Sunday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Probable Pitchers |
| Syracuse | Lost, 4-0 | vs. Buffalo, 1:05 p.m. |
Billings (7-4, 4.17) vs. Redmond (1-4, 4.84) |
| Harrisburg | Lost, 9-1 | vs. Bowie, 1:30 p.m. |
Voth (4-5, 2.99) vs. C. Lee (2-0, 3.18) |
| Potomac | Lost, 13-10 | vs. Wilmington, 6:05 p.m. |
Rauh (2-1, 2.21) vs. Lovvorn (2-3, 4.02) |
| Hagerstown | Postponed | @ Kannapolis, 3:05 p.m. |
Bach (5-3, 3.21) and TBD vs. Thompson (3-5, 4.59) and Peralta (4-8, 6.04) |
| Auburn | Won, 9-3; Lost, 8-5 |
vs. Batavia, 2:05 p.m. |
Crownover (0-4, 5.12) vs. Lilek (1-2, 3.90) |
Buffalo 4 Syracuse 0
• Hill (L, 3-8) 5IP, 4H, R, ER, 2BB, 4K, HBP
• McGregor 2IP, 0H, 0R, BB, 2K
• den Dekker 2-4, R, 2B, RBI
Syracuse’s ride ended with a 4-0, four-hit shutout by Buffalo. Taylor Hill suffered the loss despite pitching fairly well: one run on four hits, two walks, and four strikeouts over five innings. The Chiefs bats were held to just four hits — two singles by Matt den Dekker and doubles by Emmanuel Burriss and Matt Skole.
Roster move: RHP Taylor Hill activated from 7-Day DL.
Bowie 9 Harrisburg 1
• Bates (L, 4-4) 5IP, 7H, 2R, 2ER, BB, 2K
• Lee 1⅓ IP, 0H, 0R, BB, K, 2-0 IR-S
• Pleffner 2-4, R
• Lozada 1-4, RBI
The BaySox knifed the Senators in the middle innings, breaking a 1-1 tie with a run in the 5th then eviscerating the Sens ‘pen for four in the 6th and three in the 7th en route to a 9-1 win. Colin Bates took the loss with five innings of two-run ball on seven hits and a walk while striking out two. Shawn Pleffner was the sole Harrisburg bat to reach base twice as he went 2-for-4 and scored the lone run on Jose Lozada’s two-out single in the 4th.
Wilmington 13 Potomac 10
• Spann 5⅓ IP, 8H, 6R, 6ER, 2BB, 5K, 2HR
• Johansen (BS, 1; L, 1-5) 6BF, 4H, 6R, 4ER, BB, 0K, HR, 1-1 IR-S
• Bautista 3-5, 2R, 2B, BB, 2SB
• DeBruin 3-6, 2R, 2B, 3B, 3RBI
• Webb 2-4, 2R, 2-2B, BB, RBI
The Blue Rocks took advantage of sloppy defense and pounced on flat fastballs for seven runs in the 6th as they outslugged the P-Nats, 13-10. Matt Spann swapped spots with Brian Rauh in the announced rotation and looked like he was out of sync, giving up runs in every inning but one over five and a 1/3rd thrown. He was charged with six runs on eight hits and two walks and gave up two homers. The loss went to Jake Johansen, who faced six batters and retired none, giving up four hits (including a HR), a walk and committing multiple misplays, only one of which was deemed an error. Offensively, Rafael Bautista and Grant DeBruin powered the P-Nats attack again with six hits, four runs, three RBI (DeBruin) and two stolen bases (Bautista).
Hagerstown vs. Kannapolis — PPD
Rain postponed last night’s game to a dreaded getaway day doubleheader for both teams.
Auburn 9 Batavia 3 — GAME ONE
• Guilbeau 4IP, 5H, 3R, 3ER, 0BB, K, WP
• Johns (W, 2-0) 1IP, 0H, 0R, BB, K
• Jefferies 3-3, R, 2-2B, 2RBI, SB
• Eusebio 2-3, 2R, SF, RBI
• Wiseman 2-4, 3RBI
Auburn struck for five in the 1st and cruised to a 9-3 win over Batavia in the opener. Taylor Guilbeau fell one inning short of qualifying for the win, giving up all three Muckdog runs on five hits over four innings. The “W” went to Sam Johns for pitching a scoreless 5th, walking one and striking out one. Jake Jefferies powered the Doubleday attack with a single, two doubles, and two RBI while scoring a run and stealing a base.
Batavia 8 Auburn 5 — GAME TWO
• Borne 4IP, 5H, 5R, 2ER, BB, 3K
• Ramos (L, 0-1) 1IP, 3H, 2R, 2ER, 0BB, 0K
• Eusebio 3-3, R, 2B, RBI, SB
• Wiseman 1-3, R, 2B, RBI
The Doubledays twice led the nightcap — 2-0 and 5-3 — but the bullpen couldn’t hold the Muckdogs in an 8-5 loss. Grant Borne went the first four innings and was charged with the first five runs (two earned) on five hits and a walk. He struck out three. David Ramos didn’t blow the save but lost the game with two runs coughed up in the 5th. Diomedes Eusebio paced the Auburn offense with two singles, a double, and a stolen base, going 5-for-6 with three runs scored and two RBI for the twinbill.
Roster move: RHP Maximo Valerio promoted from the GCL Nationals.
GCL Update
Two weeks remain for the last-place G-Nats, who fell to six games back with a 1-5 week and are on a four-game slide. The elimination number is seven. The bump up for Valerio (see above) is encouraging at the individual level, but the usage of pitchers in Hagerstown (see the most recent GBI) gives little confidence that more will follow.
DSL Update
It’s the final week for the DSL and a four-game slide clinched a losing season for the first time since 2011. There’s not much else to write that hasn’t already been written… it’s the youngest set of bats in the DSL and fourth-youngest set of arms; let’s see what happens next year when the organization decides who stays and who goes up or out.
Matt Skole continues with his interesting trend of 75% – 80% XBH to 20% – 25% singles. The high wOBA and OPS due to his high OBP walks and slugging percentage. Even though he has a Mendoza level batting average in Syracuse still one of their more effective players offensively.
11th error for Turner since coming to Syracuse. Making Espy’s rise to starting shortstop pretty much a done deal.
Skole is actually having a fantastic but unlucky stint in AAA so far. All his peripheral stats are excellent, up there with the best of his career. His walks are way up (19.3%) and his strikeouts are way down (15.9%). It’s rare to find a player that walks more often than they strikeout.
His power, which has been missing for a couple years now, is back. It’s at .261, which is nearly as high as his 2012 season, when he hit 27 HR.
The only problem is that his BABIP is extremely unlucky- .208, which is way out of line with his career average, which is already well above the norm, at .315.
With a little bit of maneuvering, the Nats could add Skole to the 40 man roster. With his great eye at the plate coupled with his power and left handed bat, he’d be a great PH option in September. And if Zimmerman’s struggles continue, he could very well get a number of starts at first too.
Seems like Skole and Clint Robinson are fairly similar, with the exception that Skole kind of plays 3B as well. I don’t see the Nats putting Skole on the roster this year unless Clint gets hurt. Curious what happens next year as I’d like to see Skole get a chance.