Heading into the Eastern League Divisional Playoffs, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about a championship run from the Phillies Double-A Reading affiliate. Loaded with plenty of top-tier talent, they traveled to Binghamton tonight for game one of their first round playoff matchup with the Mets. Reading wasted no time, scoring four runs in the first inning and never looked back en route to a 17-hit, 9-4 win. They take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series against the defending champion B-Mets. Seven of Reading's starting nine had two hits or more and the team combined to hit .415 (17-for-41) on the night.
The Reading offense got plenty of contributions, but it was led by Eastern League MVP, Brock Stassi. The 26-year-old first baseman went 2-for-2 at the plate with an RBI-double and a three-run home run. He scored two runs and drove in four. Dylan Cozens hit two doubles and drove in three runs while catcher Andrew Knapp went 3-for-6 with a double and three runs scored. Top prospect J.P. Crawford went 2-for-4 with two walks and three runs scored.
Reading starter Zach Eflin earned the victory, allowing two runs on six hits while striking out four in seven innings of work on the mound. Eflin gave up some hard-hit balls, but kept them in the ballpark, which is really what matters. Tom Windle didn't record an out in the eighth and allowed two unearned runs to cross the plate. Edubray Ramos struck out two while allowing a hit in the eighth after taking over for Windle. Jimmy Cordero finished things off with a scoreless 1-2-3 ninth.
J.P. Crawford and Andrew Knapp got things going in the first with back-to-back one out singles. Eastern league RBI-leader Brock Stassi followed with an RBI-double to plate Crawford and make it 1-0. Two hitters later, Dylan Cozens laced a two-run double of his own to score Knapp and Stassi, extending the lead to 3-0. A Harold Martinez RBI-single would make it 4-0 heading into the bottom of the first.
B-Mets first baseman Vince Belnome got a run back with a solo home run off of Zach Eflin, cutting the lead to 4-1 in the second.
Reading tacked on three more runs in the fifth. J.P. Crawford reached on an error to start the inning and Andrew Knapp ripped a ground-rule double to left, putting runners on second and third with none out for none other than Brock Stassi. The Fightin Phils first baseman took the seventh pitch of his at-bat over the wall into the parking lot behind right field, breaking the game open with a three-run blast, 7-1.
In the sixth, J.P. Crawford walked with one out and Andrew Knapp singled, moving Crawford to third while advancing to second on the throw. The B-Mets smartly intentionally walked Brock Stassi, but Cam Perkins drove in Crawford with a sacrifice fly to make it an 8-1 game. Dylan Cozens followed with his second double of the game to plate Andrew Knapp and give Reading an eight run lead, 9-1.
Binghamton scored their second run off of Zach Eflin in the seventh thanks to an RBI-single from shortstop Amed Rosario. The added two more the eighth, unearned, against Tom Windle. Josh Rodriguez hit a single to drive in L.J. Mazzilli and Joe Benson hit an RBI-single of his own to make it 9-4, but that is as close as they'd get.
The Fightin Phils and B-Mets continue their first round divisional series on Friday night at 6:35pm in New York. Jake Thompson (5-1, 1.80) will oppose Rober Gsellman (7-7, 3.51)
