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Wednesday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Probable Pitchers
Syracuse Won, 7-1 @ Buffalo,
6:05 p.m.		 Espino (7-6, 3.39) vs.
Roach (2-4, 5.87)
Harrisburg Won, 5-0 vs. Richmond,
7:00 p.m.		 Rauh (2-4, 5.34) vs.
C. Johnson (0-1, 7.27)
Potomac Won, 4-3 vs. Myrtle Beach,
7:05 p.m.		 A. Williams (4-4, 2.49) vs. TBD
Hagerstown Won, 6-0 vs. Kannapolis,
1:05 p.m.		 Fedde (0-2, 5.21) vs.
Lowry (12-7, 4.17)
Auburn Won, 8-4 vs. Mahoning Valley,
7:05 p.m.		 DeRosier (1st SS-A start of ’15) vs.
Esparza (3-0, 1.93)


Syracuse 7 Buffalo 1
• Jordan (W, 5-5) 5IP, 3H, 0R, 3BB, 3K, WP
• Billings (H, 1) 3IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 4K
• Skole 3-4, 2R, 2HR, 4RBI, CS
• Keyes 2-4, R, HR, 2RBI
• Ramsey 2-4, 3B

Matt Skole homered twice and Kevin Keyes went deep once as the Chiefs stampeded the Bisons, 7-1. Taylor Jordan bounced back from one of his worst outings to toss five scoreless innings with three hits and three walks allowed while striking out three to earn his fifth AAA win. Skole was 3-for-4 overall with four RBI while Keyes went 2-for-4 with two RBI as Syracuse collected 15 hits total.
Roster move: LHP Sammy Solis recalled to Washington.

Harrisburg 5 Richmond 0
• Voth (W, 6-7) 7IP, 3H, 0R, 2BB, 4K
• Mendez 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 0K
• Bostick 3-4, R, 2B, HR, 2RBI
• Goodwin 2-3, 3R, RBI

Three Harrisburg pitchers combined on a four-hit shutout of Richmond by a 4-0 score. Austin Voth went the first seven, giving up three hits and two walks while striking out four to win his sixth game. Gilberto Mendez and Erik Davis put up goose eggs in the 8th and 9th innings respectively to preserve the shutout. Christopher Bostick singled, doubled, and homered and drove in two to lead the Senators hit column.
Roster moves: C Pedro Severino added to the 40-man roster, recalled to Washington; C Craig Manuel reassigned from Potomac. ARIZONA FALL LEAGUE – RHPs John Simms, Dakota Bacus, Abel De Los Santos, LHP Nick Lee, IF Wilmer Difo assigned to Salt River Rafters for 2015 season.

Potomac 4 Myrtle Beach 3
• Dickson 3IP, 1H, 1R, 1R, 8BB, 2K, 2WP, BK
• Walsh (W, 1-1) 1IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 1K
• Norfork 1-4, SB(10)
• Ward 1-3, R, BB

The P-Nats somehow managed to issue 16 walks and still win, walking off in the 9th for a 4-3 victory. Ian Dickson gave up the first eight free passes in just three innings, but only gave up one run and one hit and struck out two. Walks also led to the Pelicans’ demise as they walked the bases loaded to start the last of the 9th. Brenden Webb singled to left to end the shutout, while Raudy Read and Stephen Perez had infield hits to plate the second and third runs. Webb then scored on a Rafael Bautista sacrifice fly for the gamewinner.
Roster move: C Raudy Read reassigned from Hagerstown. ARIZONA FALL LEAGUE – C Spencer Kieboom, 3B Drew Ward assigned to Salt River Rafters for 2015 season.

Hagerstown 6 Kannapolis 0
• A. Lee 4⅔ IP, 4H, 0R, BB, 7K
• Sanchez (W, 7-5) 3⅓ IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 3K, 2-0 IR-S
• Davidson 2-3, 2R, BB, HR, 2RBI
• Mejia 2-4, R
• Abreu 2-5, 2B

Hagerstown scored five times in the first four innings en route to a 6-0 shutout of Kannapolis. Andrew Lee started and struck out seven and walked one over four and 2/3rds innings. Mario Sanchez stranded two in the 5th and went three more innings to earn the “W.” Austin Davidson walked, singled, and homered and drove in two to lead the Suns offense.
Roster move: C Adderling Ruiz reassigned from Potomac. LEAGUE ALL-STAR – Jose “Orange” Marmolejos-Diaz was named to the Sally League’s 2015 All-Star team.

Auburn 8 Williamsport 4
• Baez (W, 1-2) 5IP, 5H, 3R, 3ER, 3BB, 5K
• Johns (H, 2) 2IP, 1H, 0R, BB, K
• Schrock 3-5, 2R, HR, 3RBI
• Eusebio 3-5, 2B
• Agustin 3-5, 2R, 3B, RBI

Auburn scored early and often for an 8-4 win over Williamsport. Joan Baez got the win with five innings of three-run ball, with five hits, three walks, and five strikeouts. Max Schrock, Diomedes Eusebio, and Telmito Agustin each went 3-for-5 with a double (Eusebio), triple (Agustin) and a homer (Schrock), scoring four and driving in four.


31 Commments

  1. What a great night for the organization . . . well, except for the big club. Great starts from Jordan, Voth, and my man Andrew Lee (1 ER all season). The P-Nats winning while issuing SIXTEEN walks is amazing. Skole keeps alive his outside chance for a Sept. call-up. I really don’t see Keyes getting a call with so many other RH bats available.

    About the only AFL “surprise” for me is Kieboom over Severino (who went last year). Perhaps the thinking is just to get Kieboom more ABs because of the time missed to injury this season. I hope Difo can shine in AZ and show that he’s ready to compete for a roster spot with the big club in the spring.

    1. If my memory serves me correctly, this is our second daily sweep of the season.

      Those 16 BBs are pretty amazing. Another notable stat from yesterday- Robles got plunked in 3 straight ABs. That can’t have been unintentional. Any Auburnians around here with any insight?

  2. KW. Did you toss a drink @ your flat screen. ?
    Moss should have been a Rizzo add.
    Not in the Cards.
    Nats could not even beat Cards in GCL.
    Cubs will have their hands full of Sept cards.
    Other call- ups? Thoughts , opinions?

  3. Surprised to see Bacus and Lee make the AFL. Neither have done much this year to set themselves apart from the rest. Though it does look like Bacus has recently been converted to long relief.

    I hope Difo can turn things around. The power and plate discipline he showed last year and in Potomac have evaporated in Harrisburg. AFL is always a hitters’ league, so it should be good for him.

    1. Off the top of my head, it seems that the Nats have rarely sent top-tier arms to AZ, except for guys who have been injured during the season and didn’t get a lot of innings: Rivero, Solis, Purke, etc. I recall paying a lot more attention to the hitters they send than the pitchers.

      I agree about Difo needing to work out some things. He should have a reasonable shot at making the big club in the spring, particularly if the Nats park Turner in Syracuse for a couple of months to reset his free agency “clock” from his time up this season

    2. Bacus and Simms must be getting further
      Grooming for Cuse shuttle
      Bummer about Barrett. Three arms down
      In pen. I still claim clippard absence a spot
      To fill.

  4. Love to know more about Robles getting plunked 3 straight times. There has to be a story there as that rarely happens in any level.

    1. Maybe his natural athletic karma ticked off the
      Opponent like my Vlad story where he went 4-5
      Vs Akron and caused opposing manager to get tossed ???

    2. And incredibly all from the same pitcher.

      Two in a row would almost always elicit a warning, and the 3rd would have to warrant an ejection.

  5. Hey, I was right about Severino getting the call!

    On the other hand–Rizzo screws the pooch by only calling up one reliever, and that very night the Nats could have used a couple more arms in the ‘pen.

    I’m sure there will be more call ups to come, but last night was a real disaster for the Nats and Rizzo made yet another of the many mistakes he has made this season. Most commenters pile on Williams, but it is time our GM gets held to account as well.

  7. I have disliked Williams from the get go, but you are right Karl. Rizzo is so culpable in this year’s failure. Getting Escobar for Clippard was the start in a series of bad calls. The bullpen roller coaster started with this move, then the pick up of Janssen who has been either injured or largely ineffective, and culminating with the desperate trade for Papelbon and the subsequent disaster that became Drew Storen.
    Add to that the fact that Escobar is a poor defensive third basement and Rendon plays a mediocre defense at second compared to Espi who has been demoted to the bench and this is what we got. Oh, I know Escobar has contributed offensively but he’s still hit into more double plays than almost anyone in baseball.
    And Rizzo, your minor league does not have one affiliate with a winning record let alone make it to the playoffs.
    The Nat’s management has been accused of arrogance and Rizzo leads the pack with his lackey, Williams, a close second.
    Heck, I almost never post–it’s exhausting.

    1. Three years of Escobar for one year of Clippard? And what was a pretty mediocre year up until the trade deadline to boot? For the first three months of the season Escobar and Harper (with occasional help from Espinosa) were almost the only ones hitting. If you think that the Nationals would have been further along with Clippard and without Espinosa … well, OK. For me anytime you can get a regular starter for the cost of a one inning bullpen guy you take it – much less three affordable years of a starter for one expensive year of a bullpen guy.

      If you want to say that the mistake is not otherwise filling the hole left by Clippard (and Stammen) in the bullpen – I’m right there with you. It’s not like he didn’t try (Barrett, Treinene, converting Rivero to a relief pitcher, etc). But results matter.

      1. But that is evaluating the trade in a vacuum. If Rizzo had no confidence in Storen as the closer, which clearly he did not, he should have traded Storen instead. Yes, Storen was younger and cheaper than Clippard, so the A’s could have thrown in a decent prospect to make up the difference.

        1. I’m sorry but nothing indicates that Rizzo did anything because of a lack of confidence in Storen. Certainly Rizzo didn’t make the Papelbon trade because of a lack of confidence in Storen. He made that trade because of a lack of confidence in Janssen (and, to a lesser extent, Treinen and Barrett) who couldn’t reliably get the ball to Storen in the 9th. And basically this whole season plus the last two nights have reaffirmed why making a move there was the right thing.

          Did Rizzo overthink this? Probably — he could’ve gotten someone like Benoit from SD for less to be a reliable setup guy. If anything, he had too much confidence in Storen, that he could be the same dominant reliever as a setup guy than as the closer.

          1. Storen was having a near All Star season, yet lost his job anyway? If that doesn’t indicate Rizzo’s lack of faith in Storen as the closer, I don’t know what else would.

          2. I still think you’re missing the point. Storen didn’t lose his job because Rizzo didn’t have confidence in him, Storen was collateral damage in Janssen losing his job.

            Again, I’ll concede that this was a hamfisted way for Rizzo to go about solving the set-up man problem. But there’s nothing to suggest that Rizzo set out to replace Storen.

  8. Jeeves agree.
    Stammen injury coupled with clip hole in 8 th
    Coupled with Barrett back sliding into surgeon
    Room. Ouch.
    Too bad benincasa hurt not to be further
    Auditioned
    No wonder Nats drafted mooney and others
    Out of NCAA ranks. We love Lee

    1. GG. Cue Chorus line theme song.
      Everybody safe weekend
      I want you all back this winter for
      Hot Stove Luke winter league.
      Ty Luke

  9. Sorry John, I not only think that the Nats would be far better off now if Rizzo had not made the Clippard trade, I’d bet the ranch on it. But we’ll never know, will we?
    But we sure as hell couldn’t be worse. Two more years of Escobar? Don’t want it, although I think it is only one more year. Too lazy to check.

    2. One year guaranteed with an option year I believe. And Escobar being so bad in the field, Rizzo will be under great pressure to have Turner start at SS on Opening Day–thus costing the Nats a year of control for Turner.

      Calling Turner up just so he could ride the pine as the ship slowly sinks beneath the wave was yet another of the many bad mistakes Rizzo made this year.

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