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Thursday’s News & Notes — Playoff Edition

Two out of three

Team Yesterday Today Probable Pitchers
Syracuse Lost, 2-1 (10 inn.) @ Pawtucket,
7:05 p.m.		 McGregor (1-2, 3.91) vs.
Barnes (8-9, 3.95)
Potomac Won, 4-2 vs. Lynchburg,
7:05 p.m.		 TBD vs. TBD
Hagerstown Won, 3-2 OFF DAY N/A


Pawtucket 2 Syracuse 1
• Hill 6IP, 7H, R, ER, 2BB, 5K, HBP
• Delcarmen (L, 0-1) 1+ IP, 2H, R, ER, BB, K, WP
• Mattheus 0IP, 1H, 0R, BB, 0K, 2-1 IR-S
• Solano 3-3, 2B
• Laird 1-4, R, HR, RBI

Gerald Laird tied the game with two out in the top of the 9th, but the sixth Syracuse hit was its final as the PawSox got to the Chiefs ‘pen in the 10th for a 2-1 walkoff win. Taylor Hill got the start and gave up the first Pawtucket run on seven hits and two walks over six innings. Matt Grace followed with two scoreless in the 7th and 8th innings. After failing to convert a leadoff single off Manny Delcarmen in the 9th, the PawSox went one better with a leadoff double in the 10th. Delcarmen spared them the trouble of another sacrifice with a wild pitch, then walked the next batter to set up 1st and 3rd with no outs. Ryan Mattheus was brought in and got neither the K nor a popup as he walked the first batter load the bases, then gave up the game-winning single to center field. Jhonatan Solano singled twice and doubled once while the rest of the Syracuse lineup went 3-for-31 with no walks (despite Matt Skole starting at 1B) and eight whiffs.

Potomac 4 Lynchburg 2
• Silvestre (W, 1-0) 7IP, 5H, R, ER, 3BB, 5K
• M. Rodriguez (H, 1) 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, K
• Mendez (SV, 1) 1IP, 2H, R, ER, 0BB, K
• Ballou 1-1, 2R, 2BB, SB, CS, HBP
• Wooten 2-4, 2B, RBI

Hector Silvestre tossed seven strong innings, the offense made hay with the Hillcat bullpen, and the P-Nats relievers weathered a late comeback bid in a 4-2 win. Silvestre gave up one run on five hits and three walks while striking out five. More importantly, he kept the ball in the yard to improve his 2014 record in homerless starts (13) to 5-1 with a 1.37 ERA (vs. 3-8, 6.61 in 12GS). After a hit batsman, a stolen base, and an error plated Isaac Ballou in the 1st for a 1-0 lead, Lynchburg tied with a run in the 6th on a two-out double and a single. Silvestre let up a third straight hit but Brandon Miller and Pedro Severino prevented a second Hillcat run with a 9-2 putout to the end the inning. Randolph Oduber broke the 1-1 tie with a solo shot golfed over the LF fence in the bottom of the 6th. The P-Nats pushed the lead to 4-1 with a Severino double, singles by Ballou and Tony Renda, and an RBI groundout by John Wooten. Manny Rodriguez set ’em down in order in the 8th while Gilberto Mendez wobbled a bit in the 9th, allowing a single and a double for the second Hillcat run before getting pinch-hitter Levi Hyams to tap out to first to end it and earn the save.
Roster moves: 1B Shawn Pleffner activated from 7-Day DL, UT Cody Dent reassigned to Hagerstown.

Hagerstown 3 Greensboro 2
• Suero 4IP, 4H, 2R, 1ER, 2BB, 3K, 2WP
• Thomas 3IP, 3H, 0R, IBB, 2K
• Napoli (W, 1-0) 1IP, 1H, 0R, BB, 0K
• W. Rodriguez 2-4, R, 2-2B, RBI, SB
• Bautista 2-5, RBI

The Suns were three outs away from getting a 2-0 Columbia necktie, but rallied for three in the bottom of the 9th to pull one of out their ascot and shock the Grasshoppers, 3-2. A three-base error got things going as Carlos Lopez’s would-be flyout was turned into a Little League triple. Lopez scored on a groundout to second by Jimmy Yezzo. David Masters, who had struck out three times in three previous at-bats, drew a walk to restart the offense. Wilman Rodriguez sent him home on his second double of the night to tie it while Rafael Bautista’s second single plated Rodriguez to win it. The comeback made a winner out of David Napoli, who tossed the fifth of five scoreless innings by the Hagerstown bullpen in the top of the 9th. Wander Suero started but was dinged for two runs (one earned) on four hits and two walks over four uneven innings. Justin Thomas followed with three goose eggs while Jake Johansen posted his fifth relief appearance without a run scoring in the 8th. Bautista’s single was the lone hit in 14 chances with RISP, including an 0-for-7 mark following doubles by Drew Ward, Rodriguez, Spencer Kieboom, and Lopez.
Roster moves: UT Cody Dent reassigned from Potomac, IF Austin Davidson placed on the reserve list.

10 Commments

  1. Will Ryan Mattheus even be in the organization next year? He’s been horrible for Syracuse and appears to no longer be the same pitcher at that anger incident with his pitching hand. I feel for the guy because he’s going to be wondering if he could have been a perennial major leaguer for the rest of his life if he hadn’t gotten sent down due to a self-inflicted injury. That would really wear me down personally.

    Great to see some pop from the Groovin’ Aruban, and great to see Potomac get a much needed vic.

    Can’t believe Hagerstown pulled that one out. Hopefully, they’ll be able to pull off a series win and bring some more baseball back to the Muni.

    1. On Mattheus, I very much doubt he’ll be back next year. He’ll be 31 and the Nats have plenty of younger arms to compete for the one or maybe two bullpen slots likely to be open next spring.

      It’s true that what he did to his hand was stupid, but he was having an awful start to the season before he went all War Machine on that locker. His career trajectory reminds me a little of Saul Rivera, another right handed reliever who got called up fairly late (at 27 and 28 respectively) as a midseason replacement bullpen arm and pitched surprisingly well for a couple of years before either the league caught up with him or he lost just that little bit of ability that made the difference between being in the big leagues and quickly fading away.

      1. It wasn’t so much as the league catching up to Mattheus, but reality. He was never very good to begin with. He was a bit Lannan-esque in his ability to outperform his peripheral stats. Once Lannan lost that magic the wheels fell off. The same happened with Mattheus.

        His 2011, case in point- across 32 IP, he struck out only 12 batters, walked 15, and survived on an unsustainable .236 BABIP. Pretty awful.

        1. Yep — guys like Lannan, Mattheus and Rivera are JUST good enough to have some short term success while the league is still largely unfamiliar with them. I’m just glad the Nats’ pitching staff is no longer made up almost solely of marginal guys like that. 😀

          1. That’s probably the biggest improvement. I can’t believe fans complain about Strasburg who even on his bad days can still out pitch any of those former Nat starters. I guess no one remembers when Jason Marquis was supposed to come in ‘stabilize’ the pitching staff for Rizzo. Now, the Chiefs got to see him on a regular basis this season.

            Giolito, Cole, and Trienen look like sure things more even than Karns and Ray. Reynaldo Lopez? Looks like Rivero may end up above Purke and Solis in the way of left-handed starting pitching prospects. Silvestre doesn’t look all that good. All may seem well but the left-hand side of things looks awfully weak?

    2. They need to put AJ Cole, among others on the 40-man this off season. Looks like Mattheus left a convenient slot open for him.

  2. The Nats will need roster spots to protect some of their young talent. Dropping Mattheus is given so that younger talent can be protected.

  3. Perfect picture,because as we all know, “2 out of 3 ain’t bad”.
    Must have been pretty wild to have been at the Muni last nite. Wonder how many people were there to see it.

    1. Box score said just over 1200. A good night for the Suns (no pun intended).

      Interestingly, Potomac only had 1300 for their game. It just goes to show that with the kids back in school playoff minor league baseball is just not a huge draw, especially on school nights. I’ve been to three P-Nats playoff games and the crowds were pretty small, except for the one game that was played on a Saturday night.

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