Lehigh Valley – While the Phillies continue to search for another starter through trade, there are several positive signs with the Iron Pigs. Last night Kyle Kendrick threw 8 shutout innings, allowing 6 hits and striking out 3 with just one walk against Syracuse. He needed just 93 pitches to pick up his fifth win and lower his ERA to 3.46. Kendrick went the distance and gave up just two runs in his previous outing against Norfolk. All indications show that Kendrick is returning to his 2007 form and might be able to fill a rotation spot for a lengthy stretch if needed this season.
But Kendrick might be in a tight race with fellow righties Carlos Carrasco and Drew Carpenter to get called up to the big club. Carrasco gave up one run over 6 innings Thursday to win his fourth straight start and has a 2.45 ERA over that stretch with 21 strikeouts. Carpenter, meanwhile, allowed 5 runs in 5.2 innings in his last start, but still has an ERA of just 2.13 in his last 9 starts.
Lou Marson is heating up, hitting .364 over his last ten games, but with no extra-base hits during that stretch.
Reading – Michael Taylor continues to rake with the R-Phils, hitting .375 over his last ten games with a pair of homers and 11 RBI. His OPS is at .993, second in the Eastern League. He has clearly mastered double-A and may be in line for a bump up to triple-A in the near future. It’s also likely that the organization leaves him with the R-Phils until after the trade deadline to keep his stock rising steadily.
With another quality start last week Kyle Drabek is now 5-0 in six starts with Reading and sports an impressive 2.72 ERA at double-A. Joe Savery allowed 5 runs over 7 innings on Saturday, but hung in long enough to pick up his 11th win of the season. The start broke up a stretch of four straight in which Savery gave up one run or no runs.
The Eastern League has not treated newcomer Yohan Flande well in his first two games. After dominating at single-A Clearwater to the tune of a 2.52 ERA this season, Flande has now pitched twice for the R-Phils since being bumped up a level. In both those starts he has gone 6 innings and allowed 5 earned runs and his strikeout-to-walk ratio is just 7-to-4.
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