Wednesday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Probable Pitchers |
| Syracuse | Lost, 2-1 | OFF DAY | N/A |
| Harrisburg | Lost, 11-9 | vs. Reading, 12:00 p.m. |
Holder (2-3, 5.23) vs. May (9-11, 5.17) |
| Potomac | Lost, 4-0; Won, 3-0 |
vs. Carolina, 7:05 p.m. |
Hill (High-A debut) vs. Rayl (10-8, 4.08) |
| Hagerstown | Won, 7-6 (10 inn.) |
vs. Kannapolis, 7:05 p.m. |
Estevez (5-1, 5.83) vs. Leyer (1-1, 6.48) |
| Auburn | Won, 3-1 | vs. State College, 7:05 p.m. |
Lee (1-1, 4.34) vs. Perez (0-3, 5.06) |
| GCL Nationals | Lost, 4-3 | vs. GCL Cardinals, 12:00 p.m. |
TBD vs. TBD |
| DSL Nationals | Lost, 3-0 | @ DSL Cubs2, 10:30 a.m. |
TBD vs. TBD |
Indianapolis 2 Syracuse 1
• Roark (L, 6-16) 6IP, 6H, 2R, 2ER, BB, 10K, HR
• MacDougal 1IP, 0H, 0R, BB, 0K
• Perez 1-3, BB, RBI, CS
• Negrych 1-2, BB
Instead of one bad inning, it was one mistake pitch that did in Syracuse for a 2-1 loss to Indianapolis. Tanner Roark gave up a two-run homer in the 5th but pitched six strong innings otherwise, allowing six hits, a walk and striking out 10. Like the previous night, the offense was largely quiet: just three hits and two walks, with Eury Perez driving in the lone Chiefs runs with an RBI single in the last of the 8th.
Roster move: RHP Hassan Pena has been suspended for what’s believed to be a violation of team rules.
Reading 11 Harrisburg 9
• Wang 6IP, 8H, 5R, 5ER, 2BB, 8K, HR, 2WP
• Nelo (BS, 3; L, 1-5) 1IP, 3H, 3R, 3ER, BB, K, HR
• Hood 2-5, 2R, 2B, 3B
• Skelton 2-2, R, 2B, BB, SF, 3RBI
• Goodwin 2-5, R
Hector Nelo’s third blown save halted the Senators modest four-game win streak with an 11-9 loss to Reading. Nelo coughed up the lead (9-8) as quickly as possible with a leadoff solo HR to Darin Ruf as part of the three-run meltdown in the 9th. Starter Chien-Ming Wang had no errors committed behind him while he gave up five runs on eight hits, including a two-run shot in the 3rd, walked two and struck out eight. The Senators pounded out 11 hits with four batters collecting multiple hits. James Skelton reached base three times and drove in three runs to lead the way.
Carolina 4 Potomac 0 — GAME ONE
• Ray (L, 4-11) 5IP, 5H, 4R, 4ER, 3BB, 4K, HR, HBP, WP
• Testa 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, K
• Souza 2-3
Make that four straight losses for Robbie Ray as the P-Nats dropped the opener of the doubleheader to the Mudcats, 4-0. Ray gave up all four Carolina runs on five hits and three walks over five innings, raising his ERA to 6.57 for the season. Potomac was held to six hits, with Steve Souza going 2-for-3 to lead the hit column and improve his batting average to .352 in 15 games. Roster moves: Nathan Karns placed on the 7-Day DL, RHP Will Hudgins returned to the GCL.
Potomac vs. Carolina — GAME TWO
• Grace (W, 8-12) 7IP, 4H, 0R, 2BB, 7K, HBP
• King 1-3, R, HR, 3RBI
• Hague 1-3, 2B
• Kelso 1-2, SB
Stephen King’s three-run homer in the 2nd was more than Matt Grace needed as Potomac returned the favor in the nightcap and shut out Carolina, 3-0. Grace went the distance for his 8th win and second complete game, allowing just four hits and two walks while striking out seven over the seven-inning contest. The split lowered the elimination number to eight with 11 games to play as the P-Nats trail first-place Wilmington by 4½ games in the Carolina League North.
Hagerstown 7 Kannapolis 6 (10 inn.)
• Schwartz 5IP, 5H, 2R, 2ER, BB, 8K, HR
• Hollins (W, 2-0) 2IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 0K
• Miller 4-5, 2R, 2-2B
• Ramsey 3-3, 2-3B, BB, 3RBI, SB
The Suns rallied to tie three times, including the bottom of the 9th, before finally overtaking the Intimidators, 7-6 in 10 innings for their 11th walkoff win of 2012. Justin Miller and Caleb Ramsey combined for seven hits, and teamed up in the 9th with a double (Miller) followed two batters later by a triple (Ramsey) to send the game into extras. Adrian Nieto, Miller. and J.R. Higley both singled in the 10th and with the help of a Kannapolkis error, Nieto scored the gamewinning run. Leonard Hollins got the win with two perfect innings of relief. Starter Blake Schwartz went the first five innings with two runs allowed on five hits and a walk with eight K’s. The win, combined with losses by West Virginia and Hickory, extends Hagerstown’s lead to 1½ games in the Sally League North (two in the loss column).
Auburn 3 State College 1
• Encarnacion (W, 4-1) 6IP, 4H, R, ER, 2BB, 6K
• Waterman (H, 1) 1⅓ IP, 1H, 0R, 2BB, 2K
• Davis (SV, 2) 1⅔ IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 3K, 2-0 IR-S
• Ramos 2-4, R, 2B, RBI
• Lopez 1-2, 2B, 2BB
Auburn is keeping up the pressure, adding their sixth “W” in the last seven games with a 3-1 win over State College. Pedro Encarnacion got the win, his fourth, with one run allowed on four hits and two walks over six innings. He also struck out six. Cody Davis stranded two in the eight and retired all five batters he faced his second save. Wander Ramos led the Doubledays offense with a single, double, a run scored and a run batted in. The win maintains a four-game lead over Batavia in the NYPL Pinckey Division and lowers the magic number to clinch the division to 12.
GCL Marlins 4 GCL Nationals 3
• Barrientos (L, 4-1) 4IP, 6H, 4R, 3ER, 3BB, 2K
• D. Williams ⅔ IP, 0H, 0R, 2BB, K
• Hudgins 2IP, H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• Ruiz 2-3, 2R
• Difo 1-3, BB, RBI
The G-Nats bullpen combined for five scoreless innings of relief, but the offense couldn’t dig out of a 4-0 hole to lose, 4-3. Starter Joel Barrientos took the loss, giving up all four Marlins runs on six hits and three walks. Nineteen-year-old former SS Deion Williams made his pitching debut, getting two of four batters faced with walks to the other two and no hits allowed. Adderling Ruiz went 2-for-3 with two runs scored to lead the G-Nats offense, which was held to six hits total.
DSL Phillies 3 DSL Nationals 0
• Valerio (L, 3-5) 5IP, 3H, 3R, 0ER, BB, 3K
• De La Cruz 2IP, 0H, 0R, BB, 0K
• Abreu 3-4, 3B, CS
• Novas 2-4, SB
A pair of errors and a wild pitch rendered all three runs in the D-Phils 5th unearned, but they count in the “R” column just the same as the D-Nats were shut out, 3-0. Maximo Valero took the loss with just three hits and a walk allowed over the first five innings. Wander Suero and Emmanuel De La Cruz combined for three scoreless innings of relief. The D-Nats offense, which outhit the D-Phils 7-4, couldn’t break through in the clutch with an 0-for-9 mark with RISP and seven runners stranded.
Thanks for solidifying my “CMW stinks, it’s not the defense”
Indeed.
Rizzo needs to swallow his pride on this one because this dog ain’t hunting, especially when The Wang is taking up a 40-man spot.
Thanks for letting me borrow from your tweet last night. I’m prickly when it comes to rehabs in the first place — Mark DeRosa challenging Jose Vidro this summer for the title of “least possible effort expended” certainly hasn’t helped — but I’m struggling to think of what goes next in the continuum of pathetic to sad to ridiculous.
Is Karns on the DL just a shutdown move that creates a roster spot or is he actually hurt?
Everything I’ve heard is that he’s hit his innings limit. He threw a 55⅓ innings last year, 116 this year. I have no idea yet if it’s for the year or if he’ll get sent to the AFL.
Robbie Ray has officially taken over as the worst pitcher on Potomac. They need to shut this poor kid down right now before it gets to his head too much. He cannot get out of the early innings without getting hammered. He already cut his hair trying to change his luck. What’s next?
It would seem that allof the wishful thinking this year regarding retreads has blown up in the faces of the Nationals. With the exception of Chad Tracey ; the following players have been a bust . Nady, Wang, De Rosa, Michaels, and Carroll have all been a waste of time and money. More importantly they have kept younger , cheaper, more talented players from advancing thru out the organization. Shame on the Nats!
I certainly don’t get this as “shameful” blocking of prospects. Perhaps Nady and DeRosa kept Tyler Moore or Corey Brown from getting a few more ABs at the ML level a little earlier, and the others perhaps kept the Nats from pushing Eury to AAA earlier. In all those cases, however, the Nats clearly felt they needed more time to prove themselves, and their development philosophy has always been patient with anyone not named Zimmerman, Harper or Strasburg. Wang obviously blocked nobody, as Ross got his slot from Day 1. I think actually the Nats purposely picked older vets to fill those slots so as NOT to block their emerging prospects when they thought they might be ready. Given their record, the “blown up in their faces” doesn’t seem to have hurt much.
Just goes to proof again, at least as far as the veteran talent that Rizzo and/or Johnson selected? The Nats dis better drawing from their prospect pool within. You would think they would have learned that lesson from when Jim Riggleman was still manager?
Perez now has 47 SB and 15 CS. He’s 16 and 5 at Syr. He’s juuuuust over 75% in his success rate, and has had a bunch of CS recently, 3 of his 5 in the past week. Are they perhaps telling him to be really aggressive to learn when he can’t steal? I want him stealing as much as possible of course (he’s well short of 140 SBs…).
Brian Goodwin, rough go of things recently in da ‘Burg. He’s striking out a ton and not walking, hopefully just part of adjusting to the higher quality pitching.