LaPorta's blast sinks R-Phils Friday

All-Star Jeremy Slayden takes a pitch the opposite way in the 2nd inning for his 22nd double of the 
season.  Slayden went 1-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to 17 games.  

By Tony Zonca

Reading, PA -- The Akron Aeros came to town Friday carrying the best record in the Eastern League, not to mention a star-studded lineup that boasts the top-ranked batting average.

In the rich-get-richer department, did they really need to add one of the game's elite young hitters, Matt LaPorta, the centerpiece of the C.C. Sabathia trade with Milwaukee, to their power-laden lineup?

Playing in his fourth game with his new team, LaPorta jumped all over a Patrick Overholt breaking ball with two out and one on in the ninth to lift the Aeros to an unlikely 3-2 victory over the snake-bitten Phillies.

Fabio Castro pitched six solid innings Friday (5 H, R, ER, 2 BB, 5 SO).

Overholt (3-4) deserved better.  Coming on in relief of Fabio Castro's solid six-inning relief effort, Overholt induced the first batter, Brandon Pinckney, to line to center.  Greg Golson, arguably the finest fielding center fielder in the league, appeared to have the ball lined up . . . until his feet went out from under him, the ball falling in for a double.

Overholt responded by striking out the next two batters, Josh Rodriguez and Bronson Sardinha.  Then, with a strike on LaPorta, he left a slider up over the plate, and LaPorta got all of it, the ball clattering off the deck in left for his first jack in an Akron uniform.

For the season, LaPorta, the Brewers' top prospect and a two-time Southeast Conference Player of the Year at Florida, has 21 home runs and 69 RBIs, including his numbers at Double-A Huntsville.

The Phillies (38-54) had taken a 2-1 lead in the eighth on Jason Donald's RBI single off Luis Perdomo (2-0).

After that, actually, is when things began to go sour.  Jeremy Slayden, who ran his hitting streak to 17 games with a first-inning double, reached on an infield error to start the Phillies half.  One out later, Brad Harman hit a screamer that Perdomo somehow gloved and turned into a gut-wrenching double play.

Carlos Carrasco, making his first start since experiencing shoulder pain two pitches into his warmup July 2 against New Britain, pitched out of bases-loaded trouble in the first.  He allowed a one-out double in the second, but escaped that jam as well.  The right-hander, the top prospect in the Philadelphia organization, walked a batter, hit another and recorded his one strikeout with his 42nd and last pitch.

Castro allowed a run and five hits in his six innings of work, with five strikeouts and two walks.  Aeros lefty Ryan Edell, working both sides of the plate and hiding the ball well, had the Phillies hitters searching for answers in his seven innings, in which he allowed a run and six hits.  

The Aeros (59-34) scored a run in the fifth off Castro when Rodriguez tripled to the base of the wall in center and scored on LaPorta's groundout.

The Phillies tied it in their half.  Neil Sellers opened with a double, and two outs later Jake Blalock knocked him in with a bloop single to right that just eluded a charging Sardinha.  The Phillies had a chance for more, but LaPorta, a converted first baseman, made a nifty backhand catch while running into the wall in left to take extra bases away from Mike Eylward for the second out.

LaPorta, who will play in Sunday's Futures Game in Yankee Stadium, will miss the next two games.  Good thing.  The Phillies have seen enough of him already.

PHILLERS:  Right-hander Tyson Brummett was ranked third in the minor leagues in innings pitched (123.1). . . . Lou Marson's .444 on-base percentage was best in the Eastern League. . . . Neil Sellers had two of the Phillies' seven hits. . . . Reading is 1-6 in its last seven games decided by a run. . . . Wyatt Toregas' sixth-inning hit was his first single since June 25, though he was 14-for-38 (.368) at the time.  He racked up six doubles and seven home runs in that span and had 13 RBIs in his four previous games. . . . Aeros starter Ryan Edell has 20 strikeouts and one walk over his last 25 innings. 

PLAYER MOVES:  Catcher Orlando Guevara (.053, 19 AB) was returned from Class A Clearwater.  His call-up was necessitated by the unavailability of regular catcher Lou Marson, who will miss Saturday and Sunday games while participating in the All-Star Futures game Sunday at Yankee Stadium.  Other Phillies selected were center fielder Greg Golson, pitcher Carlos Carrasco and shortstop Jason Donald.

OUTMAN NO. 7:  Josh Outman (5-4, 3.26) was the seventh Phillie named to the Eastern League All-Star Game, which will be played Wednesday in New Hampshire.  Outman joins pitchers Carlos Carrasco and Patrick Overholt, outfielders Greg Golson and Jeremy Slayden, catcher Lou Marson and shortstop Jason Donald.  The total represents what is believed to be a record for the number of Phillies selected to compete in the game. 

This story was posted on July 11, 2008