BOWIE, Md. — The Philadelphia Phillies’ top minor league prospects shined brightly Thursday when the Reading Fightin Phils needed them to the most.
Jake Thompson pitched seven strong innings, Nick Williams slugged a solo home run, J.P. Crawford had a pair of hits and Andrew Knapp had a key two-run double as the Fightins pounded Bowie 9-3 in Game 3 of the Eastern League Championship Series at Prince Georges Stadium.
The victory gives the Fightins a 2-1 lead in the best-of-5 series, with one more victory clinching Reading’s first outright Eastern League championship since 1995.
Game 4 of the series is set for 7:05 tonight in Bowie. Game 5, if necessary, will be at 6:35 p.m. Saturday, also in Bowie.
Fresh off his complete-game, three-hit shutout of Binghamton in the Eastern League Division Series, Thompson scattered four hits, allowed one run, walked three and struck out five Thursday against Bowie.
The right-hander, acquired from Texas in the Cole Hamels trade, threw 65 of his 97 pitches for strikes and recorded 11 ground-ball outs.
Reading, which finished with 12 hits, opened the scoring on Crawford’s sacrifice fly in the third.
The Fightins added two in the fourth on a two-run double by Harold Martinez, then made it 4-0 on a solo homer by Williams in the fifth.
Reading broke the game open by scoring five times in the sixth. Williams had an RBI single in the outburst, while Knapp delivered a two-run, ground-rule double. Brock Stassi plated a run on a groundout before Angelo Mora’s sacrifice fly capped the scoring.
The Fightin Phils batted around plus one in the inning.
They scored all of their runs in a four-inning span to build a 9-0 lead.
Thompson lasted two batters into the eighth. Reiner Roibal tossed a scoreless eighth before Stephen Shackleford gave up two runs in the ninth, including a solo homer to Tucker Nathans.
The Fightin Phils finished with 12 hits from nine different players. Everybody except Mora, the designated hitter, had at least one.
In addition to Crawford, Williams and Martinez had two hits apiece. Reading also walked six times.
For Bowie, right fielder Mike Yastrzemski doubled and scored a run. He is the grandson of Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski.