He sat in the middle of the Reading Phillies locker room late Saturday night, staring off into the distance, seemingly a million miles away.

The 21-year-old right-hander had thrown the ball well again, and, except for one brief four-batter stretch of the third inning, performed well enough to earn a win.

But there he was, sitting with a nondescript .500 record after absorbing the ‘L' in Reading's 4-2 Eastern League loss to the visiting Bowie Baysox at FirstEnergy Stadium.

The guy's headed to the Eastern League All-Star Game next week because he's had a very good season. You just can't tell by glancing at his deceiving 6-6 record.

“I'm not worried about wins and losses right now,” said Buchholz. “I'm trying not to let it (my record) bother me. It can turn around easily. I could be 10-6 just as easily.”

With a couple of timely hits, Buchholz and the Phillies could've been smiling Saturday. They had 10 hits and put 15 runners on base.

But they left the bases loaded twice in the fourth when Jeff Inglin flied out, and in the ninth when Garry Maddox II flied out. They also struck out a dozen times, something the manager didn't like seeing.

“It looked to me that we had a lot of guys trying to hit a home run,” said Phils manager Greg Legg. “The way balls are flying out of here, it's tempting. It's tempting here (in this stadium) with the porches as short as they are.”

It's not like the Baysox kept Reading bats hostage. Aaron McNeal and Jim Deschaine each took starter Dave Borkowski deep in the second inning for a 2-0 lead.

McNeal's homer was his 11th of the season and second in two nights.

Deschaine's was his fourth of the season and third in two nights.

The Phillies have seven homers in the three-game series to date, and 17 in their last 13 games. They're second in the league with 72 homers in 85 games.

The Baysox had just one homer Saturday, but it turned out to be a big one. Former Reading outfielder Fletcher Bates led off the third with a shot to right, and the Baysox followed with three straight hits to take a 3-2 lead.

“I threw him three two-seamers in a row,” Buchholz said of Bates, “and the third one was right down the middle. He hit that one pretty far.

“I got a little out of whack that inning. Maybe I was rushing to the plate. Maybe I was a little flustered. I gave a lot of hits, a lot of hits.”

Buchholz allowed nine hits over six innings, but he got nothing but high marks from his manager for the effort.

“I thought he pitched well enough to win,” Legg said. “He did his job. Obviously, if we score six or seven runs, he wins.

“That's twice in a row we haven't scored for him. We scored two runs his last time out; we scored two runs tonight. He almost has to be perfect if that's all he gets is two runs.”

Reading has scored two runs or less in seven of Buchholz's last eight games.

Phillers: Right-hander Taft Cable will be called up from Single-A Clearwater to start tonight's second game Reading. He'll take the roster spot of inactive Brian Hitchcox. Cable likely will return to Clearwater after the game. He made a pair of starts for Reading in early June. . . . Right fielder Juan Camillo left the game in the sixth inning after being shaken up when he slid into first base. . . . Center fielder Garry Maddox II made a terrific running catch just in front of the wall to save a run in the eighth.

Contact Mike Drago at 610-371-5067 or mdrago@....

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