Sometimes the box score doesn’t tell the full story, but for this one, it did.
The Potomac Nationals were one-hit last night by three Winston-Salem Dash pitchers in a 6-0 shutout. The one hit? A no-doubt-about-it double to the right-center gap by Kevin Keyes to lead off the second inning.
That may be some consolation to Scott Snodgress, who won’t wonder if he could have had a no-hitter, but for the P-Nats the lack of offense against a 23-year-old southpaw with mediocre stuff is something to worry about.
More troubling: Robbie Ray continues to struggle in the second half. Since the All-Star break, the 20-year-old has gone 1-5 with a 6.75 ERA and a 1.77 WHIP. He avoided the usual pattern of getting hit hard early then settling in, in favor of the the more worrisome: success early, then a series of diminishing returns (single runs in the 2nd and 3rd, followed by a four-run 4th) that ended his night after just four innings.
The final line: 4IP, 6R, 4ER, BB, 5K, HR (a moonshot to dead center by the Dash backstop, not-Silent-Bob Kevan Smith).
Ryan Demmin turned in three and 2/3rds scoreless innings of relief with two walks and three strikeouts followed by four outs by Aaron Barrett to lower his ERA with Potomac to 1.04 in five appearances.
Anthony Rendon’s home debut was also a disappointment: a weak grounder to 1st, a popup to shallow RF that was dropped for an error, a lineout to short (albeit a laser), and caught looking on strikes. In the field, he made a couple of decent plays but also bounced one to first for an error, that perhaps a more experienced 1B would have caught.
Despite the loss, Potomac remains in the playoff hunt at 1½ games behind both Wilmington and Frederick and a ½ game behind first-half winner Lynchburg. Matt Grace (6-11, 5.93) and Chris Bassitt (3-2, 3.41) are slated to rematch last Sunday’s contest.