Tuesday’s News & Notes

Rochester Red Wings (35-25, 1st place, 1GA, I.L. East)
Rochester is somehow still in first place after getting their asses handed to them swept by St. Paul last week. With the Jaguar back in the shop, Jackson Tetreault is expected to get his ticket punched to DC tonight as the most rested option available.

Harrisburg Senators (26-31, 5th place, 7GB, E.L. Southwest)
Senators, who took five of seven from the last-place BaySox, remain home for six this week against the first-place Flying Squirrels. A .500+ finish in the first half is still possible, provided Harrisburg can win nine or more of the next 12 games.

Wilmington Blue Rocks (28-26, 2nd place, 9GB, Sally Lg. North)
Wilmington returns from a 7-5 road trip to face first-place Brooklyn for eight games, thanks to the fogouts last month. The Cyclones are effectively one or two wins away from clinching the division, as the first half is set to end on the 23rd.

Fredericksburg Nationals (30-27, T1st, 2GA, Carolina League North)
The good news is that the FredNats are in a position to win the first half. The bad news: They’re playing the 40-win Pelicans on the road this week before heading north to Salem next week. Meanwhile, the two teams Fredericksburg is currently tied with – Lynchburg and Carolina – are facing sub-.500 teams for the rest of the half.

FCL Nationals 3 FCL Astros Orange 2 (10 inn.)
• M. Thompson 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• Aldonis 5IP, 3H, 0R, 0BB, 10K, HBP
• M. Gomez (W, 2-0) 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Quintana 3-4, RBI
• Cruz 2-4, SAC

Despite grounding into four inning-ending double plays, the F-Nats prevailed in extras, 3-2, over the F-Astros Orange. Pablo Aldonis struck out 10 in five scoreless innings of relief but the win went to Miguel Gomez as the pitcher of record as the defense nailed the free runner trying to score from third on a grounder to the third baseman^* in the top of the 10th. Armando Cruz attempted a sacrifice to move the runner over in the bottom of the 10th, but the FAO reliever did him one better by throwing it away^* to lose the game. Roismar Quintana led the F-Nats’ nine-single offense with three, followed by two apiece by Cruz and Christopher De La Cruz.
^* Reminder: This is rookie ball.

DSL Colorado 2 DSL Nationals 1
• Moron (L, 1-1) 5IP, 4H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 7K
• C. Sanchez 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Vaquero 2-4
• Castro 1-3, BB

Three double plays helped make up for four errors, but the D-Nats also struck out 13 times in a 2-1 loss to D-Colorado. Raynel Moron turned in five innings of one-run ball on four hits, no walks, and seven whiffs but took the loss. Chrithian Vaquero singled twice and Sebastian Caston singled and walked as the only two D-Nats batters to reach base twice while Enmanuel Ramirez tripled and scored the lone run ahead of a Juan Garcia single in the 7th.