Nats, No. 5 Starters Stumble Against The Yankees

If only Ross Detwiler were still a prospect…

The stumbles by Wang (physical) and Lannan (performance) in the Nats’ 8-5 loss would have been given me the peg to hang the hopes of the 2007 1st Rounder, but instead I’ll have to leave that conversation to the beat writers and bloggers for the parent club.

Steve Lombardozzi continues to make his case to make the club on offense, lacing singles from both sides of the plate and scoring on an RBI double by Jhonatan Solano in the bottom of the third. He also stole a base and drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. Defensively, Lombardozzi made no errors but reminded us that his arm isn’t suited to the shortstop position, a potential strike against him, though one would think not a dealbreaker.

Bryce Harper returned to right field, where he made three putouts and no errors in six innings. Harper, however, went 0-for-3 at the plate with two strikeouts and Yankee southpaws Clay Rapada and Juan Cedeno. This could be a trend to watch, as Harper did struggle (relatively speaking) against LHPs in Harrisburg.

As aforementioned, Solano went 1-for-4 as the starting catcher, but was charged with a passed ball and gunned down two of five Yankees attempting to steal against him.

Tyler Moore was the only other prospect to get in the game, ending the game with a popup to second as a pinch-hitter.

The two teams meet again tomorrow in Tampa. Gio Gonzalez is slated to start. The game will be televised on the MLB Network.

UPDATE: Following the game, the Nationals announced the following player moves:

• RHP Yunesky Maya optioned to AAA Syracuse
• OF Eury Perez optioned to AA Harrisburg
• RHP Waldis Joaquin reassigned to minor-league camp
• RHP Jeff Fulchino reassigned to minor-league camp