Sunday’s News & Notes

Syracuse vs. Rochester — PPD
The Chiefs, winners of four straight, were stopped by the rain on Saturday night. They’ll try to make it up with two-fer twilight this afternoon at 4:05 p.m.

New Britain 5 Harrisburg 1 — GAME ONE
• Simms (L, 2-5) 6IP, 9H, 5R, 5ER, 0BB, 5K, 2HR
• Latimore 1-1, R, 2B, 2BB
• Ramsey 1-2, 2B

The Harrisburg Senators “March to the Scaffold” of the offseason continued in a 5-1 loss in the first game in a doubleheader sweep at the hands of the New Britain Rockcats. The Senator from Texas, John Simms, lost his shutout in the second when Reynaldo “Hey Hey” Rodriguez hit a two run homer. His problems grew when Nate Hanson hit an RBI single in the 3rd. Mr. Rodriguez added insult to injury with a solo shot in the 4th. In the 6th, Mr. Rodriguez failed to hit the ball over the wall and settled for an RBI double that scored Stephen “Sticky” Wickens. Quincy “The Dude” Latimore broke up the shutout when he walked to lead off the 5th and later scored on Cutter “Future Soprano” Dykstra’s sacrifice fly. While Mr. Simms lost for the fifth time at AA, he did successfully filibuster his way to a complete game that saved the ‘pen.

New Britain 9 Harrisburg 0 — GAME TWO
• Dupra (L, 1-6) 2IP, 2H, 4R, 2ER, 3BB, 3K, HR
• Runion 1⅔ IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 2K, 2-0 IR-S
• Zero hits, zero walks, two K’s
• 69 pitches by Vasquez, 44 for strikes

Congratulations to any New Britain fans who attended the RockCats 9-0 seven inning no-hit victory over Harrisburg. Only Jorge Polanco’s error at short on a Kevin Keyes routine ground ball prevented a perfect game. Reynaldo Rodriguez’s big night continued when he hit another two-run homer in the bottom of the 2nd and scored Mike “Not the Nat” Gonzales. The Senators then began their “Reign of Error” when Tony Thomas reached on a throwing error by Adrian Sanchez, and Stephen Wickens reached on a throwing error by Jason Martinson in the very next at bat. Both runners scored on Eddie Rosario’s two-out single before flustered starter and loser Brian Dupra hit Nate “MMMMstop” Hanson before striking out Mike Gonzales to end the sadness.

Potomac 2 Carolina 1
• Dickson (W, 4-8) 8IP, 1H, 0R, 2BB, 8K, HBP, WP
• Walsh (H, 1) ⅔ IP, 2H, R, ER, 0BB, K
• Mendez (S, 11) ⅓ IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Ballou 2-4, SB
• Oduber 2-4
• Severino 1-3, R, HR, RBI

Ian Dickson one-hit the Mudcats for eight innings while the Potomac bullpen walked the high wire in the 9th for a 2-1 win. Dickson allowed just a single to right with two out in the 2nd. Oddly enough his other three baserunners allowed all got there to lead off the inning as he hit Alex Monsalve in the 2nd, walked Jerrud Sabourin (4th), and walked LeVon Washington (5th). None of them made it to third base. Offensively, the P-Nats got a solo HR from Pedro Severino in the 3rd and got a break when Washington botched Estarlin Martinez’s two-out single in the 4th, which let Khayyan Norfolk, who had gotten on with a walk, score from first bsae. Despite having thrown less than 100 pitches, Dickson did not come out to pitch the 9th and watched Jake Walsh give up a run on a triple and a single sandwiched between a strikeout and a ground out. With the tying run on first and a pinch-runner inserted for an extra boost of speed, Manager Tripp Keister responded by lifting the southpaw for the righthanded Gilberto Mendez to face the righthanded Carolina first baseman Joe Sever. Mendez got the whiff to end it and earn his 11th save.
Combined with another Lynchburg loss, Potomac’s lead is now back to two games, four in the loss column. Presuming the rained-out Salem games will not be made up, the magic number to clinch both halves will be 15.

Hagerstown 4 Lakewood 2
• Giolito (W, 10-2) 5IP, 7H, R, ER, 0BB, 5K
• Johansen (H, 3) 3IP, 3H, R, ER, BB, K, WP
• Napoli (SV, 5) 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• Bautista 2-3, 2R, BB, SB(65)
• Yezzo 2-3, BB, RBI
• Difo 2-4, R

Lucas “Twinkletoes” Giolito allowed his enemies from the Lakewood Blueclaws one measly run on a Dylan “Dozens” Cozens RBI in the single in the 1st before continuing to lay waste to the poor batters of the South Atlantic League in the Hagerstown Suns’ 4-2 win. After admiring a scoreless 2nd and 3rd inning of work, Giolito’s teammate Rafael “I Gotcha” Batista engineered a run with a bunt single, stolen base, and scored on James “Mellow” Yezzo’s single. In the 6th, Spencer dropped the “Kieboom” when he hit a bases-loaded single to score Batista and Wilmer “Almost a Flintstone” Difo and give the Suns the 3-1 lead they would carry to victory. Jake “Don’t Break” Johansen only slightly self-destructed when his wild pitch contributed to a Lakewood run after he replaced Giolito in the 6th. Carlos Lopez provided some valuable insurance with his RBI single in the top of the 9th. Hagerstown wouldn’t need that insurance as David “Never Mike” Napoli hurled a perfect 9th for his fifth save.
Jeremy Houghtaling of the Auburn Citizen has reported that Travis Ott will be promoted from Auburn. Houghtaling previously reported the moves of Matt Swynenberg and John Feliz days before they were officially listed on MiLB.com

State College vs. Auburn — PPD
The rain that washed out the game in Rochester made its way to Auburn and will force a doubleheader this afternoon, weather permitting.

GCL Nationals vs. GCL Cardinals — PPD
The rain that shortened Friday’s game also washed out Saturday’s, creating a doubleheader on the 27th.
Roster moves: RHP Franklyn Lopez reassigned from the DSL Nationals.

DSL Nationals 3 DSL Mets1 2 (10 inn.)
• M. Pena 5IP, 6H, 2R, 2ER, BB, 0K
• Vargas (W, 1-1) 2IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, K
• Vilorio 3-4, R, OF assists at HP, 1B
• Agustin 1-3, R, 2B, BB, SB

A single, wild pitch, an error, and another single gave the D-Nats a walkoff 3-2 win in extras against the D-Mets1. The rally made a winner out of Miguel Vargas for the first time as a pro, as the 19-y.o. Venezuelan pitched a scoreless 9th and 10th innings with two hits allowed, no walks, and one whiff. Malvin Pena started and let in both D-Mets1 runs on six hits and a walk over five innings. Luis Vilorio got a break from squatting behind the plate with a start in left field and threw out two baserunners while leading the D-Nats offense with a 3-for-4 game. He began the aforementioned rally with a one-out hit and scored on Victor Robles’s subsequent safety.
Despite their fourth straight win — #39, surpassing last year’s total of 38 — the D-Nats were eliminated from the Boca Chica South division race.