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Thursday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Probable Pitchers
Syracuse Lost, 11-2 vs. Indianapolis,
7:00 p.m.		 Jordan (0-2, 4.32) vs.
Wilk (3-5, 4.95)
Harrisburg Won, 5-4 vs. Reading,
7:00 p.m.		 Simmons (0-0, 2.79) vs.
Loewen (AA debut)
Potomac Won, 2-1 @ Wilmington,
7:05 p.m.		 Bacus (2-1, 3.13) vs.
Binford (3-3, 2.68)
Hagerstown Won, 5-4 @ Greensboro,
7:00 p.m.		 Johansen (4-2, 4.98) vs.
German (5-1, 2.24)
DSL Nationals Won, 11-9 @ DSL Giants,
9:00 a.m.		 TBD vs. TBD


Indianapolis 11 Syracuse 2
• Roenicke (L, 1-3) 3⅓ IP, 8H, 7R, 6ER, 3BB, K, HR
• Stange 3⅔ IP, 1H, 0R, 3BB, 2K, 2-1 IR-S
• Leon 2-4, 2B, RBI
• Souza 2-4, E
• Hood 2-4, R

Indianapolis put the brakes on the latest Syracuse win streak, pummeling the Nats’ AAA entry for an 11-2 win. Josh Roenicke took the brunt of it, hammered for seven runs on eight hits and three walks. The big blow was a three-run shot in the Indians’ four-run 3rd. Sandy Leon, Steve Souza, and Destin Hood each went 2-for-4 as the Chiefs were held to eight hits and had just three chances with runners in scoring position. Roster move: RHP Christian Garcia placed on the 7-Day DL, retroactive to June 2 (shoulder discomfort per MLB.com’s Bill Ladson).

Harrisburg 5 Reading 4
• Poveda 6IP, 9H, 4R, 4ER, 2BB, 9K
• Herron (W, 2-2) 1⅓ IP, 2H, 0R, BB, 2K
• Grace (SV, 2) ⅔ IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, K, 3-0 IR-S
• Ramsey 3-4, R, RBI
• Dykstra 3-4, 2B, RBI
• Keyes 2-4, 2R, 2B, RBI

For the first time this season, the Senators dug themselves out of a four-run hole and scored the five runs of the game for a 5-4 win. Omar Poveda survived a three-run first and gutted out six innings, striking out a season-high of nine. He allowed all four Fightin runs on nine hits. Tyler Herron got the win with a huge assist/save by Matt Grace as the southpaw struck out the first batter he faced and got the second to ground out to leave the bases loaded in the top of the 9th. Cutter Dykstra and Caleb Ramsey both went 3-for-4 with an RBI to lead the Harrisburg offense, followed closely by Kevin Keyes, who scored the gamewinner after leading off the 8th with a double, taking 3rd on a flyout, and chugging home on a wild pitch.

Potomac 2 Wilmington 1
• Brach (W, 1-0) 6IP, 3H, 1R, 0ER, 0BB, 4K, HBP
• Benincasa (SV, 9) 1⅓ IP, 0H, 0R, BB, K, 2-0 IR-S
• Pleffner 3-4, 2R, 2-2B, HR, RBI
• Renda 2-4

Shawn Pleffner wasted no time in showing why (hey now) he’s (an) All-Star, (getting his game on) with a 3-for-4 night with a pair of doubles and a solo HR in a 2-1 Potomac win over Wilmington. Brett Brach spun six solid innings, giving up an unearned run on three hits and no walks while striking out four, and getting his first win. Robert Benincasa got the last four outs, stranding two in the 8th and working around a walk in the 9th for his ninth save. Tony Renda went 2-for-4 from the leadoff spot while Will Piwnica-Worms drove in a run with a sacrifice fly as the P-Nats managed just seven hits total in the pitcher’s duel. Combined with Lynchburg’s third straight loss, Potomac has opened up a 1½ game lead in the C.L. North and has a magic number of 11 with 12 games left in the first half.

Hagerstown 5 Delmarva 4
• Voth (W, 3-3) 7IP, 7H, 3R, 2ER, BB, 5K
• Walsh (SV, 6) 1IP, 0H, 0R, BB, 0K
• Difo 2-4, R, 2B, RBI
• Ballou 2-3, R, BB, RBI
• Bautista 2-4, R, 3SB

The Suns scorched the Shorebirds for five runs in the 5th to overcome a 3-0 deficit and held on for 5-4 win. All five tallies came with two outs as Hagerstown struck for five straight hits, including a two-run homer by John Wooten and doubles by Wilmer Difo, Drew Ward, and Spencer Kieboom. Austin Voth went seven innings and let in three runs (two earned) on seven hits and a walk while striking out five to even his won-loss record at 3-3 (yes, really). Jake Walsh pitched around a walk in the 9th to earn his sixth save. The three-game sweep lowered Hagerstown’s magic number to six as they notched their 40th win in 59 games. The Suns hit the road for tied-for-second-place Greensboro for four games, then Lakewood for three and could return to the Muni next Friday having clinched the first-half title.

DSL Nationals 11 DSL Red Sox 9
• Nunez 3⅔ IP, 5H, 1R, 0ER, 2BB, 4K
• Charlis (W, 1-0) 2+ IP, 5H, 4R, 2ER, 0BB, 4K
• Vargas (SV, 1) 2IP, 3H, R, ER, BB, 2K, 1-1 IR-S
• Mota 3-4, 3R, 2B, HR, BB, 4RBI
• A. Martinez 3-5, 2R
• Agustin 1-3, 2R, BB, HR, RBI, SB

The two teams combined for 32 hits and eight errors but the D-Nats struck first and won the slugfest, 11-9 for their third straight victory. Starter Jose Nunez gave up just an unearned run on five hits and two walks over the first three and 2/3rds while striking out four. The win went to Fiyeral Charlis, though he was charged with four runs over two-plus innings. Miguel Vargas was credited with the save, allowing an inherited runner and one of his own over the last two innings. Israel Mota and Telmito Agustin both homered as eight of nine batters hit safely.

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Longtime readers already know this, but for the more recent visitors to this space… I don’t cover the MLB draft because I’m simply too busy keeping track of the teams and the players that are already here than to speculate, worry, or otherwise spend time on the guys who might be here. I can, however, refer you to a couple of folks who have put in that work…

…Ryan Kelley runs down the Top 50 Draft Prospects over at District Sports Page.

…Sean Hogan focuses on possible targets for the Nats, who pick 18th this year.

6 Commments

  1. There are so many arms on the DL even Ivan P. is on the DL with Cubs!
    I take back my comments on K2 over the years. 1 Speed is doing ok on City Isle.
    Draft day, baseball junkies!
    sssshhhh. Strasburg getting consistently nasty, NL East foes!
    Gatewood, Stinnett, pitching to infinity in draft

  2. After speculating for weeks that the Nats would draft Gatewood, BA now projects that the Nats will take Erick Fedde with the 18th pick. FWIW, Fedde is a Boras client, and would have been a top 10 pick if not for blowing out his elbow and having Tommy John surgery this season. That does sound familiar.

  3. I didn’t publish this til this morning, but I also put up a look at who the Nats might be taking at #18 based on considerable review of pundits mock drafts and draft boards.

    http://www.nationalsarmrace.com/?p=9166

    I’d love to get Hoffman or Beede if they fall, but suspect that they’ll both be gone and the team will take Fedde. My problem with the Fedde pick is that not all sources were calling him a “top 10 pick” before he got hurt. I specifically remember him already being 18-20 on some draft boards before he got hurt. So i guess we’ll see.

    1. What I would really like is for the herd to stop parroting the company line about the Nats “success with injury risk picks.” So far, it’s been one (1) — Anthony Rendon. Before you knee-jerk with Lucas Giolito, consider that he has yet to pitch 100 regular-season innings, same as Matt Purke and Sammy Solis.

      1. Interesting counter-perspective Luke. I’d argue that nearly ALL top end pitchers are having TJ surgery, so to avoid pitchers with TJ is like trying to avoid people who have a cold in the winter. TJ surgery is fairly common these days, so there is potentially a market inefficiency – we can draft a guy who has already had TJ rather than draft a guy like Stras, Bundy, Harvey, etc and know it’s likely a matter of time before they have TJ. Can we rehab them better? Who knows… but there is now standards for care for TJ to mitigate our being good or bad at this rehab.

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