READING — Art Charles believes the most important at-bat is the next one.
The Reading power hitter showed why Tuesday in the Eastern League Championship Series opener against Bowie at FirstEnergy Stadium.
Charles shook off two strikeouts before launching a home run in the seventh inning to provide the Fightin Phils with some much-needed insurance in a 3-1 win over the BaySox.
“I knew my next at-bat would be important,” Charles said. “Whether I hit a home run or I get on base or not, that at-bat is always going to be the most important one.”
Brock Stassi also hit a solo home run and Zach Eflin pitched six shutout innings to help give the R-Phils the early series lead.
Game 2 is tonight in Reading before the final three games move to Bowie, Maryland.
Coming into the series, Charles hit a rough patch, going 0-for-19 before his home run over the advertising boards that carried outside the park in right-center.
“You’re in the moment, you’re helping your team win. It’s an uplifting feeling,” Charles said. “To go up there and put a run up for the boys, it was great.”
Before Charles’ slump, his last successful outing was against Bowie on Aug. 28, when he went 2-for-4 with a run scored. That factored into Reading manager Dusty Wathan’s decision to start Charles at designated hitter Tuesday after he made only one plate appearance in the first-round series with Binghamton.
“Art’s been a big part of this team the whole year and he’s had some big hits for us,” Wathan said. “He’s a guy who at any moment can hit the ball out of the ballpark. He put up some pretty good numbers against this team, too, coming in.”
Stassi got the scoring started with a solo home run into the pool beyond right field to lead off the fourth. Reading had three hits — one in each of the first three innings — but couldn’t get any runners beyond second before Stassi’s blast.
Bowie had chances to take an early lead, but also stranded three runners — all in scoring position — in the first three innings. Corban Joseph led off the game with a single to right-center, moved to second on Trey Mancini’s single and to third on Quincy Latimore’s flyout to center, which moved Mancini to second when the throw to the infield was misplayed.
Eflin got Chance Sisco to ground out to end the inning and strand both runners. He then got Mancini to fly out in the third after a two-out double by Mike Yastrzemski rolled into right field after grazing Stassi’s glove at first.
Nick Williams helped Eflin’s cause in the top of the fifth. Following Ozzie Hernandez’s two-out double for Bowie, the center fielder made a full-extension catch in right-center to rob Joseph of a sure RBI and preserve Reading’s one-run lead.
Despite a rough start, Eflin settled in around the third inning. He worked around the two doubles and struck out five and walked none in six innings.
“I was able to find a rhythm, keep them off-balance,” Eflin said. “That was the main goal going into it. I kind of had a couple butterflies to start, but I was able to bear down and get it done.”
Eflin left the game to a great ovation after getting hit in the shin with a comebacker by Sisco to lead off the seventh.
“I was fine,” Eflin said. “I always keep my hat down, but there was a big smile underneath that hat.”
Edubray Ramos, who was already warming in the bullpen, replaced Eflin for the seventh, striking out two.
The most enthralling pitching performance of the evening came from Reading reliever Jimmy Cordero in the eighth and ninth. The hard-throwing righty reached as high as 102 mph, drawing cheers from the 4,322 fans in FirstEnergy Stadium.
Cordero pitched a perfect eighth before finding trouble in the ninth. A one-out double by Latimore and two walks loaded the bases. Latimore scored on a wild pitch, but Cordero struck out Drew Dosch to pick up a two-inning save.
“He was throwing the ball so good in the eighth inning that we wanted to give him a chance to finish,” Wathan said. “Shack (closer Stephen Shackleford) has been our guy all year and he’s still our guy. ... I just thought (Cordero) could overpower guys and he did. He just lost it there for a little bit but he was able to gather himself and finish it.”
Ethan Martin is the probable starting pitcher for Reading in today’s Game 2. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
Game Summary
Eastern League Championship Series
Game 1, at FirstEnergy Stadium
BOWIE (1) — Joseph 2b 4 0 1 0, Yastrzemski rf 4 0 1 0, Mancini 1b 4 0 1 0, Latimore lf 4 1 1 0, Sisco c 3 0 1 0, Rosa cf 4 0 0 0, Gunkel p 0 0 0 0, Hart p 0 0 0 0, Stoffel p 0 0 0 0, Snyder dh 3 0 0 0, Davis pr 0 0 0 0, Dosch 3b 4 0 0 0, O. Martinez ss 3 0 1 0. Totals 33 1 6 0.
READING (3) — Williams cf 4 0 2 0, Crawford ss 2 0 1 0, Knapp c 3 0 0 1, Stassi 1b 2 1 1 1, Perkins lf 4 0 2 0, Cozens rf 4 0 1 0, H. Martinez 3b 4 0 0 0, Eflin p 0 0 0 0, Ramos p 0 0 0 0, Cordero p 0 0 0 0, Charles dh 3 1 1 1, Mora 2b 3 1 2 0. Totals 31 3 10 3.
Bowie (3-2) 000 000 001 — 1
Reading (4-0) 000 100 20x — 3
E — Bowie 1, Reading 1. DP — Bowie 2. LOB — Bowie 7, Reading 7. 2B — Yastrzemski, Latimore, O. Martinez, Mora. HR — Stassi, Charles. SF — Knapp.
Bowie IP H R ER BB K
Gunkel L,0-1 6 9 3 3 1 4
Hart 1 1 0 0 1 0
Stoffel 1 0 0 0 0 2
Reading IP H R ER BB K
Eflin W,2-0 6 5 0 0 0 5
Ramos H,1 1 0 0 0 0 2
Cordero S,1 2 1 1 1 2 4
Gunkel pitched to 2 batters in the 7th
Eflin pitched to 1 batter in the 7th
WP — Cordero. T — 2:23. A — 4,322