Akron falls behind early in 4-0 loss

The Akron Aeros fell to the Reading Phillies, 4-2, at First Energy Field Sunday.

Starting for Akron was knuckleballer Steve Wright.  Wright saw 25 batters in his six innings on the mound, walking only one and matching his season high of seven strikeouts ending his term with an ERA of 1.79.  

However, the Phillies got three hits off of Wright putting them up to an early 4-0 lead in the first four innings.

The Aeros faced off against Reading newcomer Julio Rodriguez who held them to no runs until the top of the sixth. 

Catcher Roberto Perez started Akron off in the sixth inning with a walk up the first base line.  After two wild pitches by Rodriguez, Perez was able to round his way to third. With a sacrifice fly by outfielder Jordan Henry, Perez made it to the plate to put Akron’s first run on the board cutting the score to 4-1.   Shortstop Juan Diaz followed up the run with a line-drive single to the right side, while first baseman Chun Chen took a walk to first. Chen was replaced on first shortly after by Adam Abraham as a pinch runner.  Outfielder Nick Weglarz showed up at the plate to tap a soft fly ball to the right side for his tenth double of the season slicing the score to 4-2.  But the Aeros wouldn’t follow up with any more runs for the match up and the buck stopped there.

Right-hander Loek van Mil relieved Wright in the top of the seventh inning for a scoreless two innings of pitching.  He allowed two hits and struck out one in his eight batters faced.

The Aeros, 42-24, face the Phillies for game five of the series at First Energy Stadium on Monday at 9:35 a.m. Akron will start right-handed pitcher Brett Brach, who is 2-2 from the mound, against Reading right-hander Jonathan Pettibone.