Final score: Trenton 4, Reading 3

Synopsis: In a battle of starters on the rebound, Dellin Betances bested Trevor May at Waterfront Park. Betances allowed two runs, walked just one and fanned five before handing the ball to Kelvin Perez, Mark Montgomery and Ryan Pope for the final dozen outs. Abe Almonte, back from the DL after more than a month, clubbed two doubles -- including one that plated the game-winning run -- in four trips. 

With the win, Trenton is now 7 1/2 games up on New Britain, which split its double-dip with Binghamton on Tuesday. 

Bright spots: Zoilo Almonte had two more hits, and over his last 10 games is hitting .316/.341/.711 with three doubles, four homers and nine RBIs. Since July 1, Almonte is hitting .304/.340/.598 with nine doubles, 10 HRs and 23 RBIs. Oddly, he's walked just five times in that span.

- David Adams also had two knocks, and since July 1 has been even better than Almonte. His .380 average over that span is good for second in the Eastern League, and his .455 on-base percentage is tied for third with Binghamton's Allan Dykstra. 

- Kelvin Perez, with two more scoreless frames, continued his stellar work out of Trenton's pen. He's allowed just 47 hits in 71 1/3 innings this season, and his holding hitters to a .192 average. If he could cut down on the walks -- he has 35 -- he might just be a late-blooming prospect. 

Listen up: Normally, I'm the pregame guest for Thunder broadcaster Jay Burnham before day games. Something about being readily available, I think. In any case, I've been bumped tomorrow in favor of some Newman guy, who apparently is a big deal in the Yankees system. 

That's right. New York's Senior VP of Baseball Ops will appear on the Thunder's pregame show on 91.3 WTSR FM, the radio station for The College of New Jersey and the Thunder's flagship station. You can listen in by clicking the link. 

Additionally, if you want to read a bunch of words from Newman, check out the chat Mike Ashmore and I did with him on Tuesday afternoon. That'll probably be available on both of our blogs sometime Wednesday. As always, it's full of good stuff. 

Picks to click: Here a links to my notes and game story, plus a feature on new Reading catcher Tommy Joseph from Nick Peruffo. 

Flicks to click: Here are a dozen videos from Tuesday's action, including Dellin Betances, Trevor May, Mark Montgomery, Addison Maruszak and David Adams.