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Friday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Pitching Matchup
Fresno Won, 3-1 vs. Reno, 10:05 p.m. Hoover (4-3, 6.82) vs. Payamps (0-1, 3.68)
Harrisburg Won, 1-0
(10 inn.)		 @ Portland, 7:00 p.m. Kent (4-3, 2.95) McGowin (1st AA start of ’19)
Potomac Lost, 5-0 @ Frederick, 7:00 p.m. Raquet (6-8, 4.65) vs. Hall (3-4, 3.71)
Hagerstown Won, 2-0
(10 inn.)		 @ Columbia, 7:05 p.m. Adon (8-3, 4.20) vs. Acosta (1-1, 2.51)
Auburn Lost, 6-2 vs. Mahoning Valley, 7:00 p.m. R. Gomez (1-2, 5.72) vs. Eichhorn (2-1, 7.20)
GCL Nationals Lost, 2-1 vs. GCL Marlins, 12:00 p.m.

Sacramento 8 Fresno 6
• Crowe 6IP, 6H, R, ER, 2BB, 5K, WP; 1-2, 2B
• Kontos (W, 2-0) 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Bourque (SV, 2) 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Noll 1-3, 2B, BB, RBI, E(19)
• C. Kieboom 2-4

The Grizzlies avoided a sweep with a pair of HRs in the 7th as they took down the River Cats, 3-1. Wil Crowe will catch the attention of the MASN and WaPo commenters with six innings of one-run ball on six hits and two walks while striking out five. The decision went to George Kontos, who put up a goose egg in the 7th for the win, as did Ronald Peña in the 8th for the hold, and James Bourque in the 9th for the save. José “Orange” Marmolejos and Brandon Snyder both homered while Carter Kieboom singled twice to lead the Fresno offense.
Roster moves: C Raudy Read optioned from Washington.

Harrisburg 1 Portland 0 (10 inn.)
• A. Lee 6IP, 4H, 0R, 2BB, 4K
• Mills (W, 2-1) 1⅓ IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 2K*
• Barrett (SV, 22) ⅓ IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 0K
• Garcia 1-4
• Ward 1-4
* Yes, I noticed there’s a 1/3rd of an inning missing from the box score; my guess is that the fielder’s choice was actually an out

Harrisburg had just two runners reach second, and it was the freebie in the 10th that scored the lone run in the 10th for a 1-0, six-hit shutout of Portland in the opener. Andrew Lee went the first six innings and allowed two walks and four hits while fanning four. Jacob Condra-Bogan followed with a scoreless inning for each of his last names. Jordan Mills pitched the 9th and part of the 10th and picked up the win, his second, while Aaron Barrett finished the game for his 22nd save. Tres Barrera delivered the game-winner with a sac fly while Luis Garcia and Drew Ward both had a single.
Roster moves: UT Adrián Sanchez optioned to Washington; RHP Mario Sanchez place on 7-Day I.L. retroactive to July 24.

Wilmington 5 Potomac 0
• Johnston (L, 9-9) 7IP, 3H, R, ER, 2BB, 8K
• Reyes 1IP, 3H, 4R, 4ER, 2BB, 2K
• Bartow (SV, 5) 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 0K
• Harrison 2-4
• Masters 2-4

Kyle Johnson had another Dr. Jekyll outing while Luis Reyes was Mr. Hyde as the Blue Rocks shut out the P-Nats, 5-0 to take the series, 3-1. Johnston went seven full innings for the fourth time this year, allowing the first run on three hits and two walks while setting down eight on strikes. Luis Reyes faced eight batters in the 8th and retired three of them. In between, four runs came in on three hits and two walks. Meanwhile, the Potomac offense was limited to seven singles and two, with K.J. Harrison and David Masters both going 2-for-4.
Roster moves: IF Austin Davidson demoted from Harrisburg; IF Bryan Mejia released.

Hagerstown 2 Rome 0 (10 inn.)
• Schaller 5IP, 1H, 0R, BB, 4K, HBP
• Williamson (W, 2-0) 4IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• Howell (SV, 2) 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• Daily 2-4
• Marinconz 1-4

Hagerstown broke up the Star Trek Convention with two runs in the 10th to take the game, 2-0 and the series, 2-1. Reid Schaller (5IP), Ryan Williamson (4IP, W), and Jacob Howell (1IP, SV) combined on the two-hit, one-walk shutout with eight strikeouts. The Suns were held to five hits (all singles) and struck out 14 times. Both runs scored via error.

Williamsport 6 Auburn 2
• Romero (L, 0-2) 5IP, 6H, 3R, 3ER, 2BB, 5K, HR
• Milacki 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 2K, WP
• Randa 1-3, 2B, BB, RBI
• Jo. Sanchez 1-4, E(10)

The Doubledays rallied for two in the 7th to pull within one at 3-2, then gave it away in the 8th for a 6-2 loss. Carlos Romero gave up those first three runs on six hits (one HR) and two walks over five innings for his second loss. Jake Randa reached base twice with a walk and an RBI double as Auburn was held to six hits total.

GCL Cardinals 9 GCL Nationals 1
• Hiraldo (L, 0-2) 2IP, 2H, R, ER, 0BB, 3K, HBP
• B. Peña 2IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 3K
• B. Fernandez 2-3, 2B, 3B, BB, RBI
• Berrios 2-4

17 Commments

  1. Rather momentous news when a 9 year (!!!) member of the organization is released. Bryan Mejia last made news when his OPS at Hagerstown way back when was over .900. He never was able to hit over .500 above that level afterwards. I hope he at least gets a gold watch for his years of service.

    From Low A all the way up there was so much to like with the starting pitching last nite. Just terrific.

    The overpay watch is now on until next Thursday.

    1. Maybe Meijia Wil join the DSL academy coaching Corp or scout ??
      Cane. Your late season purge prediction is playing out
      Yes Johnston with better run support in Potomac could have been 14-4 and in Harrisburg next week

    2. Even that year he drew something like 2 walks. The warning lights were flashing even before he got promoted.

    3. Projection conversion regarding 19 year old Raymi Gomez who is a frail 6 foot 150 pounds.
      I am sure the nutrition wing of the academy experience will bulk him up more with free weights .
      No expectations considering what became of the ceilings on the four main cogs including Bryan M on that GCL flag winner. Silvestre, Jefry- Rod and Raffie B

    4. Getting Ok with Raquet. 7 wins.
      I repeat. Adon with his QS deserves a better fate in 19 than 9 wins. Same with Johnson.
      Should be a fun weekend at the park with the Fresbo low riders

  2. Farewell to Bryan Mejia, whose 2015 season may go down next to Brady Anderson’s 50 HR season as one of the greatest outliers in baseball history. His OPS that season, .937, was nearly .300 points higher than any other single season. Something really clicked with him that season, but he was never able to recapture that production. It was also a hilarious season in which he didn’t get his second BB until September. He went his first 251 plate appearances with one walk (0.4% walk rate), then somehow incredibly walked four times in his final 28 plate appearances (14.3%). That has to be one of my most memorable seasons in recent history.

    This move also appears to confirm Davidson’s fate too. He hasn’t been good this season, but has been criminally mishandled by the club in past years. I guess he’ll go down as those “what ifs” with Yadiel Hernandez and Andrew Istler.

    Finally, it appears Luis Reyes is once again bad. After a brief flirtation with idea of him being a useful reliever, he’s reverted to his typical form, posting a 7.36 ERA in July. He had something like a 26 inning scoreless stretch. Well now he’s very nearly got the opposite of that, giving up runs in 7 of his past 8 outings.

  3. An update on the DSL Nats: you aren’t missing anything. They’re still terrible.

    But there was an interesting appearance yesterday from Eliel Marcano. I’d never heard of him either, but that’s probably because he was one 2019’s IFAs (signed in May). In general, it’s pretty strange for an IFA to appear the same season he signed. Don’t know anything about Marcano, but he’s a 17 year old Venezuelan RHP.

    It seems our international scouts are well connected in Venezuela, because we’re seeing a disproportionate number of them in the DSL over the past two years.

  4. Any chance that Aaron Barrett could return to the Nats MLB roster?

    He has not given up a run in his last 10 appearances, and is 22 for 25 in save OPS. Is he throwing in the mid-90s again?

    1. He’s up to 94-95 mph. I watched him on MiLB.tv the other day and that snapper is at least as good as I remember from 2014. If he isn’t called up in September, at least, I’ll be really surprised.

        1. Two interesting years by Johnston and Adon. Both guys could be double digit game winners whereby their QSs with losses flipped with better offensive output on those unfortunate nights

  6. Roman chorus. How many blown holds and saves does this pourous Nats bullpen 19 have ?
    Free Yadiel. !!!!
    Low ri- der. Fresno play that great pop tune. Take a little trip with me ….

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