READING, Pa. — The Portland Sea Dogs ran into the best the Phillies had to offer Monday night.
They were shut down by Reading’s top pitcher, Yohan Flande, and hammered by its best hitter, Domonic Brown, in a 7-2 Eastern League loss at FirstEnergy Stadium.
The loss was the eighth in 12 games for the Sea Dogs.
Flande (3-3), who entered third in the league in ERA, overcame some early control issues and pitched seven innings to win for the third time in his last five starts. He allowed six hits and took a shutout into the seventh before allowing a run. He lowered his ERA to 2.25.
Brown, considered the No. 1 prospect in the Philadelphia Phillies’ organization, broke out of a mini power drought with a two-run homer in the fifth inning. It was his team-leading eighth of the season but first since May 12.
While Flande struggled to get out of the first, Portland’s Ryne Miller started fast, retiring nine of the first 10 batters. He didn’t allow a hit until the fourth.
Miller, a converted reliever, faded fast after that, allowing a pair of fourth-inning runs, then three more in the fifth.
Miller (1-3) appeared to get rattled in the fourth when the Phillies pulled off a double steal, with Michael Spidale taking third and Tagg Bozied second. He followed that up by firing a wild pitch, allowing Spidale to score, then allowed an RBI double to Kevin Mahar that scored Bozied for a 2-0 lead.
Miller, who has gone past five innings just once this season, seemed to lose steam in the fifth. He walked three batters and also served up Brown’s homer, which made it 4-0.
The Sea Dogs (23-20) got a run back in the seventh when Juan Apodaca singled and Chih-Hsien Chiang doubled to the wall in left-center.
The Phillies (18-25) made it 7-1 in the seventh on Matt Rizzotti’s two-run homer off reliever Ryne Lawson.
Navarro’s ninth-inning RBI single scored Chiang to make it 7-2.
NOTES: Matt Sheely had a pair of infield hits, one to the hole at short, the other up the middle. Shortstop Freddy Galvis made a play on each but couldn’t come up with the throw. . . . Third baseman Ray Chang, who fouled a ball off his inner thigh, was not in the lineup for the second straight day. . . Outfielder Ryan Kalish, hit by a pitch in the forearm, also did not play … Second baseman Spears made an outstanding play in the second, ranging into shallow right field to run down a pop-up and save a run.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
