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Thursday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Probable Pitchers
Syracuse Won, 1-0;
Lost, 4-3		 vs. Toledo,
7:00 p.m.		 Duke (13-5, 3.57) vs.
Below (2-1, 3.88)
Harrisburg Lost, 5-2 vs. Akron,
7:00 p.m.		 Wang (1-3, 4.88) vs.
Murata (2-1, 3.45)
Potomac Lost, 9-1 @ Salem,
7:05 p.m.		 Grace (7-11, 5.62) vs.
Couch (8-9, 3.75)
Hagerstown Lost, 14-7 @ Delmarva,
7:05 p.m.		 Schwartz (1-1, 3.80) vs.
Rodriguez (5-6, 3.29)
Auburn Lost, 5-4 @ Mahoning Valley,
7:05 p.m.		 Lee (1-1, 3.86) vs.
Morel (2-2, 4.39)
GCL Nationals Won, 10-4 vs. GCL Cardinals,
12:00 p.m.		 TBD vs. TBD
DSL Nationals Won, 13-2 @ DSL Ariz./Cincy,
10:30 a.m.		 TBD vs. TBD

Syracuse 1 Toledo 0 — GAME ONE
• Mandel (W, 4-4) 6IP, 2H, 0R, BB, 5K
• Garcia (SV, 10) 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, K
• Perez 1-3, SB
• Leon 1-1, R, BB, HR, RBI

Sandy Leon homered for the second straight game while Jeff Mandel tossed six scoreless innings to lead the Chiefs past the Mud Hens, 1-0 in the opener. Mandel allowed just two hits and a walk while striking out five. Christian Garcia notched his 10th save and extended his scoreless inning streak to 20⅓. Eury Perez singled and stole his 13th base for Syracuse (44th overall).

Toledo 4 Syracuse 3 — GAME TWO
• Roark (L, 6-15) 6IP, 8H, 3R, 2ER, BB, 4K, HBP
• MacDougal 1IP, 3H, R, ER, 0BB, 3K
• Brown 1-3, R, 2B, BB
• Perez 1-3, R, BB

Syracuse struck for two early but couldn’t hold the lead and couldn’t complete the last-inning comeback to lose the nightcap, 4-3. Tanner Roark lost his I.L.-leading 15th game despite throwing a quality start of three runs (two earned) on eight hits and a walk over six innings. Seven of the nine Chiefs batters hit safely, but they also hit into three double plays. Corey Brown and Eury Perez both reached base twice with hit and a single.

Akron 5 Harrisburg 2
• Holder (L, 2-3) 1+IP, 7H, 4R, 4ER, 2BB, 0K, 0HR
• Tatusko 6IP, 3H, 0R, BB, 6K, 2-0 IR-S
• Van Ostrand 2-3, R, BB
• Hood 2-4, 2B

Despite a heroic bullpen effort from Ryan Tatukso, the Senators couldn’t muster the offense to dig out of an early 4-0 hole to lose their third straight, 5-2. Starter Trevor Holder got strafed for four runs on seven hits and two walk over the course of 12 batters faced. Tatusko came in with two on and no outs in the 2nd and stranded them both, then pitched five more shutout innings, giving up just three hits and a walk. The offense could only manage seven hits, with Jimmy Van Ostrand (2-for-3, BB) and Destin Hood (2-for-4, 2B) leading the way.

Wilmington 9 Potomac 1
• Ray (L, 4-10) ⅔ IP, 3H, 6R, 6ER, 3BB, 0K, 0HR, WP
• Demmin 4⅓ IP, 7H, 2R, 2ER, 2BB, 2K, 2-2 IR-S
• King 2-4, 2-2B
• Hague 2-4
• Kelso 2-4

Robbie Ray couldn’t make it out of the first, hitting the org’s pitch-count limit for a single inning while giving up three hits and three walks while getting just two outs for his 10th loss as the P-Nats fell again to the Blue Rocks, 9-1. Since the C.L. All-Star break, Ray has gone 1-7 with a 7.92 ERA and a 1.66 WHIP. Potomac registered 10 hits, with Stephen King, Ricky Hague, and Blake Kelso each going 2-for-4, but struggled in the clutch with a 1-for-12 mark with RISP and eight runners left on base. The loss drops Potomac to 3½ games behind Wilmington with three games left against each other (Sep. 1-3), as they head down I-81 to Salem for four games against the Red Sox.

Hickory 14 Hagerstown 7
• Hill 5IP, 8H, 5R, 5ER, 0BB, 2K, 2HR
• Hawkins (BS, 1; L, 3-3) 1+IP, 3H, 3R, 3ER, 0BB, K, HBP, WP
• Nieto 2-3, R, 2-2B, 2BB
• Norfork 2-4, R, 2B, BB, RBI
• Dykstra 2-5, R

Hagerstown gave up nine runs over the last four innings in a 14-7 loss that prevented a sweep of Hickory and dropped the Suns back into second place. Starter Taylor Hill gave up two gopherballs and eight hits total for five runs over five innings but left with a 6-5 lead. Ben Hawkins got tagged with the loss, allowing the tying run in the 6th and letting on what proved to be the winning runs in the 7th. All four Hagerstown relievers were touched for earned runs. Adrian Nieto led the Suns offense with a pair of doubles and a pair of walks, followed by Khayyan Norfork, who singled, doubled, walked, scored a run and drove in a run. Hagerstown visits last-place Delmarva for four games starting tonight before returning to the Muni for seven on Monday.

Mahoning Valley 5 Auburn 4
• Encarnacion 6IP, 6H, 4R, 4ER, 0BB, K, HR
• Davis (L, 3-1) 1⅔ IP, H, R, ER, 0BB, 4K
• E. Martinez 3-5
• Mesa 2-4, R

Auburn fought back from a 4-0 deficit, gave the lead back in 8th, and got the tying run in scoring position with two out in the 9th, but fell 5-4 to Mahoning Valley. Starter Pedro Encarnacion gave up four second-inning runs but went six innings total, with four hits allowed, a walk, and a strikeout. Cody Davis was charged with the loss when Robert Benincase gave up a hit to the first batter he faced to send in the winning run. Estarlin Martinez led the 11-hit attack with a 3-for-5 night, followed by Narciso Mesa’s 2-for-4 effort.

GCL Nationals 10 GCL Cardinals 4
• Pena 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, K
• Barrientos (W, 4-0) 4⅔ IP, 4H, 2R, 2ER, 3BB, 3K, HR
• Foat 4-5, 2R, 2B, 4RBI
• Bailey 2-4, 2R, 2-2B, RBI
• Brooks 2-5, R, 2B, 2RBI

The G-Nats scored in four straight innings to cruise to a 10-4 win over the G-Cards. Joel Barrientos got the win in relief, throwing four and 2/3rds innings and giving up two runs on four hits and three walks while striking out three. The G-Nats pounded out 12 hits, with Matt Foat once again leading the hit column with a 4-for-5 game with a double and four RBI.

DSL Nationals 13 DSL “Redbacks” 2
• Valerio (W, 3-4) 5IP, 4H, 2R, 0ER, BB, 4K
• Acevedo 1⅓ IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, K
• Mercedes 4-5, 2R, 2-2B, RBI
• De Los Santos 3-4, R, 2B, BB, 2RBI

The D-Nats pounded out 16 hits en route to a 13-2 smackdown of the Cincinnati/Arizona DSL co-op. Maximo Valerio got the start and the win with two unearned runs on four hits and a walk over five innings. Yermin Mercedes singled twice and doubled twice to raise the 19-year-old’s average to .325, while 18-year-old Venezuelan Juan De Los Santos went 3-for-4 with a double, a walk, a run scored, and two RBI.

11 Commments

  1. I think it may be time to shut down Ray for the rest of the season and give him a clean start next year. I’d use a spot starter or committee start or promote someone from Harrisburg or Auburn to fill the void.

    1. Not a bad idea, but remember that these are the same decison makers who are keeping the likes of Adam Olbrychowski, Steven King, Adam Carr, et all around when they have zero chance of advancing, and have in fact moved in the wrong direction. Potomac has underachieved all year. It’s not just time to shut some down; it’s time to clean house.

      1. Good point…however, Ray does not fit the mold for cleaning house. I understand not wanting to move someone too soon up -especially pitchers- but there are move deserving guys below them.

      2. So who are you going to replace them with? It is not like there is a huge pot of High A ball ready guys out there waiting to be signed. The Nats have already bumped up a number of the best players from Hagerstown, to the detriment of that team.

        1. Everyone forgets about the Auburn starters (3 most likely in order of ERA):
          Monar – 2.68 ERA through 9 starts
          Mooneyham – 3.08 ERA through 7 games (6 starts)
          Lee – 3.86 ERA through 9 games (7 starts)

        2. Exactly. There are roughly 17-19 games left for the Single-A teams. Trying to “fix” Potomac could come at the expense of two teams that have more than a mathematical chance at the postseason.

          1. Which is more important then? As of now, it appears Auburn is keeping a few of their top pitchers. But, I for one would like to see how these guys perform at a higher level – particularly the two more intriguing prospects of Monar and Mooneyham – both lefties.

  2. Another walk for Eury Perez!

    We joke, but the kid’s plate discipline really has improved at Syracuse.

    At AA, he played 82 games and walked only 7 times and struck out 53 times. But in 27 games in Syracuse, he’s already walked 6 times and fanned only 15 times.

    He still needs to walk more but it looks like he is getting better. I imagine he will be sent to winter ball in the DR with a directive to focus on taking pitches.

  3. Any thoughts re whether Rendon’s short stay in Potomac could reflect bad relations between the Nats and Silber, continuing the trend after Stras and Harper skipped the place. The Pfitz has to be the worst place affiliated pro ball to play. And all Silber has is a “framework” for better times, which I’m hoping turns out well and sooner rather than later.

    1. As much fun as conspiracy theories can be, Rendon was assigned to Potomac to begin the year, not Hagerstown or Harrisburg. I also have a hard time believing that they’re going to start routinely jumping guys from Low-A to AA.

      You could argue for example that Goodwin was started too low, but they wanted both Taylor and Goodwin to play CF. I have to wonder how it would have went over if Goodwin started at Potomac and struggled while Taylor repeated Low-A and ripped up the Sally League. Maybe I don’t: See Skole, Matt.

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