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Saturday Afternoon in Frederick

Buoyed by two homers in the 3rd, the P-Nats jumped out to a 5-1 lead after two and 1/2 innings and cruised to 6-2 win over the Keys on Saturday afternoon.

Potomac got on the board in the 1st with some timely hitting and some sloppy work between the Frederick battery. Austin Davidson started things off with a two-out single to left-center and took second on a wild pitch. Jake Noll delivered him home with a single to left and took second when the Keys’ Daniel Fajardo did his best imitation of Wilson Ramos on the throw to the plate to allow Noll to take second base. Lucas Humpal then gifted the second P-Nats runs on a pair of wild pitches.

Given a two-run lead to work with, Wil Crowe gave up a wind-aided Preston Palmeiro homer (it’s the Orioles, so don’t ask who his father is; you already know) with one out in the 1st inning and then mowed down the next five batters before giving up a sharp single to right to lead off the 3rd.

Crowe, flashing a sharp 12-6 curve, then struck out three of the next five batters before Rhett Wiseman’s drop in right field with two outs was ruled a double. Crowe worked around the third and final “hit” to finish the 4th and then retired the side in the 5th. Despite having thrown just 56 pitches, he was lifted for a reliever.

Meanwhile, the P-Nats extended their lead from 2-1 to 5-1 with the aforementioned home runs. Blake Perkins led off the 3rd with single to center and then came around score when Carter Kieboom lowered the boom on the Keys with his 3rd home run and RBI nos. 4 and 5. Following Davidson’s second single and first caught stealing of the season, Tres Barrera launched his first HR of 2018.

Hayden Howard came on to pitch a 1-2-3 sixth. He let in one run on two hits and a sacrifice fly in the 7th, then set the side down in order in the 8th. Jordan Mills retired all three batters he faced to finish out the game in the 9th.

Weather permitting, they’ll play the rubber match tomorrow afternoon. Matthew Crownover is scheduled to make his third start for Potomac with Brian Gonzalez taking his second turn in the rotation for Frederick.

6 Commments

  1. Luke, what’s your general take on Crowe, now that you’ve gotten to see him in person. He’s certainly a substantial guy (listed at 240 lbs.). He’s now got two solid starts at the A+ level, so the rapid promotion doesn’t seem to be phasing him, at least not yet.

    (Any HR by a Palmeiro has to be suspect. Just sayin’!)

    C. Kieboom is showing the power, if not yet the consistency. Davidson is back up to .400.

    2. Yeah, he’s got the “sturdy base” that Rizzo seems to covet (see: Roark, Tanner; Rosenbaum, Daniel; Hill, Taylor). He was around the plate and didn’t seem to be laboring at all — they must have him on an innings plan as well as a pitch count because he could have easily gone 2-3 more IP. Grove Stadium’s gun is one of the few that’s actually “cold” — nobody broke 90 according to it. When I was able to peek at some readings from the guys with guns (scouts, not cops) the differential seemed to be about 6-8 m.p.h., which put his velo in the 92-94 range yesterday. As others have noted, I’m not sure that his promotion has been rapid — he’s 23 y.o. and pitched at a Div. I school as a Top 3 starter. Even without a TJ surgery, that’s usually where top collegiate guys get to in the Year Two.

      1. Good scoop. Yes, I’ve said since he was drafted that the clock would be ticking faster for him since he’s older. It would be big for the system if he’s legit and can end the season in AA.

        Crowe was in the late first round in many pre-draft lists in 2017. Presumably, he fell because of a combination of age, TJ, and Boras.

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