The Senators are winners of three straight and hold a 3 games to 1 lead over Reading. The Sens also lead the season series 7 games to 3. The Sens are 5-5 in their last 10 but have won 5 of their last 6 games. The Senators are 14-9 at home in the 2nd half which is 3rd best in the Eastern League. The Senators have outscored the Fightin Phils 26-6 this series.

The Fightin Phils are losers of 3 straight and have lost 4 of their last 8 games. The Fightin Phils have fallen to 2 games behind the Portland Sea Dogs, the Senators opponent next week.

Josh Randall takes the ball looking to build off of his impressive relief appearance last Sunday. He allowed 2 hits, striking out 6 in four innings of work out of the pen. Randall is due for a win, with his last one coming on June 17th.

The Fightin Phils will counter with Philadelphia Phillies # 1 overall and top 50 prospect on all of baseball Gage Wood. Tonight will be Wood’s 10th appearance with the Fightin Phils. Wood has given up 2 runs in per start in 6 of 7 starts and has not yet went more than 5 innings in an outing.

We have Saturday night baseball on City Island coming up. Low 80’s and sunny. It should be a beautiful night for baseball on the Island. Should be a tremendous match up on the bump tonight. Lineups are out and listed below. First pitch is coming up at 6 o’clock.

Reading Fightin Phils Lineup- 1. Bryan Rincon SS 2. Pedro Leon CF 3. Raylin Heredia RF 4. Alex Binelas 1B 5. Aroon Escobar 2B 6. Caleb Ricketts C 7. Kehden Hettiger DH 8. Luke Ritter LF 9. Nikau Pouaka-Grego 3B

Harrisburg Senators Lineup- 1. Sam Petersen LF 2. Devin Fitz-Gerald SS 3. Branden Boissiere 1B 4. Kervin Pichardo 2B 5. Devin Ortiz 3B 6. Caleb Lomavita C 7. TJ White RF 8. Cortland Lawson DH 9. Johnathan Thomas CF

Washington Nationals RHP Jake Irvin made his 2nd rehab appearance on City Island in the last week. He wasn’t as sharp last evening as he was in the previous outing but rehab outings aren’t always about how sharp you are. Irvin is working his was back from a shoulder injury. In a rehab outing the pitcher will typically work on different thing, refine their mechanics and build up stamina. Almost in all cases pitchers are also on strict pitch count, as was the case for Irvin last night. Nobody truly knows what that number except members of the team, but in yesterday’s article I estimated between 50 and 70 and he threw 63. Jake pitched 3 2/3 innings allowing 1 walk and striking out 4. He didn’t allow a hit and was within one pitch of getting through the 4th when he clearly got to his allotted limit. Skipper Delino DeShields came to get Irvin, who was not initially receptive of his mound visit. It was a good night overall for Irvin in his building back to being a full time big league pitcher. Sandy Gaston came into pitch the last out of the 4th and threw one pitch. Alex Clemmey came into pitch the final 5 innings of the game. Clemmey allowed only 1 hit, 5BB and struck out 6. He also worked himself out of a few jams caused by those 4 walks. All in all it was another impressive performance from the Senators pitching staff.

Kervin Pichardo, who has been on a tear of late, drove in all three runs for the Sens. He got the Sens started in the bottom of the 1st on an RBI single driving in Devin Fitz-Gerald and Branden Boissiere to give the Sens a 2-0 lead. The lead held until Pichardo added some insurance when he traded places with Branden Boissiere on an RBI double to give the Sens a 3-0 lead, which would be insurmountable for the Fightins. Boissiere, who had the big double in the 8th to put himself in scoring position, added three hits on the evening. Five other Senators hitters added a base hit. The Sens finished with double digit hits for the third consecutive game.

In one of those odd nuances in baseball, starter Jake Irvin and reliever Alex Clemmey pitched 8 2/3 of the ball game last night. Sandy Gaston threw 1 pitch in the 4th inning and because Irvin didn’t go 5 innings and the Sens were leading at the time Gaston came in he was awarded the win.

On Deck…

The Sens and Fighting Phils will play their series and season finale tomorrow afternoon at FNB Field. The Sens will hand the ball to recently promoted Yoel Tejeda Jr for his first AA start. Tejeda Jr is the Washington Nationals # 16 overall prospect. The Fightin Phils will counter with RHP Braydon Tucker. Tomorrow’s matinee game is the last home game for the Senators for the next two weeks. They hit the road next week to take on the Portland Sea Dogs, AA affiliate of the Boston Red Sox and then travel to Bowie to take on the Chesapeake Baysox before returning back to FNB Field on August 11th. First pitch for tomorrow’s finale is scheduled for 1 o’clock.