendonca ripped a two-run single to give starting pitcher Brody Colvin a three-run lead.

Entering the seventh, Reading held the lead after Colvin's successful return to the starting rotation. Reliever Bobby Bramhall came on in relief of Colvin and quickly retired the side in the sixth inning. The left-handed pitcher, who hadn't allowed a run over his three appearances with the Fightins, allowed three straight hits, capped off with a run-scoring double from Seth Loman. Bramhall was pulled and Mike Nesseth entered the game with two men on. While Nesseth recorded three outs against the three batters he faced, Bowie added two runs on the ground out and Kyle Hudson's sacrifice fly.

Soon after, the Fightins and the Baysox entered a rain delay at 9:10 p.m. when torrential downpour caused the umpire crew to halt the game in the middle of the seventh inning.

Colvin, who made his first start since May 1st against Portland, yielded three hits and struck out four batters while issuing two walks to lower his ERA from 5.33 to 4.45. The 2009 draft pick went five innings in the start and chucked 47 strikes and a total of 78 pitches.

Garcia picked up his first win at the Double-A level after tossing two scoreless frames to cinch the game.

Top Phillies prospect LHP Jesse Biddle (3-6, 3.03 ERA) will start for Reading in the first game of their three-game series at Richmond this weekend. The Flying Squirrels will be sending LHP Chris Gloor (5-1, 3.98 ERA) to start in the game. Tune into Oldies 1340 WRAW-AM or MiLB.TV for the game broadcast with Fightins play-by-play announcer Anthony Oppermann starting at 6:05 p.m.

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Eastern League Stories from June 14, 2013


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