READING, Pa. – From pleasure to pain, outfielder Ryan Kalish is already on a roller coaster after two games.
Kalish, who led off the Portland Sea Dogs’ opening victory Thursday with a home run, had to leave Friday’s game after landing on his right shoulder while diving for a fly to right.
The postgame news was good. Manager Arnie Beyeler said the shoulder appears to be just “jammed a little bit,” which will earn Kalish a day off today.
The news on the game wasn’t as optimistic.
Reading scored two runs in the eighth inning to beat Portland, 7-5.
Both teams had blown a pair of leads in the game. Chih-Hsien Chiang of Portland hit a solo home run in the top of the eighth.
The Sea Dogs totaled eight hits, nine walks and a hit batter but stranded 12, including at least one in every inning but the fourth — and Kalish was caught stealing in that inning.
In the ninth, two walks and a groundout helped Portland put runners on second and third with two outs, but reliever Sergio Escalona struck out Jose Iglesias to end it.
Reading enjoyed eight hits and three walks, leaving only three on base.
“Our guys played hard,” Beyeler said, but “(Reading) got the key hits.”
Portland starter Ryne Miller mixed his fastball and curve well for eight strikeouts over five innings.
It was a solid outing, except for some wildness and bad breaks in the second inning.
Miller threw seven pitches, all for strikes, in the first inning, and then 24 pitches (10 strikes) in the second.
“I got too much in my head, trying to work the hitters,” Miller said. “I just needed to establish the fastball.”
In the second, Miller walked two and faced Tuff Gosewich with two outs.
Gosewich hit a dribbler down the first-base line. Miller got to it, but first baseman Lars Anderson also was charging.
With no one covering first, Gosewich was safe and a run scored. Michael Spidale followed with a two-run double to right for a 3-1 lead.
The Sea Dogs got to Phillies starter Phillippe Aumont for seven hits and four runs through five innings.
Aumont, a 6-foot-7 right-hander, was the Seattle Mariners’ first-round draft pick in 2007. He was dealt to the Phillies in the Cliff Lee deal.
Anderson led off the second with a single. Then Aumont got wild with a walk, a hit batter, and after two outs, an RBI walk to Kalish.
In the third, Anderson lined an RBI double to left-center. Yamaico Navarro singled in the tying run on a chopper up the middle, and Chiang’s groundout scored Anderson for a 4-3 lead.
But in the fourth, Phillies veteran Kevin Mahar worked a full count and then took Miller deep, making it 4-4.
In the seventh, Reading put together a walk and two singles for a run off Tommy Hottovy, and a 5-4 lead.
Portland got the run back when Chiang greeted reliever Michael Stutes (1-0) with a blast over the right-field wall in the eighth inning.
In the bottom of the eighth, Reading got two runs and three hits off closer Bryce Cox (0-1), including the RBI double that induced Kalish’s dive.
“Tests showed he still had good strength,” Beyeler said. “He’ll probably be pretty sore.”
NOTES: Jon Still remained on the temporary inactive list. Mike Hazen, the Red Sox farm director, said Still left the team for personal reasons. Iggy Suarez, a former Sea Dogs infielder, visited with the team before Friday night’s game. Suarez, 28, played most of the past three seasons in Portland. The Red Sox didn’t re-sign Suarez and he has landed with the Somerset (N.J.) Patriots in the independent Atlantic League. Portland right-hander Kyle Weiland, a third-round draft pick out of Notre Dame in 2008, will receive his first Double-A start tonight.
Staff Writer Kevin Thomas can be contacted at 791-6411 or at:
kthomas@pressherald.com
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