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Thursday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Probable Pitchers
Syracuse Lost, 11-2 @ Rochester,
6:05 p.m.		 Lopez (AAA debut) and
Espino (4-7, 3.31) vs.
Albers (6-2, 3.48) and
Greenwood (1-0, 1.13)
Harrisburg Lost, 8-0 @ Reading,
7:05 p.m.		 Whiting (1st AA start of ’16) vs.
Pinto (3-3, 4.32)
Potomac Won, 3-2 (11 inn.) @ Myrtle Beach,
7:05 p.m.		 Mayberry (1-3, 1.01 @ FSL in ’15) vs.
Leal (9-3, 3.33)
Hagerstown Won, 8-2 vs. Delmarva,
7:05 p.m.		 Avila (6-5, 2.93) vs.
Gonzalez (5-4, 2.55)
Auburn Won, 4-2 @ Mahoning Valley,
7:05 p.m.		 Mills (1-1, 4.82) vs.
Jimenez (0-1, 10.38)


Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 11 Syracuse 2
• Long 5IP, 7H, 2R, 2ER, 2BB, 2K, WP, HBP
• E. Davis (L, 6-3) 1⅔ IP, 3H, 5R, 4ER, 3BB, 2K, WP
• Ramsey 2-3, R, BB
• Turner 2-5, R, 2B

Syracuse never led in this one as Scranton/Wilkes-Barre completed the three-game sweep with an 11-2 thrashing. Jaron Long gave up a pair of first-inning runs in the 1st but recovered to put up four scoreless for a stint of five innings of two-run ball on seven hits and two walks. Erik Davis took the loss with five runs charged to him over an inning and 2/3rds on three hits and walks. Caleb Ramsey walked once and singled twice while Trea Turner, who was named an I.L. All-Star along with Brian Goodwin, singled and doubled to lead the Chiefs offense. Roster moves: LHP Matt Grace assigned to GCL Nationals for MiLB rehab.

Bowie 8 Harrisburg 0
• Ross (L, 3-1) 6IP, 8H, 3R, 2ER, 2BB, 2K
• Self 2IP, 2H, R, ER, BB, 3K, HR
• Keyes 1-3, BB
• Rickles 1-3

Two BaySox pitchers worked around six walks to combine on a two-hit shutout of the Senators and take the series finale, 8-0. Harrisburg starter Greg Ross saw his scoreless inning streak end at 30 but still turned in a quality start of three runs (two earned) on eight hits and two walks. He struck out two while dropping his first AA decision. Kevin Keyes, Drew Ward, and Neftali Soto each reached base twice while Keyes and Nick Rickles accounted for the two Sens hits.

Potomac 3 Winston-Salem 2 (11 inn.)
• Crownover 5⅓ IP, 6H, 2R, 2ER, 3BB, 3K
• Mendez 3IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, K
• Orlan (W, 4-2) 1IP, 1H, 0R, 1BB, 0K
• Schrock 3-6, R, HR, 2RBI, SB
• Marmolejos 2-3, R, 2B, 2BB

Max “For Those About To” Schrock’s third hit was the walkoff that ended this one in favor of Potomac, 3-2 in 11 innings. Matt Crownover went the first five and a 1/3rd and let in two runs on six hits and three walks while striking out three. R.C. Orlan was the winner with a scoreless inning in the top of the 11th. Schrock also homered to finish 3-for-6 while Jose “Orange” Marmolejos singled, doubled, and walked twice to lead the P-Nats attack.

Hagerstown 8 Lakewood 2
• Baez (W, 5-5) 6IP, 5H, 2R, 1ER, 2BB, 1K, HR
• Borne (SV, 2) 3IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 3K
• Wiseman 2-4, 2R, 3B, HR, 3RBI
• Sagdal 2-4, 2R, 2B, RBI
• Page 2-4, R, RBI

Joan Baez won his third straight decision while the Suns scorched the BlueClaws, 8-2 to prevent the sweep. Baez gave up two runs on five hits and two walks with one whiff over six innings for his fifth win. Grant Borne retired nine of ten batters faced over the final three innings to earn the save, his second. Rhett Wiseman tripled and homered and drove in three while Ian Sagdal and Matt Page both went 2-for-4 with an RBI to pace the Hagerstown offense.

Auburn 4 Mahoning Valley 2
• Watson 5IP, 4H, 2R, 2ER, 2BB, 5K, HR
• Howell (W, 1-0) 2IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 3K
• Mooney (SV, 1) 2IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 3K
• Neuse 2-4, R, 2B, BB, RBI
• Jefferies 2-4, R

Auburn posted a picket fence over the final four innings to double up Mahoning Valley, 4-2. Tyler Watson gave up both Scrappers runs on four hits and two walks while fanning five. The win went to Jacob Morse while the save went to Kevin Mooney as both pitchers tossed two perfect innings and struck out three. Sheldon “Come On Feel The” Neuse led the Doubledays hit parade with a single, double, and a walk while scoring a run and driving in a run.

19 Commments

  1. The streak is over! Tyler Watson was finally scored upon after a year in the Nats’ organization. His ERA ballooned all the way to 1.20. If he weren’t just 19, I would point to Watson as a good candidate for early promotion to Hagerstown, but at that age, they may not want to rush him. (Although 19-year-old Avila has been pitching at Hagerstown all year.)

    Schrock has obviously hit the ground rockin’ at Potomac. It’s interesting to see that they’ve got Mejia at 3B to find a place for Schrock at 2B. I was wondering how they were going to work in all of those guys. Schrock has 22 BBs for the season against only 20 Ks, very encouraging for a young hitter.

    I see that Trea was back to SS last night. He’s got 13 hits over his last 8 games, so he seems to be over his recent mini-funk.

  2. Guessing that the Nats will rotate Turner at SS, 2B and CF over the next couple of weeks. Given the Nats’ CF depth in the organization, don’t think the Nats have long-term plans for Turner at CF (much more valuable at SS or even 2b), but in the short term, they want Turner to be able to be a super-utility player that can play multiple positions as a way to keep his bat in the lineup at the MLB level.

    1. The CF starts for Turner seemed to be a shot across the bow for Revere and Taylor. The one place where the big club could most easily upgrade is CF, and Turner offers more of a ceiling than Goodwin. Less easily, the Nats could sit or DL Zimmerman, move Murphy to 1B, and install Turner at 2B. The assumed (including by me) scenario of Espinosa not hitting a making it easy to slide Turner in at SS hasn’t happened . . . at least not yet.

      1. If Turner comes up, I think the Nats will play him at CF, 2B (with Murphy going to 1st) and SS.

        1. Seeing what Desi is doing isn’t painful to me. Really can’t second guess the decision to let him walk, and he always seems like such a solid guy that I am mostly happy for him, even if he could use him in CF right now.

  4. My apologies if this was discussed previously, but it appears the Nats have signed LHP Ryan WIlliamson, their 15th round pick out of NC State.

    He would have gone much higher but – stop if this sounds familiar – did his elbow in May and had Tommy John surgery.

    http://www.backingthepack.com/nc-state-baseball/2016/5/29/11809642/ryan-williamson-tommy-john-surgery-elbow-nc-state-baseball

    He appears to have had the surgery last week.

    https://twitter.com/Ry_Will3/status/745727645707436032

    The Nats draft tracker says he signed last week.

    http://washington.nationals.mlb.com/team/draft.jsp?c_id=was

    With that, the Nats have signed 27 of their top 31 picks. Of the 4 who didn’t sign, two are college pitchers who were in the College World Series – co-1st rounder (RHP, Florida) and 12th round pick Hayden Howard (LHP, Texas Tech) – expected to sign shortly now that the Gators are out of the CWS.

    The other two unsigned picks (from the top 31) are 18th round C Jarrett Gonzalez (The Nats also took his cousin Garrett 32nd) and 30th rounder and 39th round JuCo pick Tristan Clarke, a Canadian OF.

    I looked around to see if any of those 4 had signed but couldn’t find anything. If they have, my apologies.

    2. Williamson is a 6’3″ lefty starter from the ACC with an ERA under three. He was one I was REALLY hoping they would get signed.

      Don’t know what the holdup is with Dunning and Howard. Both got late starts with the talks because of the CWS. Dunning gave every indication that he was going to sign when he was drafted.

      I don’t know what the deal is with the Gonzales cousins. Since the father/uncle is a Nats scout, you would think that the situation should have been known. I wouldn’t think they spent a #18 pick on someone with uncertainty.

      1. KW – several guys at TalkNats said Dunning signed today. I can’t find it yet but will post if I do.

  5. Methinks the Turner stuff has everything to do with upping Espinosa’s price tag in trade talks. Rizzo is always zagging to zig. I think we can all smell a trade coming.

  6. Apparently Max had to end the festivities so he could Schrock and Roll All night and party every day in the Myrtle Beach nightspots.

  7. Hurrah on Dunning. Brink in Hayden and that is a hell of a haul. And then add the internationals.

    Can’t imagine the Nats have any $$ left over for the players >30, though.

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