Sunday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Probable Pitchers |
| Syracuse | Won, 6-4 | vs. Toledo, 1:05 p.m. |
Cole (5-4, 4.64) vs. Farmer (0-3, 6.90) |
| Harrisburg | Won, 4-0 | @ New Hampshire, 1:35 p.m. |
Mapes (6-5, 3.78) vs. Cole (0-0, 3.86) |
| Potomac | Won, 3-2 (12 inn.) | @ Lynchburg, 2:00 p.m. |
Reyes (3-7, 5.34) vs. Brown (2-5, 4.71) |
| Hagerstown | Won, 7-2 | @ Lexington, 2:05 p.m. |
DeRosier (3-3, 4.76) Garabito (0-4, 6.94) |
| Auburn | Won, 5-4 | vs. Williamsport, 5:05 p.m. |
Y. Ramirez (1-0, 1.80) vs. Falter (0-1, 13.50) |
Syracuse 6 Toledo 4
• Espino (W, 4-7) 8IP, 4H, R, ER, 0BB, 6K
• Turner 3-4, 2R, BB, RBI
• Lombardozzi 2-4, R, RBI, SB
Paolo Espino pitched eight strong innings of one-run ball while Nick Masset nearly gave away the game as the Chiefs plucked the Mud Hens, 6-4. Espino gave up four hits and no walks while striking out six to win his fourth game. Toledo scored three times in the 9th against Masset. Tablesetters Trea Turner and Steve Lombardozzi combined for five of the nine Syracuse hits with Turner drawing a walk and Lombardozzi stealing a base.
Harrisburg 4 New Hampshire 0
• Lopez (W, 3-5) 8IP, 7H, 0R, 2BB, 10K, WP
• Abel De Los Santos 1IP, 0H, 0R, BB, K
• Keyes 1-3, R, 2B, 2RBI
• Ballou 1-2, R, 2B, 2BB
Reynaldo Lopez pitched a career-high eight innings and back-to-back starts for the first time in more than a year as he combined with Abel De Los Santos on a 4-0 Harrisburg shutout of New Hampshire. Lopez fanned ten, walked two, and allowed seven hits on 110 pitches (80 for strikes) to win his third game and finish June with a mark of 2-1 and a 1.57 ERA in five starts. Kevin Keyes drove in two while going 1-for-3 with a double while Isaac Ballou walked twice and also doubled to pace the Senators offense.
Potomac 3 Lynchburg 2 (12 inn.)
• Williams 6IP, 4H, 2R, 1ER, BB, 4K, HBP, WP
• Mendez 2IP, 0H, 0R, 2BB, 3K
• M. Sanchez (W, 3-0) 1⅓ IP, 1H, 0R, BB, 3K, 2-0 IR-S
• Stevenson 2-5, R,
• Vettleson 1-5, R, HR, RBI
Drew Vettleson’s solo home run with one out in the 12th broke a 2-2 deadlock as the P-Nats edged the Hillcats, 3-2 in extras. Starter Austen Williams turned in his third straight quality start of two runs let in on four hits and a walk over six innings and was rewarded with his third straight no-decision. Mario Sanchez, who stranded two in the bottom of the 11th, worked around a single in the 12th to garner the win, his third. Andrew Stevenson remains red-hot, going 2-for-5 with a run scored to lead the way for the Potomac offense, which scored two in the 1st before cooling off and collecting just seven hits total.
Hagerstown 7 Lexington 2
• Avila (W, 6-5) 5⅔ IP, 3H, 2R, 2ER, 2BB, 8K, 2HR
• Borne (H, 1) 2⅓ IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 1K, 2-0 IR-S
• Schrock 2-3, R, 2B, BB, SF, 2RBI, CS
• Robles, 2-4, 2R, 2B, 3B, SB
• Davidson 2-4, R
Hagerstown jumped on Lexington twice for two-spots early as the Suns debunked the Legends, 7-2 for their third straight win. Pedro Avila served up two solo HRs and three hits total over five and 2/3rds innings to win his sixth game. Grant Borne stranded two while getting the last out in the 6th and pitched two more scoreless innings to earn the hold, his first. Max “For Those About To” Schrock got the party started with a sacrifice fly to plate Victor Robles, who led off the game with a triple. The two combined for four hits and three runs as the Suns pounded out 12 hits, with Grant DeBruin enjoying the reverse GBI jinx with his second HR.
Auburn 5 Williamsport 4
• Pena (W, 1-1) 5IP, 5H, 4R, 3ER, 0BB, 0K, HBP
• Dickey (H, 2) 2IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 3K
• Cespedes (SV, 2) 1IP, 1H, 0R, BB, K
• La Bruna 3-3, BB, 2RBI, CS
• Johnson 2-4, 2R, 3B, RBI
• Ortiz 2-4
The Crosscutters got to Wilber Pena for three in the top of the 2nd but the Doubledays answered with four in the bottom of the inning as Auburn edged Williamsport, 5-4 to take the series opener. Pena gave up all four Crosscutters runs on five hits over five innings to win his first game of 2016. Nick Conner, Robbie Dickey, and Angher Cespedes combined for four scoreless innings in relief. Angelo La Bruna reached base with three singles and a walk and drove in two followed by Dan Johnson and Oliver Ortiz, who both went 2-for-4 as Auburn totaled 11 hits and drew three walks.
GCL Update
Not much to tell after two games – a 7-3 win in 11 innings on Friday, a 10-0 loss yesterday – as the G-Nats start their 10-week scrimmage with the G-Mets, G-Astros, and the G-Cards. Juan Soto has appeared once as a pinch-hitter (making an out), one of 16 batters to make a plate appearance while 11 pitchers have been used thus far.
DSL Update
The D-Nats finished out the week with a three-game win streak to improve to 9-10 for the season. Thus far, the offense has been well below the league average (3.58 R/G vs. 4.88) but the pitching has been better than league average, too (4.26). It’s early, of course, but outliers on the opposite side of good include 18-y.o. Yoel Andujar (5-for-57, 21K) and Jairon Peguero (0-3, 9.00 ERA, 1.82 WHIP in four appearances, one start).
Over Lopez’s last 33 innings pitched, he has 56Ks and 5 BB. That’s an otherworldly average of 15Ks per 9 innings and 11 to 1 K to BB ratio. If Strasburg goes on the DL, will be interesting to see who the Nats call up.
Regardless of pedigrees, he now looks like an even better prospect than Giolito. With Gio’s struggles and Strasburg’s lingering injury, he deserves to be the first one up to show what he can do.
Couldn’t agree more with both of these.
Wipe away the gloss and Lopez is shining brightest.
Let’s not forget Voth!
I am excited that both Giolito and Lopez are pitching at a level that the argument of who is better is even possible.
You guys are forgetting that we don’t have to choose between Giolito and Lopez; we’ve got ’em both. They’re apparently friends (rode together from Viera to Harrisburg), and it would be great if it works out for them to share an MLB rotation together for years to come.
Before then, however, there’s a rotation audition opening with Strasburg going on the DL. I actually think that Petit will get the start against the Mets and that they’ll call up someone to bolster the bullpen. That could be Voth, though, if they want a “long man.” Or it could be Glover. Lopez just pitched on Sat. so wouldn’t be ready rotation-wise, and Giolito struggled in his last start, so I would consider either a long shot for the present situation. Any of those four would have to be added to the 40-man.
Natmosphere abuzz that Lopez has been promoted to Syracuse, Stevenson to Harrisburg, Robles to Potomac. Today is going to be interesting….
We spoke to Reynaldo last night and he’ll be on his way to AAA this morning.