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Monday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Pitching Matchup
Fresno Lost, 4-3; Lost, 7-0 vs. Sacramento, 9:35 p.m. Espino (3-1, 5.36) vs. Franco (1-1, 7.76)
Harrisburg Lost, 8-2 OFF DAY N/A
Potomac Lost, 5-3 @ Down East, 7:00 p.m. M. Peña (2-2, 7.80) vs. Latz (3-1, 2.86)
Hagerstown Won, 4-0 vs. Hickory, 10:35 a.m. Cate (3-3, 1.99) vs. Crouse (2-0, 3.14)

Sacramento 4 Fresno 3 – GAME ONE
• Copeland (L, 2-2) 5⅓ IP, 11H, 4R, 4ER, BB, 5K, HR
• Mills 1⅔ IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 2K, 1-0 IR-S
• Kieboom 2-4, 2R, 2B, HR, 2RBI
• J. Wilson 2-4, RBI

The Grizzlies got the tying run on twice in its final three “ups,” but couldn’t push across the equalizer in a 4-3 loss. Scott Copeland gave up all four River Cats runs on 11 hits over five and a 1/3rd innings to lose for the second time. Jordan Mills retired all five batters he faced while closing out the game. Carter Kieboom homered and doubled and scored two runs while driving in two while Jacob Wilson singled twice and plated the third Fresno run.

Sacramento 7 Fresno 0 – GAME ONE
• Michael Blazek 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Nuño (L, 1-1) 1IP, 2H, 6R, 6ER, 4BB, 2K, 2HR
• Alvarez 2IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 2K; 1-1
• J. Wilson 1-3
• Noll 1-3

The River Cats put the game away in the 2nd with a 6-run barrage as they shut out the Grizzlies on three hits, 7-0. Vidal Nuño3 threw BP in the 2nd with the aforementioned six runs on four walks and two HRs to take the loss. Henderson Alvarez and the two Jakes (Wilson, Noll) each had a single while Alec Keller and Bengie Gonzalez drew walks to account for the five (5) Fresno baserunners. Roster move: RHP Logan Ondrusek reassigned from Harrisburg.

Altoona 8 Harrisburg 2
• Mapes 5⅔ IP, 6H, 4R, 4ER, 0BB, 5K, HR, HBP
• Condra-Bogan (L, 1-1; BS, 1) 2⅓ IP, 4H, 2R, 2ER, BB, 0K, 1-1 IR-S
• Sagdal 2-4, RBI
• Barrera 2-4, R, 2B

Harrisburg blew a 4-0 lead as they dropped below .500 (8-9) for the Month of May with a 6-4 loss to Altoona. Tyler Mapes was charged with the first four runs on six hits (one HR) over five and 2/3rds innings. He walked none and struck out five. Jacob Condra-Bogan got the blown-save-loss (first of each) as he let in an inherited runner in the 6th and two of his own in the 8th on four hits and one walk. He did not register a strikeout. Tres Barrera single, doubled, and scored a run while Ian Sagdal plated a run with two singles in four trips to the plage to lead the Sens offense.
Roster moves: IF Chris Dominguez activated from 7-day I.L., reassigned from Fresno; IF Drew Ward placed on 7-day I.L.

Wilmington 5 Potomac 3
• Lee 5IP, 2H, 0R, 4BB, 2K, WP
• Romero (BS, 1) 2IP, 4H, 2R, 2ER, 0BB, K, HR
• Bartow (L, 0-2) 2IP, 4H, 3R, 3ER, BB, K, HR
• Banks 2-4, R, 2B, BB, OF assist at 1B
• Agustin 2-4, 2RBI, OF assist at 2B

The P-Nats bullpen lost the lead twice and gave up all five runs and eight of 10 hits to drop the game, 5-3 and the series, 3-1. Andrew Lee tossed five scoreless innings though he walked four and fanned just two. Jhon Romero gave Lee the no-decision as blew his first save with two runs given up in the 7th while Frankie Bartow lost a 3-2 lead with a solo HR surrendered in the 9th and got the loss with two more runs allowed. Nick Banks singled twice, scored once, and walked once while Telmito Agustin drove in two with a pair of singles to lead the nine-hit, four walk offense.

Hagerstown 4 Hickory 0
• Adon (W, 3-1) 6IP, 4H, 0R, 3BB, 6K, 2WP
• Williamson (SV, 1) 3IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• Connell 2-4
• Pineda 2-3, 2R, 2B, HR, RBI

Two Hagerstown pitchers combined on five-hit, 4-0 shutout of Hickory to take a 2-1 series lead. Joan Adon won his third game with six innings of four-hit ball with three walks and six whiffs. Ryan Williamson finished the game with one hit allowed, no walks, and two K’s to earn his first career save. Israel Pineda doubled and homered and scored twice while Justin Connell collected another pair of singles to account for four of the Suns’ five hits on the afternoon.
Roster moves: SS Jose Sanchez activated from the 7-day I.L.; SS Juan Pascal placed on the 7-day I.L.

20 Commments

  1. A bit shaky with Andrew Lee with the walks, but he’s all but unhittable at the A+ level otherwise, so he would figure to be moving up soon. Good to see fellow wounded wing recover Ryan Williamson with a good outing at Hags as well. Williamson was a Friday starter in the ACC with an ERA under 3.00 when he went down during his junior year. It’s taken him all the way to age 24 to be back to pitching full time (presumably that was his second TJ, as it was for Lee).

    Adon also starting to live up to the hype at Hags. Haven’t seen much mention of Justin Connell, but he’s doing well in the SSS at Hags at just barely 20.

    On the flip side of Nat HS OF draftees, I see Blake Perkins still scuffling along in the Wilmington lineup at .191 in the summer he’ll turn 23. I always thought he was an overdraft/overpay.

    Luke will probably laugh at this, but is there any chance that the lightbulb has finally come on for Nick Banks?

    Any scoop from Harrisburg folks on Ward’s injury?

    1. Ward hurt his left thumb making a diving catch Thursday in Altoona. Hopefully, it only requires the 7 day IL.

  2. I wonder what sort of effect the juiced up PCL is having on our hitters?

    Balls that Kieboom have been knocking out of Pacific Coast parks, are routine flyballs in the majors everywhere outside of Denver. I wonder if this is having a harmful effect on their batting approaches, in that they may be more likely to hit flyballs than line drives in the PCL, which then doesn’t translate elsewhere.

    Kieboom, for example, hit .382/.500/.676 in 19 games before promotion. Then .128/.209/.282 in 11 games for Washington. And now .313/.436/.688 in 9 games back in Fresno.

    It doesn’t look like he has much more to learn in the PCL. Maybe back in Harrisburg he’d see more realistic altitude/climate conditions, and it might result in him being a better player?

    In spite of the dozen or so articles about Dozier being just an inch away from returning to form, he’s still batting .207/.307/.352. It seems brass may have finally gotten the message into their heads, having started Kieboom at 2B in the past 4 of 5 games. Still, I have to wonder why he’s started at SS in the majority of games since he was demoted. It seems his future is so obviously at 2B.

    1. I agree with Wil on Kieboom playing 2nd. I thought that was the whole point of picking up Dozier so Carter would have this season to figure out 2nd base. Sometimes I just don’t understand what the Nats are doing. I’m still puzzled on why they decided to move Fedde back to starter and move McGowin into the bullpen. Mind boggling!!

      1. I think I need to stop trying to rationalize the team’s moves this season. It’s one thing to keep playing Kieboom at his natural position, even though he’s blocked from ever playing more than a few games here and there. It’s another thing to, in the midst of a bullpen crisis, literally give away a reliever with elite numbers in AAA after giving him 7 innings of 3.86 ERA ball in the majors.

        Remember, there’s still no signs of life from Nick Wells.

    2. At least in terms of the Fresno stadium, it isn’t impacted by high altitude. In fact it appears to be one of the most neutral stadiums in the PCL.

  3. Rough day yesterday in the org, and off to a rough start this morning with Tim Cate getting shelled in tge first inning. Good to see Joan Adon pitching well. Vidal Nuño has an opportunity waiting for him at the major league level, but at this point, if he’s called into Randy Knorr’s office, it won’t be to tell him he’s going to Washington. Jacob Condra-Bogan has hit some snags, which was to be expected, and now we’ll see how he works through them.

      1. No quibble with Biddle.
        The bullpen carousel continues
        Too bad Mariners and Di Pito were not dealing with Braves today for Rizzo. Guess not

    2. Kw… unless they don’t resign Rendon and draft Jung
      Lerners letting the org go from Macy’s level to DG.

  6. Will — I didn’t understand the Austin Adams dump, either. There were four or five guys on the 40-man I would have dropped before him. Did they dump him to activate Jennings? I’ve forgotten, with all the moves. If so, it looks doubly bad with Jennings DFA’d after just a few weeks.

  7. Hey KW, You are correct! They did actually DFA Austin Adams at the end of April to call up Dan Jennings. I hope Rizzo knows what he doing! So crazy!!!

    1. When it comes to bullpens, Rizzo has absolutely no idea what he’s doing.

      He’s consistently demonstrated this over his 10 years in charge of the team.

      1. In addition, to poorly identifying players via trades and free agency, and not recognizing and harnessing talent he already has, his bullpen incompetence also extends to choosing managers that know how to properly utilize a bullpen.

        1. And what’s been galling me is that his apologists’ knee-jerk response is to cite the team’s budget and shift the blame to the Lerners. Ultimately, every team has a budget—and don’t even start about how much it is because if the Nats are up against the de facto salary cap, it’s clearly in the Top 10–so it’s on Rizzo as to how it gets spent.

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