READING, Pa.- Matt Barnes’ dominance against Reading hit a snag Tuesday as the Portland Sea Dogs committed three errors behind him, leading to the Fightin Phillies’ 4-1 win victory in the first game of a doubleheader at FirstEnergy Stadium.
Barnes allowed just two hits in his four-inning stint, but the Sea Dogs played sloppily behind him with errors setting up unearned runs in both the second and third innings.
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Barnes didn’t allow an earned run and his ERA against Reading dropped to 1.59 in four starts. Overall, in 13 starts, it’s 5.46.
Reading went ahead 1-0 in the second when Zach Collier hit a leadoff double.
Collier strayed too far off the bag on Anthony Hewitt’s grounder to third but advanced when second baseman Derrik Gibson threw the ball away on a rundown.
Collier then scored on Sebastian Valle’s grounder to the right side.
Tommy Mendonca reached to lead off the third on Gibson’s fielding error.
Mendonca advanced on a walk and sacrifice bunt and scored on a wild pitch.
The Sea Dogs got a run back in the fourth when Michael Almanzar broke up Seth Rosin’s no-hitter with a two-out single, driving in Peter Hissey.
Reading went up 4-1 in the fifth on Jim Murphy’s two-run single off reliever Jeremy Kehrt.
Barnes, who began the season as the top pitching prospect in the Red Sox organization, lasted just four innings in his last start, June 8 at Akron, and only 1 2/3 innings in his start before that, June 2 against Altoona.
The Sea Dogs managed just three hits, all singles, off Rosin.
Gibson singled to lead off the sixth but was doubled up on Hissey’s liner back to the mound; Travis Shaw had a two-out hit in the seventh.
The start of the first game was delayed by rain for over an hour.
The Sea Dogs led the second game 3-0 after five innings by scoring all their runs in the third inning.
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