Sept. 3: Reading 3, New Britain 1
 Chance Chapman: Worked five scoreless innings on Thursday night to earn his seventh win and extend his scoreless innings streak to 15. |
New Britain, CT -- In game number 137, the Reading Phillies and starting pitcher Chance Chapman revitalized their playoff hopes and gained a one game lead in the race for the final playoff spot in the Southern Division with a 3-1 victory over the New Britain Rock Cats on Thursday night at New Britain Stadium.
Chapman (7-1) used early run support to cruise to his seventh victory of the year. Even though the right-hander got the nod for his start a day prior, he seemed to settle in early as the R-Phils got on the board with one run in the second on a sacrifice fly by departing Australian Tim Kennelly.
The Aussie continued to contribute at the plate as he sacrificed himself for the team on a ground out to second in the fourth for his second run batted in of the evening. The R-Phils added their third and final run of the night on a dropped third strike by catcher Wilson Ramos.
The Reading bullpen continued to shut down the Rock Cats in the sixth as lefty Mike Zagurski came in to retire six consecutive batters after hitting leadoff hitter Whit Robbins.
Zagurski then handed the ball to righty Scott Mathieson. The Canadian cruised early as he retired the Rock Cats in order in the bottom of the eighth inning. After walking the first two batters of the inning in the ninth, Mathieson got two flyouts before Erik Lis hit a RBI single to score Yancarlos Ortiz. With runners on first and second, Wilson Ramos hit a hard line drive in the right field corner pushing Phillies top prospect Domonic Brown into the corner before he secured the final out of the game.
The Reading win combined with a 4-3 loss by the Erie SeaWolves narrows the R-Phils magic number to four entering the final series of the regular season.
The Phillies look to continue their playoff push as they open a five-game series against the Northern Division Champion Connecticut Defenders. Right-hander Vance Worley (7-11, 5.22) is slated to get the start for Reading in game one opposite Connecticut left-hander Ben Snyder (3-4, 2.57). First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.
