I met up with rkeden to watch Reading in Manchester. Matt Osterberg acquitted himself well in his first AA start. He had some early jitters, giving up two of his three walks in the second inning and five of the six hits he allowed overall in the third, when he gave up the only three runs he allowed. Two of the hits were cheap, including a misplayed sacrifice bunt by Jhailyn Ortiz (but everything is a hot these days) and a bloop to score the first run. Osterberg went 5 2/3, leaving after giving up the only other walk and hit he allowed. Lefty Tristan Garnett got the last out then struck out the side in the seventh. Overall, the bullpen pitched 3 1/3 hitless innings. Orion Kerkering pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, hitting 99 mph on several pitches.
The Fightins were on base a lot, with 14 hits, 7 walks, and a hit batsmen (plus the Fisher Cats made four errors). They scored eight runs but left 13 on base. They had a good start when Madison Stokes got a Little League home run leading off the first. They took the lead for good in the fifth with three straight two out bases loaded walks. No homers but four doubles (plus Stokes' triple). Two of the doubles were by new acquisition Robbie Glendenning.
In the "you always see something you never saw before at a ball game" category, Pedro Martinez was picked off first base, got in a rundown, and was awarded second base when it was ruled the first baseman interfered with him diving back into first (the pitcher was taking the throw). That was one of two long on-field conferences. The other was in the ninth with Martinez up, and I never figured out what was going on. Martinez took a ball, and after a moment the Reading manager ran to the plate from the third base coaching box as if to prevent Martinez from getting ejected. He talked with the ump, who talked with Martinez, and then the ump went out to talk with the pitcher. This brought out the New Hampshire manager, and then the umps conferred. The game went on, and Martinez whiffed.
Carlos De La Cruz is still very tall. He got two hits, one an opposite field double, but he never really looked good at the plate (and of course the New Hampshire pitchers weren't very sharp). He seems to have a long swing.
Jhailyn Ortiz's numbers (3 for 4 with a bases loaded walk) imply he had a good game. But he had the muffed bunt, and he was thrown out trying for third on a fly ball to CF while appearing not to run hard, as if he thought it was going to be easy to take the base. He did get himself over the Mendoza line in the game.
