Monday’s News & Notes

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 3 Syracuse 1
• Laffey (L, 11-4) 6IP, 8H, 3R, 3ER, 0BB, 2K, HR
• Grace 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Solano 2-4, 2B
• Howell 1-3, 2B

The Syracuse slide continued yesterday afternoon with a 3-1 loss to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Starter Aaron Laffey gave Syracuse four shutout innings before hitting some speedbumps in the 5th and 6th. He gave up a single and a double to score a run in the 5th and Kyle Roller’s 12th homer, a two-run shot, in the top of the 6th. Michael Pineda finally returned from his injury odyssey for the Baby Bombers and showed that he might be ready to contribute to the big club by mystifying the Chiefs for three and a 1/3rd innings and a total of 58 pitches. Apparently, Syracuse’s offense left along with Steven Souza, who was pulled from the game after singling in what will hopefully be his last minor-league at-bat. Syracuse’s lone run was generously gifted to them on a two-out bases loaded wild pitch in the 8th. While Jhonatan “The Wild Onion” Solano doubled to start a potential game-tying rally in the 9th, he only made it to third as Branden Pinder got the last two outs on a Emmannuel Burriss popup and a Josh Johnson whiff.

Akron 6 Harrisburg 5
• Voth (L, 0-2) 5IP, 5H, 2R, 2ER, 3BB, 3K, HR
• Dupra 2IP, 5H, 3R, 3ER, 0BB, 1K
• Sanchez 3-4, 2R, RBI
• Dykstra 1-2, 3BB

Austin Voth gave up one fewer run than he did in his first outing but still took the loss to Akron as Harrisburg failed to secure a four-game sweep with a 6-5 loss. Anthony Gallas hit a two-run homer for the Rubberducks with one out in the 1st. He escaped further damage, striking out Bryson “Jazzy” Myles and popping out Jake “Bad Break” Lowery, to wiggle out of a one-out with bases loaded jam in the 3rd. Sadly, hitting star Adrian Sanchez’s 8th-inning RBI single was the high-water offensive mark for the Senators. The Ric Flair “WOO!” for opposition strikeouts became the Ric Flair derisive “BOO!” for Harrisburg strikeouts when Akron’s Giovanni Soto then squashed the bases-loaded, nobody out threat with consecutive whiffs of Caleb Ramsey, Oscar Tejeda and Kevin Keyes to likely leave the home crowd in dejected silence before Shawn “Astronaut” Armstrong recorded his 12th RubberDuckian save.

Potomac 5 Carolina 2 — GAME ONE
• Silvestre (W, 1-0) 6⅔ IP, 4H, 2R, 2ER, BB, K, HR
• Mendez ⅓ IP, 0H, 0R, BB, 0K, 2-0 IR-S
• Ballou 3-4, 2R, 2B, HR, 2RBI
• Norfork 2-3, R, RBI, SB(10)
• Renda 2-4, 2B, RBI

Hector Silvestre was one out away from a seven-inning no-hitter. Six batters later, the tying run was coming up to bat. The Mudcats
rallied for two in the 7th and threatened to tie before Gilberto Mendez got the final out for his 8th save as the P-Nats took the opener, 5-2. Isaac Ballou led the Potomac offense with a 3-for-4 afternoon, followed by Khayyan Norfork (2-for-3) and Tony Renda (2-for-4). Ballou’s solo HR in the 4th got Potomac on the board first as the P-Nats scored in each of the last four innings to build a 5-0 lead. Silvestre gave up a triple to lose the no-no and a two-run homer By Jeremy Lucas to lose the shutout as he finished with four hits allowed, one walk, and one whiff while earning his first High-A win.

Potomac 9 Carolina 4 — GAME TWO
• Bacus (W, 4-6) 5IP, 6H, 4R, 4ER, 0BB, 4K, HR
• Walsh 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Pleffner 2-3, 2R, BB, 3RBI
• Ballou 2-3, R, BB, 2RBI
• McQuillan 1-3, 2B, BB, 2RBI

Last Sunday, D.J. Brown stopped the P-Nats onslaught when the Mudcats fell behind 5-1 after three. This Sunday, Potomac knocked the Carolina pitcher out of the box in the 2nd with seven runs en route to a 9-4 decision, a series sweep, and the sixth straight win for the Woodbridge nine against the contingent from Zebulon. Starter Dakota Bacus rebounded from his worst outing to get the Jack Morris win with four runs given up over five innings on six hits, including another HR by Carolina’s Jeremy Lucas. Kylin Turnbull and Jake Walsh both turned in a scoreless inning in relief. Isaac Ballou and Shawn Pleffner both went 2-for-3 with a walk as Potomac notched 10 hits and five walks total.

Charleston 8 Hagerstown 1
• Pivetta (L, 12-7) 3IP, 5H, 6R, 6ER, BB, 3K, HR
• Valdez 2IP, 0H, 0R, BB, 0K
• Bautista 2-4, R, 3B, BB
• Mesa 2-4, BB

A five-run 3rd broke a 1-1 tie as Charleston won handily, 8-1. Nick Pivetta took the loss, giving up six runs on five hits, including a three-run HR in his 3rd and final inning of work. He walked one and struck out three. Rafael Bautista scored the lone Hagerstown run after a 1st-inning triple as both he and Narciso Mesa went 2-for-4 with a walk. The Suns outhit the RiverDogs 11-8, but the offense needs a trip to AAMCO as just two of those came in the clutch with a 2-for-16 mark with RISP and 15 runners left on base.

Auburn 5 Staten Island 4
• A. Martinez 5IP, 6H, 2R, ER, BB, K, HR
• McDowell (BS, 1; W, 1-1) 2⅔ IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 2K, 3-2 IR-S
• Eusebio 2-3, 2B
• Bacak 2-3, BB
• Mejia 2-4, 2B, BB

Auburn took advantage of some sloppy play by Staten Island to score twice in the 8th on just one hit in a 5-4 win. The Doubledays “rallied” with a leadoff double by Brian Langlois followed by a two-base error on the ensuing sacrifice by Osvaldo Abreu to score the tying run. A wild pitch sent the would-be martyr to third and a sacrifice fly by Cody Gunter, his second of the game, plated Abreu for the game-winning run. The comeback took Chase McDowell off the hook for letting in two of three runners in the bottom of the 7th and credited him with his first NYPL win. Diomedes Eusebio, Kyle Bacak, and Bryan Mejia combined for six of the ten Auburn hits, two of the four doubles, and drew two of the six walks on the afternoon.

GCL Nationals — OFF DAY
The G-Nats treaded water with another 3-3 week and remain tied with the G-Mets, four and a 1/2 games behind the G-Cards with three and 1/2 weeks to go. This week, it’s three against the Cards and Marlins, but just two home games in Viera.

DSL Nationals — OFF DAY
The D-Nats are riding a six-game win streak after a perfect week last week. This, along with $2, gets them a cup of coffee as they remain eight games off the pace set by the DSL Red Sox in the Boca Chica South and five games behind the Wild-Card leading DSL Giants.