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Thursday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Pitching Matchup
Fresno OFF DAY @ Salt Lake, 7:35 p.m. TBD and Ondrusek (2-2, 5.06) vs.
TBD and Peters (2-1, 4.70)
Harrisburg Lost, 3-1 OFF DAY N/A
Potomac ALL-STAR BREAK vs. Carolina, 7:05 p.m. TBD vs. TBD
Hagerstown ALL-STAR BREAK @ Rome, 7:00 p.m. TBD vs. Olague (5-4, 3.33)
Auburn Lost, 5-4, (11 inn.);
Won, 5-0		 vs. Batavia, 7:00 p.m. N. Gomez (0-1, 1.80) vs. Reed (1-0, 0.00)

Fresno – OFF DAY
After a 4-3 homestand, the Grizzles are headed back on the road for six against the Bees, beginning with a completion doubleheader tonight in Salt Lake City. They’ll pick up where they left off on April 10 with Fresno leading 8-1 after three innings, then play a seven-inning game.
Roster moves: RHP Austin Voth recalled to Washington.

Altoona 3 Harrisburg 1
• Fuentes (L, 3-2) 5IP, 9H, 3R, 3ER, BB, 4K
• Baez 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• C. Taylor 1-3, R, 2B
• Wiseman 1-3, RBI

For the first time this season Harrisburg is looking up in the standings with a 3-1 loss to Altoona to open the second half. Steven Fuentes was bent for three runs on nine hits by the Curve while issuing a walk and striking out four to lose his second AA contest. Four relievers combined to throw three scoreless innings, but like the night before, the offense was barely able to avoid a shutout. Chuck Taylor doubled with two out, and Rhett Wiseman followed with a single. No other Senator reached second base, as the other two singles (Tres Barrera, Luis Garcia) were erased by double plays.

Potomac – ALL STAR BREAK
Still no word on additional moves to shake up the roster as the Carolina League hits the reset button tonight. Weather permitting, the P-Nats begin a seven-game homestand tonight with four against the Mudcats and three versus the Blue Rocks.

Hagerstown – ALL STAR BREAK
One or two more moves are also likely in Hagerstown as there’s an 24 men active on the 25-man roster and seven players inactive.

Batavia 5 Auburn 4 – COMP.
• Strom 5IP, 2H, 2R, 1ER, BB, 7K, HR
• Milacki (H, 1) 3IP, 3H, 0R, BB, K
• F. Perez (BS, 1; L, 0-1) 2⅓ IP, 4H, 3R, ER, 0BB, 2K, HR
• Caulfield 2-4, R, SF, RBI
• W. Perez 1-3, R, 2B, BB, SF, RBI

Fray Perez gave up a HR in the 9th to blow a 3-2 lead, a two-out double to blow a 4-3 lead, and back-to-back singles in the 11th to lose, 5-4. Looks like he’ll fit right in with the current crop of relievers in DC. Leif Strom made the start and let in the first two Muckdog runs on two hits, including a home run. He walked one and struck out a career-best seven. Bobby Milacki tossed three shutout innings to earn his first hold. Phil Caulfield and Wilmer Perez both hit sacrifice files and combined for three of the eight Auburn hits as the Doubledays were just 2-for-15 with RISP.

Auburn 5 Batavia 0 – GAME TWO
• Troop 3IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 3K
• E. Lee (W, 1-0) 2⅔ IP, 4H, 0R, BB, 5K
• McMahan 1⅓ IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 0K, 3-0 IR-S
• Dunn 2-3, R, BB, RBI
• Alu 2-3
• Arruda 1-3, R, 3B, 3RBI

The Doubledays scored five times in the 5th while three pitchers combined on a six-hit, 5-0 shutout for Auburn’s first “W” of 2019. J.T. Arruda struck the big blow after four straight walks with a bases-clearing triple then trotted in on Eric Senior’s three-bagger. Alex Troop tossed three scoreless innings, with one hit allowed, no walks, and three whiffs. Evan Lee added two more goose eggs before loading the bases in the 6th. Pearson McMahan stranded three while getting the last out and preserved the shutout with a final zero on the bottom of the linescore. Jack Dunn and Jake Alu led the hit column with two singles apiece while Anthony Peroni drew two of the five walks to lead the Doubledays offense.

11 Commments

  1. Alex Troop lives! Hope he can build up and move back up the system. He’s one I had high hopes for when he was drafted, a Friday starter at Michigan State plus a great two-way player as a hitter. I believe Evan Lee was also an excellent hitter as well, particularly in high school.

    I’m curious what the story is on Pearson McMahon. He was drafted by COL just two years ago (2017), in the 4th round, and signed for $430K — not the type of guy teams usually give up on so quickly. His transaction line says he was released on 5/17. He had a rather ugly 6.03 ERA and 1.88 WHIP for the full-season A- Rox affiliate in 14 starts this year. He’s from a FLA JUCO, a pool from which the Nats have drafted a lot of pitching in recent years, so they must have scouted him in college.

    1. KW, thanks for the Intel on McMahon. Didn’t know anything about it. To be let go so soon after giving him that kind of money seems like a knucklehead issue. Of course, we’ll never know but it is interesting.

      Look how long the Nats let Raquet struggle, for the same amount of money, before finally seeing some progress.

      A minor struggle for Fuentes, look forward to his next start.

      1. Luke. What happened ? Josh Wilson in Fresno box. He did not go to South Korea ??

  4. Mark — I had the same thought: that it would be rare to see a $430K guy released after just two years unless there was some off-the-field stuff. Don’t want to imply anything at all, though, as we don’t know. And I would bet the Nats have connections all over the FLA JUCO circuit and checked his background with some of his former coaches.

    Of course the Nats still have the much bigger (and more expensive) knucklehead they drafted in the 1st round in 2017 . . . (I wonder whether Romero will be able to see some game action by the end of the summer.)

    1. Since Romero had the maturity level of a 14 year old when he was drafted, this long rehab might be a good thing. The hope is that by the time he starts pitching again he will made it all the way to a 18 year old.

      Hope springs eternal!

      1. We can only reference Roy Hobbs in fiction who took 15 years Homeric journey …

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