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Friday’s News & Notes

Another 2-3, High-Low split for the Nats minors

The Quick Rundown…

Team Yesterday’s Result Today’s Game Pitching Matchup
Syracuse Chiefs Won, 3-2 @ Charlotte, 7:15 p.m. Tom Milone (4-4, 3.58) vs.
TBD
Harrisburg Senators Won, 3-2 @ Altoona, 7:05 p.m. Erik Davis (2-2, 3.55) vs.
Aaron Pribanic (5-3, 2.86)
Potomac Nationals Lost, 10-3 vs. Salem, 7:05 p.m. Trevor Holder (3-7, 6.31) vs.
Ryan Pressly (4-6, 4.58)
Hagerstown Suns Lost, 6-5; Lost, 4-0 vs. Delmarva, 7:05 p.m. Robbie Ray (2-0, 1.03) vs.
Tim Berry (1-4, 5.65)
Auburn Doubledays N/A @ Batavia, 7:05 p.m. Ryan Demmin (0-0, -.–) vs.
Hector Hernandez (0-0, -.–)
DSL Nationals Postponed @ DSL Braves, 10:30 a.m.

Syracuse 3 Charlotte 2
• Meyers (W, 4-3) 7IP, 7H, 2ER, BB, 4K, HR
• Severino (H, 2) 1IP, 1H, 2K
• Flores 1-3, R, 2R HR, 2RBI
• Blanco 2-3, R, 2B, BB

The Syracuse Chiefs got a dose of a rehabbing Jake Peavy and found him not to their liking. Peavy locked down the Chiefs with 9 strikeouts in six shutout innings. Damon Viciedo was the offensive star for Charlotte. He doubled in Alejandro De Aza in the first inning and homered in the second inning. Syracuse responded with a much-needed three run 8th inning rally. Tug Hulett pulled a fly ball to right for a leadoff double in front of a Jesus Flores two-run homer. Gregor Blanco resumed the rally with a single. Manager Randy Knorr opted for some late-inning small ball with a Chris McConnell sacrifice bunt. Corey Brown (2-4, RBI) doubled down the line for an RBI that gave Syracuse their 3-2 lead. Syracuse’s pitching depth was stronger than Jake Peavy’s dominant start. Following Brad Meyers two runs in seven innings, Atahualpa “Hualpa Time” Severino pitched a scoreless 8th and Hassan Pena pitched a scoreless 9th. Our old friend Lastings Milledge had a harmless 2-4 evening, in part because Meyers picked him off in the 6th.

Harrisburg 3 Trenton 2
• Roark (W, 4-2) 6IP, 7H, 2ER, 0BB, 3K
• Barthmaier (H, 2) 1⅓ IP, 0R, 0BB, 2K, 1-0 IR-S
• Lombardozzi 2-4, 2R, BB
• Moore 1-5, 3B, RBI

Steve Lombardozzi offered another strong leadoff performance with a first-inning single, scoring on Tyler Moore triple for the first run of the game. Trenton answered with two runs with a leadoff single from Raymond Kruml and a run scoring double from Bradley “Not So” Suttle. Derek Norris gave up a passed ball to help Suttle advance to third, and Suttle scored an earned run on a Cody Johnson single. Harrisburg battled back with two runs in the top of the 7th and yet again Lombardozzi was at the center of the rally. Jonathan Tucker singled, advanced on a balk, and Lombardozzi singled on a grounder. Josh Johnson than landed the decisive punch with a one out double to score both Tucker and Lombardozzi. Following a strong seven innings of two run ball, Jimmy Barthmaier stranded a leadoff single against Roark as part of a strong four-out appearance. Pat McCoy and Rafael Martin combined to silence the Thunder for the last five outs to earn hold no. 5 and save no. 1, respectively.

Salem 10 Potomac 3
• Bronson (L, 1-3) 5⅓ IP, 11H, 4R, 4ER, 1BB, 5K, HR
• Clegg 2⅓ IP, 3H, 4R, 0ER, 0BB, 0K
• Kobernus 3-4, R, HR, RBI, SB (26)
• Higley 0-3, 3K
• Bloxom 2E (19, 20)

The P-Nats dodged the raindrops but not the loss, Last Night In Woodbridge.

Delmarva 6 Hagerstown 5 — COMP. SUSP. GM
• Cole (ND) 5⅔ IP, 5H, 3R, 2ER, 2BB, 9K, HR
• Manno (L, 1-3) 3BF, 0IP, 2H, 1R, 1ER, 1IBB, 0K
• Newsome 3-4, 2-2B
• Oduber 3-4, R, 2RBI

Thanks to the suspension, A.J. Cole was able to relieve himself pick up where he left off and finish what he started, pitching five and 2/3rds innings and allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits and two walks while striking out nine. Unfortunately, the Suns ‘pen faltered (again) as Neil Holland blew the save and Chris Manno gave up two doubles sandwiched between an intentional walk to take the loss. Brett Newsome and Randolph Oduber each had three hits in four at-bats to lead the Hagerstown offense.

Delmarva 4 Hagerstown 0
• McCatty (L, 0-2) 4IP, 5H, 3R, 2ER, 4BB, 2K
• Brown 3IP, 4H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 1K
• Freitas 2-3, 2B

The Hagerstown lumber was still in a slumber for Game Two of the completion doubleheader, going 0-for-6 in scoring chances and getting shut out 4-0. Shane McCatty got the spot start and went four, allowing three runs on five hits and four walks, with the defense turning two double plays for him to limit the damage of nine baserunners. Sam Brown followed and threw three innings, allowing one run on four hits, no walks, and one strikeout.The two losses have put the Suns into a win-out-and-hope situation, as both Hickory and Greensboro both won to remain tied for first place, the Crawdads ahead on percentage points. It’s not clear whether Hickory would win on percentage points or Greensboro would win based on head-to-head record.

AUBURN DOUBLEDAYS — SEASON OPENER
The newly affiliated Auburn Doubledays start play tonight in the New York-Penn League with a still-undisclosed roster. Ryan Demmin is the Opening Day starter, according to MiLB.com.

DSL Nationals — PPD
Rain appears to have washed away the entire DSL slate on Thursday.

12 Commments

  1. Hagerstown’s death spiral is starting to look like Vermont’s season-ending funk last year; Both teams jumped out with great early-season results, then couldn’t get out of their own way when it counted.

    1. I’ve been waiting for someone to bring that up because I felt like if I did, I’d be piling on.

  3. The games at the Muni look like the team is totally fragmented and no one wants to be a leader. The 2nd game was over as soon as they announced McCatty as the starting pitcher; the regular “natives” at the game were not happy about McCatty – and they expressed it verbally right at the pitching mound and at Daubach. 🙂 You know it’s bad with McCatty when you go to the Suns webiste to look at the box and at the bottom of the page they have him listed as the “WP”.

    Harper looks like he’s shut it down for the first half, Freitas is still lights out. Kelso better get some kind of MVP award along with Freitas as they are carrying what’s left of this team to the 3rd or 4th place finish.

    Kelso played short last night and he was ok, but not how he plays at 3rd. Nicol at 3rd in the 2nd game was keeping the hot corner cold as he had some ESPN sport center plays throughout the game.

    I say let’s get the call ups/downs done so our team can focus on what they’ve got to do to be competitive in the 2nd half.

      1. McCatty’s pitching is just that – pitching. There is no snap on the fast ball, no dramatic drop on the off-speed stuff. It looks like he’s up there throwing early spring training stuff, trying to find his groove. His pitches are fooling no one. If he’s not a candidate for Auburn, I don’t know who is. 🙁

        In defense of the hitters on both sides last night, the home plate ump for both games (were different) had a very low strike zone. Mid to high shin balls were strikes….everyone had to be swiniging. The Shorebirds were, the Suns weren’t.

    2. Additionally, you have to worry about Bobby Hansen — hasn’t pitched now in two weeks.

    3. It can be tough to find a leader on the field when the most experienced guys on the squad are 24yo subs (Newsome & Brown), and your best players are all 19-21yo (Harper, Freitas/Kelso/Oduber).

      Maybe the 2nd half will allow the team to realize what they missed out on & what needs to be done to make the playoffs.

      1. You are very right….the OG’s are exactly that, and the youngin’s are too focused on themselves. I think that’s where the coach is supposed to come into play. IMHO, I feel last year at the Suns there was a definite lack of coaching, and it was very obvious the players would play MUCH harder for one coach and not the other.

        We have some very good talent on this team this year, but as the saying goes – there’s no I in team. 🙂 I’ll hope for a turn-a-round tonight!

  5. Pingback: Minor League Rotations Cycle #14: good/bad/soso at Nationals Arm Race

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