Saturday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Matchup |
| Syracuse | Won, 5-4 | vs. Buffalo, 7:05 p.m. |
Valdez (2-4, 2.25) vs. (Tepesch (0-2, 3.20) |
| Harrisburg | Lost, 15-6 | vs. Richmond, 6:00 p.m. |
Darnell (3-4, 5.44) vs. Anderson (5-5, 3.54) |
| Potomac | Lost, 5-3 | @ Myrtle Beach, 7:00 p.m. |
Crownover (3-6, 5.27) vs. Uelmen (1-0, 5.06) |
| Hagerstown | Lost, 8-0 | @ Lakewood, 6:05 p.m. |
Alastre (3-2, 4.68) vs. Stratton (3-3, 5.83) |
| Auburn | Won, 3-1 | @ Batavia, 7:05 p.m. |
Y. Ramirez (0-2, 5.70) vs. H. Mejia (1-1, 4.70) |
| GCL Nationals | OFF DAY | @ GCL Mets, 10:00 a.m. |
Syracuse 5 Buffalo 4
• Rodriguez 5IP, 5H, 3R, 3ER, 4BB, 2K
• Read 0-3, RBI, PB, E
• Marmolejos 1-3, BB, RBI, 2DP
Richmond 15 Harrisburg 6
• Sharp (L, 1-1) 2IP, 10H, 10R, 9ER, 0BB, 1K, 2HR
• Pena 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• Jones 3-5, R, HR, RBI, SB
• Davidson 2-3, 2R, 3B, HR, BB, 2RBI
• Keller 2-4, 2B, 2RBI
His last trip back to Potomac was just on paper, but one or two more outings like last night the next might be actual as Richmond pounded Sterling Sharp and Harrisburg, 15-6. Sharp gave up ten runs on ten hits, including two homers, over just two innings for the loss. The Senators got homers from Hunter Jones and Austin Davidson, a triple from Davidson, and doubles from Davidson, Carter Kieboom, and Adam Walker in their 11-hit offense. Dan Gamache, Taylor Gushue, Derek Self, Austen Williams, and Kyle McGowin were named the E.L. All-Star game, which also included Tim Tebow despite the game not being televised on ESPN or him being the best outfielder on his own team.
Potomac 2 Down East 1
• DeRosier (L, 0-1) 4IP, 5H, 4R, 4R, 3BB, 1K, 2HR
• Guilbeau 2IP, 3H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Corredor 2-3, BB
• Basto 2-4, RBI
The P-Nats fell behind 4-0 after four and got three back but couldn’t get any closer as they dropped the series, 3-2 and the game, 5-3. Matt DeRosier’s first High-A start wasn’t much better than his first High-A appearance as he was ducked by the Woodies for four runs on two homers and five hits total over four innings. He walked three and struck out one. Jeremy McKinney gave up the insurance run in the 5th while Taylor Guilbeau tossed two scoreless to keep the game close. Aldrem Corredor reached base three times with a walk and two singles while Nick Basto went 2-for-4 with an RBI to lead the Potomac offense.
Lakewood 8 Hagerstown 0
• Hill 4IP, 2H, 0R, 3BB, 1K
• Bartow (L, 0-1) 2IP, 6H, 6R, 6ER, 0BB, K, HR
• Freeman 1-3, BB, SB(15)
• Meregildo 1-4, 2B, 3K
Frankie “Goes to Hagerstown” Bartow may have gone a bit too soon as the BlueClaws pinched him for six runs in the 6th in an 8-0 shutout of the Suns. Brigham Hill went the first four innings and put on five baserunners with two hits and three walks while striking out one. Bartow gave up six hits total over two innings while taking the loss. Cole Freeman reached base twice with a walk and a single while stealing his 15th base but the Hagerstown bats were limited to five hits and two walks and struck out 12 times.
Auburn 3 Batavia 1
• Karp 3IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• Fletcher 2IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• De Los Santos (BS, 1; W, 1-0) 1⅔ IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 2BB, 2K
• Canning 1-3, 3B, 2BB
• Pryor 1-3, BB
Auburn stayed in the in win column for another game as they took down Batavia, 3-1 for their fifth straight. Andrew Karp threw three scoreless in his NYPL debut, allowing one hit, no walks, and fanning two. After two goose eggs from Aaron Fletcher, the Muckdogs got their run off Jose De Los Santos in the top of the 6th, but the Doubledays answered with two runs to give hime the blown-save-win. Gilberto Chu (1⅓ IP) and Connor Zwetsch (1IP) closed it out for the hold (second) and save (third) respectively.
GCL Nationals – OFF DAY
The annual scheduled Friday night off was last night. They’ll have morning games today and tomorrow, noontime on Monday and Tuesday before taking Wednesday off. Then it’s Thursday-Friday at noon and a doubleheader next Saturday.
A couple of folks have bid the minor-league farewell to Soto over the last few days, and I think we can now make it official. He’s now only the fourth player in MLB history with two multi-homer games in a season before the age of 20. Across all levels this year, he has 20 homers and 19 doubles, with just over half of the MLB schedule still remaining.
All of this said, with Soto only three weeks or so short of the Super Two date, it’s not impossible that the Nats could send him down at some point later this season or at the beginning of the next, particularly if he were to hit a prolonged slump. It would be a bad look for the organization, but the Nats wouldn’t be the first team to do it, or the last.
The Nats are in a dogfight for the division and the playoffs. They need to put their best team on the field every day–just like with Harper in 2012. It’s not like when Strasburg was held back because a few wins in the standings were not going to matter either way.
I would say it was kind of a one way fight.
Curious note of the night: according to the Harrisburg box score, Davidson replaced Gushue at catcher! They’re obviously grooming Davidson for a super-utility role, with time in LF, but that’s really going all in.
Yes, he moved from LF to catcher for the top of the 9th and did well. He has played 1st, 2nd and LF and maybe RF, but I’m not sure.
Thanks for confirming. Davidson also played a fair amount of 3B early in his time at Potomac. I don’t know that he’s SS-capable, though.
Always good to have regular humorous Tebow update.
There’s already talk of bringing him up to the Mets, presumably to gin up ticket sales.
That’ll be the day the Mutts officially turn themselves into a clown show.