By Brandon Apter, Sports Talk Philly editor 
The majority of the Philadelphia Phillies minor league affiliates made the postseason and three of the four began play on Wednesday evening. Unfortunately, only Lakewood came out victorious, with Lehigh Valley, Reading and the GCL Phillies falling in their respective games.
For the GCL Phillies, this spells the end of their season as they dropped the decisive game of the GCL Finals. Both Lehigh Valley and Reading got strong pitching performances, but lacked in the offensive category. Lakewood had a strong showing overall and will have a chance to sweep on Friday night.
Here's a brief recap of Wednesday's playoff action:
Scranton Wilkes/Barre 2, Lehigh Valley 0
The Ironpigs got a strong outing from Ben Lively, but their offense was non existent in a 2-0 loss to Scranton Wilkes/Barre in game one. Lively cruised through the majority of the game, but ran into trouble in the eighth. He got two quick outs and then walked Jonathan Diaz before surrendering a two-run homer to Mason Williams, which would be the difference-maker in the game. Lively exited after 7.2 innings, allowing two runs on five hits. He walked one and struck out eight.
On the offensive end of things, Brock Stassi went 2-for-4 and Cam Perkins had a hit in four at-bats. Nick Williams struggled, going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.
The Ironpigs and Railriders continue their first round series on Thursday night. Anthony Vasquez gets the ball for Lehigh Valley.
Trenton 3, Reading 2
The Fightin Phils dropped game one of the Divisional Series despite a 10-strikeout effort from starter Mark Leiter. He allowed three runs, two earned, in seven innings of work. The main issue for Reading was leaving men on base as they went just 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left 10 total men on base.
Trailing 1-0 in the third, Jorge Alfaro hit and RBI-single to score Roman Quinn to tie the game up at 1-1. Trenton took a 2-1 lead in the fourth, but Reading evened things up again courtesy of a Dylan Cozens RBI-double to plate Quinn. With two down in the seventh, Mark Leiter threw two wild pitches, allowing the winning run to score for Trenton.
Offensively, Cozens went 2-for-3 with an RBI-double and a walk. Christan Marrero went 2-for-4 while Roman Quinn scored two runs and stole a base.
On Thursday night, Ricardo Pinto will be on the mound looking to help even the series for Reading on the road.
Lakewood 6, Hagerstown 1
The Blueclaws ended up being the only Phillies farm team to earn a win on Wednesday evening in the first game of the playoffs. They were down 1-0 heading into the fifth, but scored three runs before tacking on one more in the sixth and two in the seventh.
Alberto Tirado struggled with command, lasting just four innings. He allowed a run on three hits and struck out five, but walked three. He tossed 81 pitches in four innings, only 48 being strikes. Grant Dyer, selected in the eighth round of this year's draft, earned the win, pitching three scoreless innings of relief for Tirado.
Grenny Cumana led of the fifth with a double and reached third on a wild pitch during the next at-bat. Emmanuel Marrero hit an RBI-single to plate Cumana, tying the game at 1-1. Four batters later, with two down in the inning, Damek Tomscha laced a ground-rule double to right, scoring two runs to make it a 3-1 game. Marrero hit another RBI-single in the sixth to make it 4-1. In the seventh, Wilson Garcia and Deivi Grullon each hit run scoring singles to extend the lead to five, 6-1, which is how the game would end.
Lakewood will have a chance to sweep the Suns in their best-of-three series in Hagerstown on Friday night. Jose Taveras gets the nod for the Blueclaws.
GCL Cardinals 4, GCL Phillies 2
The Gulf Coast League Phillies fell in the finals on Wednesday afternoon in a decisive game three. The held a 2-1 lead into the sixth, but the Cardinals scored three in their half of the frame and held the Phillies bats at bay the rest of the way.
Kyle Young got the start for the GCL Phillies and went five strong innings, allowing just one runs while walking two and striking out four. Offensively, Daniel Brito went 2-for-4 with a run scored while first baseman Danny Zardon drove in both of their runs, going 1-for-3 at the plate.
