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Wednesday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Probable Pitchers
Syracuse Lost, 2-0;
Won, 4-3		 vs. Buffalo,
1:05 p.m.		 Voth (6-7, 2.92 @ AA in ’15) vs.
Hutchison (0-1, 1.80)
Harrisburg Won, 4-3 (11 inn.) @ Binghamton,
6:35 p.m.		 Williams (4-6, 2.59 @ A+ in ’15) vs.
Lara (9-5, 3.44 in ’15)
Potomac Lost, 6-3 @ Lynchburg,
6:30 p.m.		 Valdez (1-0, 1.80) vs.
Brown (0-0, 5.79)
Hagerstown Won, 8-7 vs. Lakewood,
10:35 a.m.		 Hearn (0-0, 0.00) vs.
Gueller (10-1, 2.23 @ SS-A in ’15)


Buffalo 2 Syracuse 0 – GAME ONE
• Hill (L, 0-1) 5IP, 5H, 2R, 2ER, 3BB, 1K
• Davis 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Turner 1-2, BB
• Martinson 0-1, 2BB

Buffalo put up single runs in the 1st and 3rd inning while three pitchers combined on a two-hit shutout in Game One. Taylor Hill took the loss, giving up both Bisons runs on five hits and three walks while striking out one (1). The Chiefs drew six walk but also hit into two double plays. Trea Turner (single, walk) and Jason Martinson (two walks) were the only batters to reach base twice.

Syracuse 4 Buffalo 3 – GAME TWO
• Laffey 3IP, 3H, R, ER, BB, 2K
• Gott (W, 2-0) 2IP, 3H, R, ER, BB, 0K
• Turner 4-4, R, 2B, RBI, SB
• Goodwin 2-3, BB, RBI

Trea Turner singled three times and doubled once as the Chiefs split the doubleheader with a 4-3 win in the nightcap. Aaron Laffey made the spot start and let in a run on three hits and a walk over three innings. The win went to Trevor Gott while Sammy Solis earned a hold and Rafael Martin closed it out for the save. Brian Goodwin singled twice and was intentionally walks as Syracuse piled up 12 hits and five walks total.

Harrisburg 4 Binghamton 3 (11 inn.)
• Giolito 4IP, 1H, 0R, 3BB, 4K
• Gutierrez (W, 1-0) 2IP, 2H, 0R, 2BB, 3K
• De Los Santos (SV, 1) 1IP, 0H, 0R, BB, 0K
• Difo 2-4, BB
• Perez 1-1, 2B, RBI

Stephen Perez’s one-out, pinch-hit double in the 11th snapped a 3-3 deadlock as the Senators edged the B-Mets, 4-3. Lucas Giolito, who was originally announced as today’s starter, went four scoreless innings with one hit and three walks allowed with four strikeouts. The win went to veteran J.C. Gutierrez with two shutout innings while Abel De Lost Santps worked around a walk in the 11th for the save. Wilmer Difo singled twice and walked once to lead the Harrisburg offense.

Lynchburg 6 Potomac 3
• Reyes (L, 0-1) 4IP, 2H, 5R, 2ER, 5BB, 4K, HBP
• M. Sanchez 3IP, 3H, R, ER, 0BB, 3K, HR
• Carey 2-3, R, BB, RBI
• Keller 2-4

A four-run first was too much for Potomac to overcome as they lost for the first time in 2016, 6-3 to Lynchburg. Luis Reyes inflicted much of the damage himself, walking two and hitting a batter in the 1st and five overall in four innings. He finished with five runs allowed on two hits and struck out four. Potomac cut the 6-0 lead in half with a three-run 7th, and put the tying run on base in the 9th one out before Hillcat reliever Trevor Frank got a strikeout and a flyout to stall the comeback bid and secure the win. D.K. Carey and Alec Keller both got two hits to pace the P-Nats attack.

Hagerstown 8 Lakewood 7
• A. Lee 5IP, 5H, R, ER, 2BB, 5K, 2WP
• Guilbeau (BS, 1) 1IP, 4H, 6R, 0ER, BB, 2K
• Peterson 3IP, 4H, 0R, 0BB, 4K, HBP
• Reetz 1-2, 2R, 2B, 3BB
• Agustin 3-5, R, 2B, RBI, 2SB
• Schrock 2-3, R, 2BB

The Suns took an early 3-0 lead, fell behind 7-3, then walked off in the 9th for an 8-7 win over Lakewood. Andrew Lee started and turned in five innings of one-run ball with five hits and two walks allowed. The defense took the 6th off as they committed three errors while Taylor Guilbeau was pinched for four hits including two doubles to “earn” the blown save. Tommy Peterson got the win with three scoreless innings of relief. Telmito Agustin knocked a double off the wall against a five-man infield and (presumably) a drawn-in outfield for the gamewinner. He went 3-for-5 total and stole two bases to lead the Suns 13-hit parade.

16 Commments

  1. I guess that Giolito kid is pretty good, eh? Gotta work on those three walks, though . . . It’s very interesting that he went only four innings, while nearly all their other MiLB starters are going five. It looks like they really are managing his innings (and/or his pitch counts).

    Trea Turner is now at .667. With Espinosa off to a very shaky start, that clock seems to be ticking rapidly toward May 29 (the date the Nats will have regained the year of service time on Turner).

    Another strong start by Andrew Lee at Hagerstown. Two or three more and he should have a ticket for Potomac. If he turns into a genuine power starter prospect just a year after being drafted in the 11th round as a reliever, that’s almost like finding a winning lottery ticket on the street.

    1. Everything for Nats fans has been waiting when it comes to Trea Turner. First we waited to simply get him from the Padres, and now we wait to bring him up. Unfortunately, there is no reason to wait for his RoY Award, because Trevor Story seems to have that wrapped up already.

      1. Or Story becomes one of those guys who only hit seven more HRs in their MLB careers but eventually are very big in Japan . . .

        2. Ah, yes. “Shane Spencer, the home run dispenser!” For two months in 1998 he was Babe Ruth. Or maybe better than the Babe – his splits were .373/.411/.910, with ten HRs in just 73 plate appearances! He then went 5-19 with a double and two more HRs in the postseason. And was never the same again. He did parlay that into a seven year big league career, although his #1 achievement after 1998 was contributing to Derek Jeter’s immortality by badly missing the cutoff man in a crucial situation – that became the “flip play” in the 2001 ALDS.

        3. And Kevin Maas. Both were amazing for a very short period of time. I tend to agree that Story will be mentioned one day in the same breath.

  2. Sure unhappy to see Giolito pitching this early; would love to hear Rizzo to justify it, although if Luke is correct they will have a Berlin Wall of silence on this.

    Both Ward and Robles were 1-1 with a walk yesterday and saw their OPS’s plummet to 1.311 & 1.101.

    Baseball America had this big shoutout on Trea Turner’s performance yesterday.
    I hope KW is right but I think he needs to stay down until mid-late June for service time.
    Remember, playing the service time right is why Strasburg is pitching for the Nats right now.

    2. I’ve seen the May 29 date for Turner on multiple sites, so I think it is sound. He has the service time recouped as of the 28th so could come up on the 29th.

      I also thought Giolito would stay in XST, as he has done in previous seasons. The only reason I can think of that they started him this early is if they see him as the first call if there’s a problem with the MLB rotation and want to make sure he’s ready. He’s only got 140-150 innings for the season, tops. This is four, so we’re starting the count. At this rate, though, he may get out of April with only 12-15 innings, particularly if they space his starts out to seven days, like they did last season. We’ll see.

    3. It was more justifiable to sit Stras for service time issues because the Nats weren’t competitive at that time. Now, the team is a playoff contender and IMO should be playing their best guys and not being concerned about 6-7 years from now. Certainly, there is a very good chance that the Nats would move to re-sign Turner if he looks like a future star – the Nats are seemingly more inclined to sign position players to long-term deals than the pitchers.

  3. Glover is taking right up where he left off last year. He would seem to be another potential candidate for quick promotion. Gott, on the other hand, still looks like a work in progress.

      1. I was actually pleased to see that Gott only had one walk. The one time I saw him on TV in the spring, he had great movement on all his pitches, but he had trouble locating them. It wasn’t nearly Henry Rodriguez-bad, though (the real Nuke LaLoosh!). I think he’ll get a handle on things and will be the first call-up for the bullpen.

  4. It’s way to early to be thinking promotion for anyone at AAA based on their merit – because the Nats are 5-1! The formula is working. Let’s see how the team is when Revere comes back.

    Syracuse: Jason Martinson with only 2 Ks in his first 13 PA. That would be a career changer for him. Matt Grace throwing strikes and making quick work. Very good, especially with Oliver Perez spilling the soup on the stove a bit. As for Turner, wel, I guess he didn’t need to get warmed up to AAA. Fun that he steals 3B. Brian Goodwin isn;t missing a beat either.

    Harrisburg: Bautista stolen base watch is turning into an everyday organizational watch. Now at 5. Nice to see Abel de los Arsonist of 2015 get a save. Gio on a 60 pitch count. MMMkay.

    Potomac – Raudy Read back to the passed balls, and 3 SB. Blecch. Mario Sanchez not walking guys. Lee may be headed to the Potomac rotation, logically, but so too may be Sanchez. Hard to fathom a defender first player like Masters starting at 1B. Perhaps its an organizational priority to reunite the 2013 Baby Nats as everyday 2B-SS, so they can grow up together.

    Hagerstown – Love the ten walks by the hitters. I guess that explains how a team can win when making four errors. Only Hearn emerging from all of those lefties so far.

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