Tuesday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Matchup |
| Fresno | Won, 4-3 (10 inn.) | @ Tacoma, 9:05 p.m. | Voth (3-3, 3.89) vs. Milone (4-2, 3.83) |
| Harrisburg | OFF DAY | @ Akron, 6:35 p.m. | Braymer (3-1, 2.51) vs. Hentges (1-5, 4.69) |
| Potomac | Lost, 14-2 | @ Down East, 7:00 p.m. | Johnston (4-4, 4.78) vs. Anderson (2-0, 3.03) |
| Hagerstown | Lost, 9-7 | vs. Kannapolis, 7:05 p.m. | Irvin (2-3, 5.06) vs. Martin (3-3, 6.02) |
Fresno 4 Sacramento 3 (10 inn.)
• Espino 7IP, 9H, 3R, 3ER, 3BB, 8K
• Ondrusek (W, 1-0) 3IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 3K
• Snyder 2-4, R, HR(10), RBI
• Kieboom 1-3, R, HR, RBI, BB, SB
• Hernandez 1-4, 2B, OF assist at HP
Fresno rallied to tie in the 8th and win in the 10th without an RBI hit as the Grizzlies took the series finale, 4-3. Paolo Espino notched his fourth quality stat with all three Sacramento runs allowed on nine hits and three walks. He struck out eight but came away with a no-decision. Logan Ondrusek allowed just one hit over the final three innings and picked up his first win of 2019. The Grizzlies were held to just five hits, with none through the first three inning until Carter Kieboom’s 7th big fly broke up the no-no and ended the shutout. Brandon Snyder also went deep (#10) and singled while Yadiel Hernandez and Collin Cowgill, who scored both the tying and winning runs, added doubles.
Roster move: OF Andrew Stevenson assigned from Washington for MLB rehab.
Harrisburg – OFF DAY
The Senators resume their eight-day, seven-game road trip with three against the RubberDucks in Akron. Despite dropping three of four to second-place Altoona, Harrisburg still leads the E.L. West by seven games with less than a month to go (second half starts June 19).
Down East 14 Potomac 2
• M. Peña (L, 2-3) 3IP, 7H, 8R, 6ER, BB, 4K, 2HR
• Reyes 3IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Freeman 2-3, R, 2-2B, BB
• Dunlap 1-3, R
Potomac gave up a touchdown and an extra point in the 1st and could only muster a safety in a 14-2 loss to Down East. Malvin Peña’s longball woes continues with two more (five this month, six this season) as the Wood Ducks bit him for eight runs total (six earned) on seven hits and a walk over just three innings. Jeremy McKinney followed Peña and was no relief as Down East knocked him for one longball and six runs on six hits and three walks over just two. Luis Reyes, who earlier this season looked like he couldn’t get three shutout innings unless he was pitching against the parent club, did it for the second straight outing to save the ‘pen. Cole Freeman doubled twice while Alex Dunlap and Aldrem Corredor each singled once to account for the four P-Nats hits.
Roster move: LHP Tony Sipp MLB rehab assignment ended.
Hickory 9 Hagerstown 7
• Cate 6IP, 8H, 5R, 5ER, 0BB, 5K, PO at 1B
• Fletcher (L, 1-3) 1IP, 3H, 2R, 2ER, 0BB, 0K
• Vickers 2-4, R, 2B, RBI
• Mendez 1-2, R, 3BB
• Pineda 2-5, R, 2B
The Suns rallied from 4-0 and 5-3 down to take a 6-5 lead but the ‘pen couldn’t get a goose egg in the late innings as they dropped the finale to the Crawdads, 9-7. Tim Cate’s streak of quality starts ended at six but he still went six, giving up the first five Hickory runs on eight hits and no walks. The loss went to Aaron Fletcher with two runs on three hits in the 9th. Ricardo Mendez took three of the eight Suns walks while Trey Vickers and Israel Pineda collected four of the eight hits, but the bevy of baserunners was negated four double plays.
Really disappointing season so far from Malvin Pena, who looked like a serious dark horse prospect candidate. An 8.72 ERA through 8 starts and 33 IP is…. not good. He might be better off with a demotion, especially since he’s still only 21. There’s time to turn things around. Plus, Fletcher, Cate and Stoeckinger, among many others, are well-deserving of promotions, even if they all did not acquit themselves well yesterday.
Also, it’s well overdue for Freeman to get a promotion (.321/.414/.418). 2B has been a black hole on an otherwise excellent Harrisburg team. Bryan Mejia (.191/.203/.324), Luis Sardinas (.197/.296/.311) and even Luis Garcia (.217/.259/.257), though he’s primarily a SS still got 12 games at 2B, have been horrific, and Mejia and Sardinas are just innings eaters at this point. Though interestingly, Mejia is only 6 months older than Freeman. Which is all the more reason to push Freeman aggressively. He’s either good enough now or never, so we’re better off seeing if we might actually have something useful in our recent 4th rounder.
Also, don’t look now, but Israel Pineda may have turned a corner. Over the past 12 games, he’s hitting an impressive .283/.353/.522. Hope he can continue that run after an abysmal start.
Finally, it seems Justin Connell always managed to miss picture day with his teams. In the past couple days, they’ve finally posted a picture of him. I may be misremembering, but I think this is the first time: http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=t563&player_id=676667#/career/R/hitting/2019/ALL
Pineda is just barely 19. He may also be the only legit potential MLB starting catcher in the system.
On the other side of the age spectrum, Cole Freeman will turn 25 in September. Yes, it would seem wise to move him up as quickly as possible. That said, this is really just his second year of pro ball, and he didn’t hit that well in his first one, so an argument could be made that it would be wise to make sure this is legit and not just a BABIP spike.
Hope yesterday was just a bump in the road for Cate and Fletcher. I still think both will be bound for Potomac sooner rather than later.
Is it time to really start getting worried about Luis Garcia? After shooting up prospect lists he just hasn’t found a rhythm in AA this year and has shown no power with 0 homers. Maybe this is a case of the Nationals being too aggressive with a young player.
Bingo on that last sentence. The rush to push him up to AA made no sense given that there’s no way he’ll be ready to start at the major league level for at least two more years. Not seeking to recognize that not every teenage blue chip prospect is capable of being another Harper or Soto is another symptom of just how erratic Rizzo has become these days.
Garcia is 19 (just turned last week). While he isn’t tearing it up, he doesn’t appear totally overmatched in AA. His strikeout rate is the same as last season, and his BABIP is anomalous at .264. Would expect his numbers to trend up as the season progresses as I don’t see his numbers as a signal he can’t compete at this level.
18 and 19 year-olds not named Juan Soto or Vlad Jr. need time to adjust to the AA level.