Who: Reading Phillies (AA, Philadelphia) vs. New Hampshire Fisher Cats (AA, Toronto)
The starting pitchers were two guys you might’ve heard of: Deck McGuire, Toronto’s first-round pick in the 2010 draft (11th overall) and 8th-ranked prospect according to Baseball America, for New Hampshire; for Reading, Trevor May, Philadephia’s fourth-round pick in 2008 and the team’s number one prospect. May was also 69th on Baseball America’s 2012 Top 100 list this spring, his first such appearance.
When: 6:35 PM, Monday, April 30
Where: Northeast Delta Dental Stadium (affectionately known as Nedd’s)
Why: My original intent was to head up to Manchester and speak with Koby Clemens, Brian Jeroloman, and Trevor May. I didn’t realize May was pitching tonight, though, which put him off-limits, and I wasn’t able to get together with Jeroloman, so tonight’s conversations were with Koby Clemens and Sebastian Valle. The Clemens interview was conducted jointly with Craig Forde of Beyond Fenway – still not sure if I’ll just pull my questions and answers from the finished transcript or if we’ll run the whole thing. I should probably transcribe it first and then we’ll see how it goes.
The interview with Valle was short but interesting, with Phillies hitting coach Frank Cacciatore serving as our interpreter.
What: McGuire and May engaged in a solid pitcher’s duel. The former pitched into the seventh and allowed three runs before being relieved by Danny Farquhar, while the latter completed seven, striking out seven and allowing two runs on eight hits. Neither starting pitcher walked a batter.
The Fisher Cats took a 2-0 lead in the fifth, only to watch Reading tie it with two in the sixth and go ahead with a single run in the seventh. May made it hold up, and Jordan Whatcott came on in the eighth for the two-inning save.
I didn’t get a chance to ask McGuire about it after the game, but this is the second time in less than two weeks that he has been matched up against a team’s top pitching prospect: on April 18, he allowed just one hit in 6.2 innings to Zack Wheeler and the Binghamton Mets. In that outing, the two runs his offense put on the board were enough for a 2-0 win.
May improved to 5-0 with the win. McGuire fell to 1-4. The save for Whatcott was his first of the season (he had 11 last year for the Clearwater Threshers).
Pictures from this game can be seen here. YouTube videos will be added to my channel once they are uploaded.
