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Sunday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Probable Pitchers
Syracuse Lost, 8-4 vs. Rochester,
7:00 p.m.		 Duke (15-5, 3.51) vs.
Blackburn (3-1, 3.12)
Harrisburg Lost, 8-5;
Won, 4-0		 vs. Bowie,
2:00 p.m.		 Holder (3-3, 4.17)
vs. TBA
Potomac Lost, 5-1 @ Wilmington,
1:35 p.m.		 Grace (9-12, 5.13) vs.
Ferguson (4-2, 3.34)
Hagerstown Won, 2-1 vs. Asheville,
7:05 p.m.		 Jordan (3-3, 3.75) vs.
Winkler (10-10, 4.49)
Auburn Won, 11-3 @ Batavia,
5:05 p.m.		 Encarnacion (5-1, 4.01) vs.
Cuda (7-1, 3.97)

Rochester 8 Syracuse 4
• Roark 5⅔ IP, 5H, R, ER, 2BB, 3K
• Arnesen 2IP, 5H, 4R, 4ER, 0BB, K
• Valdez 2-3, R, BB, 2RBI
• Teahen 2-5, R, HR, RBI

A three-run 7th deleted an early 3-1 lead and a four-run 9th broke a 4-4 tie as Rochester doubled up Syracuse, 8-4, ending a modest four-game win streak. Erik Arnesen took the loss, giving up the four last-inning tallies on five hits after pitching a scoreless eighth. Starter Tanner Roark went the first five and 2/3rds and gave up five hits and two walks while striking out three. Jesus VAldez reached base three times on a pair of singles and a walk and drove in two to lead the Chiefs offense. Roster moves: LHP John Lannan, CF Eury Perez, C Sandy Leon recalled to Washington; C James Skelton promoted from Harrisburg, IF Manny Mayorson activated from 7-Day DL.

Bowie 8 Harrisburg 5 — GAME ONE
• Wang (L, 1-5) 2IP, 7H, 6R, 6ER, BB, 2K, 2HR
• Barthmaier 3IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 2BB, 1K
• Hood 2-4, R, RBI
• Nicol 2-2, 2B, BB, RBI

Chien-Ming Wang finished up his reign of error rehab tour by giving up six runs on seven hits—two of which can’t be blamed on the defense as they cleared the outfield wall—and a walk in an 8-5 loss to Bowie. Sean Nicol singled, doubled, and walked as the Senators racked up nine hits but struggled with RISP with a 4-for-15 mark and left eight runners on base.

Harrisburg 4 Bowie 0 — GAME TWO
• Tatusko (W, 4-5) 5IP, 5H, 0R, 2BB, 5K
• Zinicola 2IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, K
• Van Ostrand 3-3, R, HR, 2RBI
• Bloxom 2-3
• Rendon 1-2, 2R, HR, RBI

Ryan Tatusko and Zech Zinicola combined on a seven-hit shutout to split the doubleheader as the Senators took the second game, 4-0. Tatusko tossed five scoreless innings, letting up five hits and two walks, but keeping the ball on the ground for nine of the 15 outs, including a pair of double play balls.
Jimmy Van Ostrand’s two-run home run and Anthony Rendon’s second AA home run powered the Harrisburg offense. Roster moves: C Jhonatan Solano optioned to Harrisburg from Washington following his activation from the MLB 15-Day DL.

Wilmington 5 Potomac 1
• Ray 5IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 4BB, 4K
• Testa (L, 1-1) 2IP, 4H, 4R, 4ER, 0BB, 3K, 2HR
• Skole 2-4, 2-2B, RBI
• Ramirez 1-3

Robbie Ray turned his string of rough outings around, but a four-run 6th sent the P-Nats to their eighth straight defeat in Wilmington, 5-1. Ray walked four and struck out four but gave up just one hit and one run over five innings. Joe Testa was taken deep twice in the 6th to take the loss. Potomac managed just three hits, with Matt Skole doubling twice in four at-bats and driving in the sole Potomac run.

Hagerstown 2 Asheville 1
• Anderson (W, 1-1) 5IP, 1H, 0R, 3BB, 6K
• Turnbull (H, 1) 3IP, 2H, 0R, BB, 3K
• Kreis (SV, 3) 1IP, 2H, R, ER, 0BB, 0K
• Dykstra 3-4, R
• Miller 2-4, 2B, 3B, 2RBI

Justin Miller’s RBI triple in the 1st and RBI double in the 8th supplied the offense while three Hagerstown pitchers stifled Asheville for a 2-1 win. Dixon Anderson won his first Sally League game with five scoreless frames, giving up just a hit and walking three while striking out six. Kylin Turnbull made his first Suns appearance since July 16 with three goose eggs, two hits allowed, a walk and three K’s. Alex Kreis weathered a pair of doubles in the 9th to record his third save. Cutter Dykstra led the hit column, collecting three of the Suns six hits.

Auburn 11 Mahoning Valley 3
• Mooneyham 6IP, 5H, 2R, 1ER, 2BB, 5K
• Henke (W, 6-1) 2IP, 2H, R, ER, 0BB, K
• Renda 3-6, R, RBI
• McQuillan 2-4, 3R, BB, 3RBI
• Ramos 2-3, R, HR, BB, 2RBI

Auburn scored nine unanswered runs in the final two innings to turn a 3-2 nailbiter into an 11-3 laugher over Mahoning Valley. The second-place Muckdogs racked up their eighth straight win to stay just one back and set up the chance to overtake the Doubledays as the two Pinckney Division rivals face off today and tomorrow in Batavia. Travis Henke won his sixth game in relief of Brett Mooneyham, who turned in a quality start with two runs allowed on five hits and two walks over the first six innings. Auburn pounded out 12 hits with leadoff man Mike McQuillan leading the way with three runs scored, three runs driven in, two singles and a walk.

8 Commments

  1. Hagerstown pretty much clinched it with the win yesterday, didn’t they?
    The playoffs start today for Auburn.

    1. They clinched it on Friday night. I had forgotten that the magic number listed in the standings is auto-generated and thus failed to take into account that Hagerstown would be playing a maximum of 68 games as opposed to 70 in the second half.

      Auburn is in a tough position because not only does Batavia keep winning, so does Brooklyn, which holds the tiebreaker advantage for the wild card. One of these three teams is not going to make it, and the worst possible record is 43-33 — a .566 winning pct.

  2. Just read where Wang is returning to pitch for the Nats (insert joke here). Against AA hitters, his ERA is 8.23!

    I know Harrisburg’s 2nd half was bad, but have to wonder how they would have done without the guaranteed loss every 5-6 days from him.

    1. Not defending Wang as he’s stunk everywhere, but rehabbing players are typically focussing on specific elements of the game like spotting a sinker and it may be a FB count an they get hammered.

      But he’s stunk. Let’s all hope he performs for the big club.

      Props to Perez for his first MLB steal!!!

  3. Thanks for replying to my earlier comment about Matt Skole. I agree, at least on the basis of what I have read, that he is likely headed to first. The question is: do you see him possibly hitting well enough to be an every day MLB first baseman, Luke?

    1. That’s the harder question. He struggles against lefties, but I didn’t get to see him enough to even attempt a guess at what he might become. We can always hope that he has a Tyler Moore age-23 season next year, whether it’s in Potomac or Harrisburg.

      1. Thanks. Out of curiosity, I looked up Adam LaRoche’s minor league stats and, at comparable ages and levels, Skole was better: better plate discipline and power.

        I’m sure this has happened to you many times: you become fascinated with a player who isn’t a celebrated prospect but you suspect is overlooked because people focus on what they can’t, or at least don’t, do, to the exclusion of what they actually do.
        Skole struggles against lefties but his plate discipline raises the hope that he can adjust.

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