Jorge Alfaro's miscues hurt Reading in postseason opener

TRENTON — Already, one wild pitch in the eighth inning had skipped past Reading catcher Jorge Alfaro, who had thrown the ball into center field. That moved the potential go-ahead run in Wednesday's Game 1 of the Eastern League playoffs to third base. Now, Alfaro called for Mark Leiter Jr. to throw another splitter.

The ball bounced in front of home plate and slid between Alfaro's legs. It rolled to the backstop. The Trenton Thunder scored and would win, 3-2, in the opener of a best-of-five series.

This season is an education for the 23-year-old catching prospect, an experience that has prospered. But moments like a calamitous eighth inning in the season's most important game to date reinforce how Alfaro is far from a finished product behind the plate.

"It has to be blocked," double-A Reading manager Dusty Wathan said. "You get to the higher levels and that ball has to be blocked. He has to block that ball."

Alfaro agreed.

"It just went between my legs," he said. "We're humans. We make errors."

This series matched teams with two of the five best winning percentages in all of minor-league baseball. Reading (89-52) had the second-best record in the minors. Trenton, a Yankees affiliate, finished 87-55. The margin is thin. Reading left 10 men on base.

Leiter, a 25-year-old righthander who throws 90 mph, struck out 10 Trenton batters in seven innings. He struck out Billy McKinney, part of the return in the Aroldis Chapman trade, to start the seventh. But Dante Bichette Jr. walked. Leiter thought he had struck him out. Twice. He bent over in disgust at the walk.

He threw a wild pitch, one that did not travel far from Alfaro. He has a cannon arm. Bichette did not have a great jump on the play, so Alfaro saw an opportunity. But his throw hopped before it reached second base and popped into the outfield. Bichette moved to third.

"He's always aggressive with his arm," said Wathan, a former catcher. "If he makes a good throw, he probably gets him. So it's hard to fault him for trying to throw him out there."

"I should have just kept the ball in my hand," Alfaro said. "I was too aggressive with the throw. We're humans. We're here to learn. I hope I learn from that and it won't happen again."

Alfaro, once Reading's season ends, will come to the majors for a brief taste. The Phillies, in an ideal scenario, envision Alfaro as the catcher at triple-A Lehigh Valley to start 2017. But things can change between now and then.

The Colombian catcher this season threw out 44 percent of potential base stealers, the highest rate of his career. He permitted just seven passed balls in 847 innings; he had 28 passed balls in 1,121 innings from 2014-15. He produced at the plate with a .783 OPS.

Alfaro said he has cherished his time with Wathan. He's heard pointers from Steve Schrenk, Reading's pitching coach. He shares ideas with backup catcher Gabriel Lino. And the pitchers — Alfaro called them "my pitchers" just as Carlos Ruiz liked to do — have developed a relationship.

"It's been a really good experience," Alfaro said.

The quest, Wathan said, is for Alfaro to be that catcher who can instill confidence to throw any pitch in any count.

"His receiving has gotten better as the season's gone," Wathan said. "There will be days when it's not where we want it to be. But that happens. That's why they're still in the minor leagues because they need to be consistent."

>>> Before the game, teammates and coaches ribbed Dylan Cozens about his newfound cash. Cozens will receive $8,000, which almost equals his minor-league salary for the entire season, because he captured the minor-league homer crown. (It's $200 for every home run.)

Rhys Hoskins, who batted behind Cozens for much of the season and bashed 38 homers of his own, figured he deserved some money as protection. Wathan, the manager, believed a fee for his services as appropriate.

Roman Quinn remembered how Cozens, in spring training, came to him with a wide-eyed prediction.

"He actually told me he was going to hit 40 home runs this year," Quinn said. "I was looking at him like, 'All right, man. We're gonna see.' You know, not believing him at all. And he ended up doing it. That's pretty cool. I'm happy for him."

>>> On Saturday, righthander Tom Eshelman saw a Trenton team doctor because the pain in his midsection would not subside. By Saturday night, he was in the emergency room at St. Francis Hospital. He underwent surgery Sunday morning to remove his appendix.

Eshelman was released Monday afternoon and went first to Arm & Hammer Park, where Reading and Trenton played the season finale on Labor Day. A team trainer saw Eshelman and ordered him out of the dugout.

The Phillies told Eshelman he could return home to California; he won't pitch again this season. But Eshelman wanted to stay. He was upset to miss a start. So he sat in the stands Wednesday and charted pitches.

"I'd rather do that," he said, "than go home."

Eshelman, acquired as part of the Ken Giles trade last winter, posted a 4.25 ERA in 24 starts between single-A Clearwater and double-A Reading. The 22-year-old righthander struck out 119 and walked 28 in 120 2/3 innings.