PORTLAND, Maine — The Reading Fightin Phils jumped out to a 6-0 lead and never looked back, taking game one of their three-game series with the Portland Sea Dogs 14-3 Friday night in an Eastern League game at Hadlock Field.
Portland’s Carson Smith made his Red Sox organizational debut on a rehab assignment and faced two batters in relief in the sixth inning, striking out one and inducing a groundout.
Reading took the early lead on a two-out, solo home run by Rhys Hoskins off of Aaron Wilkerson (L, 1-1). The Fightin Phils added two more in the third off of Wilkerson on an RBI single by Hoskins and an RBI double by Angelo Mora.
Hoskins added a two-run double in the fourth to extend the lead to 6-0.
Wilkerson allowed six runs (five earned) in 3 ⅓ innings, walking three and striking out four. Reading’s Ben Lively (W, 3-0) worked five innings and allowed one run on four hits, walking four and striking out three.
Reading padded its lead with a four-run eighth inning off of Rob Wort and Luis Ysla. Wort struck out a career-high six over two-plus innings.
The loss for the Sea Dogs is their eighth straight, their longest losing streak since an eight-game streak July 13-19, 2013.