Phillies Prospect Watch: Gage Wood Pitches to Contact

Phillies affiliates went 1-1 on Wednesday, Sept 9, with Double-A Reading dropping their magic number to one as they try to break a seven-year playoff drought.

2025 first round pick Gage Wood got the start and went five innings, striking out five batters and allowing two runs on a second inning homer. He managed counts well early on, immediately battling back if he fell behind. Wood also forced nine groundball outs to just one flyout, keeping the ball out of the air on a windy night.

The Fightin Phils ran into trouble in the third when Carson DeMartini committed an error; Wood subsequently gave up a double, but got a strikeout for his second out, then kept Erie off the board with another groundout.

He began the fourth with a strikeout on a nasty 94 mile per hour inside fastball, then gave up three two-out singles. Wood rebounded to end the inning with a three pitch strikeout following a mound visit.

Mavis Graves froze two batters in the sixth upon relieving Wood; Wen-Hui Pan allowed a base runner in the seventh, but shortstop Bryan Rincon worked a 6-3 double play to end the inning. DeMartini, Raylin Heredia, Aroon Escobar and Bryson Ware all homered as the Fightin Phils won 11-3.

Triple-A Lehigh Valley lost 8-3, a two-run homer from Gabriel Rincones Jr. (2-for-4) amidst an eighth inning rally not enough to overcome a brutal start from 32-year-old righty Brian Keller.