Friday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Probables |
| Rochester | Won, 2-1 (10 inn.) |
vs. Lehigh Valley, 6:05 p.m. | Gore (MLB Rehab) vs. Crouse (0-2, 11.70) |
| Harrisburg | Won, 11-0 | @ New Hampshire, 6:35 p.m. | Irvin (0-4, 4.81) vs. Schultz (7-6, 4.10) |
| Fredericksburg | Lost, 5-2 | @ Lynchburg, 2:30 p.m. | A. Lara (3-8, 5.51) vs. Webb (1-1, 3.92) |
Rochester 2 Lehigh Valley 1 (10 inn.)
• Kilome 5IP, 2H, 0R, 2BB, 7K
• C. Taylor 2IP, 1H, 0R, 2BB, 3K
• Baldonado (W, 3-2) 1IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 1K, PO @ 1B
• Flores 2-4, R
• Nogowski 1-3, R, BB, RBI
John Nogowski homered in the 8th to it at 1-1 and then scored in the 10th for a 2-1 Rochester win over Lehigh Valley – the first four-game winning streak for the Red Wings since May 26-29. The 10th was a nightmare for the visitors, as the IronPigs ran themselves out of the top of the 10th with a 1-3-6-2-5-1-7 rundown. In the bottom half, the Red Wings sacrificed the free runner to 3rd and then issued two intentional walks before a wild pitch sent in the gamewinner.
Franklyn Kilome turned in five scoreless innings to start, allowing two hits, two walks, and striking out seven. The win went to Alberto Baldonado, who worked around a one-out walk and struck out the last batter of the 10th. Jecksson Flores singled twice to extend his hit streak to nine games and led the Rochester offense.
Harrisburg 11 New Hampsire 0
• Herrera (W, 5-9) 6IP, 3H, 0R, 2BB, 6K
• Schaller 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• Cluff 2-5, R, 2-2B (21), RBI, SB, E
• Daily 2-5, 2R, 3B, 2RBI
• Hassell 2-5, 3RBI
• W. Garcia 2-6, 2RBI
Four Senators pitchers combined to shut out the Fisher Cats on four hits, 11-0. The good Ronald Herrera showed up again to toss his 10th quality start with three hits allowed and two walks issued over six innings to win his fifth game. Darren Baker was the beer man as Harrisburg marched to a twelve-hit parade, led by Jackson Cluff with two doubles and Cole Daily with a single and a triple.
Lynchburg 5 Fredericksburg 2
• Susana ⅓ IP, 1H, 4R, 4ER, 4BB, 1K
• Collins 3⅔ IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 4K
• Lipscomb 2-3, SF, RBI
• J. Young 1-3, R, BB, SB
It was pretty clear very early that this one would not be Fredericksburg’s night. Jarlin Susana walked four of the first five batters he faced and yet somehow managed to get one strikeout before giving up a base-clearing double to put the FredNats into a 4-0 hole after just six batters and 29 pitches. For those wondering, Susana’s velo was “only” in the high-90s while his pitches were mostly shoulder- or ankle-high and little-to-no movement.
The Fredericksburg bullpen did its job, with four pitchers combining for seven and 2/3rds innings of one-run ball on two hits and four walks. The FredNats offense did not, managing just five singles while striking out 12 times – including the last six outs of the night.
The two teams will meet this afternoon to determine who gets to make the long bus ride to Charleston, SC for Game One of the 2022 Mills Cup Championship. On Tuesday, the planned starter for today was Andry Lara, but that had changed to “TBD” for both teams. While Lara would be working on a full week’s rest and dominated the Hillcats the last time he faced them, it should be noted that Jose Atencio would be available on four days’ rest, has fewer innings thrown this year, and shut out Lynchburg for five innings last month.
UPDATE: Andry Lara has been named the FredNats starter for this afternoon’s CLDS Game 3.
Robert Hassell III is slashing .306/.404/.429 in September as the Natosphere breathes a sigh of relief. It will be interesting to see whether they send him to the AFL to keep working on his revised swing. One would think that the big club hopes he performs well enough at AAA next spring to be able to make his MLB debut by mid-summer.
Irwin shoots for the 100 IP ceiling at Burg like Herrera , Troop and Reyes before him .
the interesting thing about Hassell is how he is hitting the ball almost exclusively to the left side. I’ve been looking at some of the game results from earlier in the year (2 doubles and a HR all to left in one game) and see a lot of the same, so the reported swing change is apparently not about that. not that there’s anything wrong with the approach but if they start coming inside he’ll have to be able to turn on it occasionally
The FredNats hitters are feeling the pressure after 2 games. I remember reading Tom Boswell after the 1997 ALCS talking about how the hitters were gripping the bats so hard you could see sawdust in the batters box. This feels very similar.
We have 1 more game today them to get their mojo back.
getting down 4 runs after one didn’t help matters either
Today’s FredNats game is at 2:30, not 6:30 as shown.
Pressure ? Milton Bradley in the ninth for Sens vs Yankee affiliate with ducks on the pond .
Tater !
Michael Barrett was on same club so he’s probably told a few kids the story .
interesting decision on the starter for the FredNats, it would be nice if the hitters gave ’em a little cushion. I’d go with Atencio and tell Lara to be ready to come in early if needed.
Agree Lara long work out of pen
The FanGraphs write-up on Hassell has good detail on Hassell’s swing evolution:
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/san-diego-padres-top-35-prospects-2022/
Apparently, it’s been a work in progress for more than two seasons. Frankly, it’s remarkable that he’s had as much success as he’s had with that much adjustment.
As FredMD noted, with Hassell hitting so much the opposite way, one lingering question is how much HR power he might develop. He’s got the size to develop a lot more of it, and he just turned 21. I’ll certainly take advanced contact as a starting point, though. This organization doesn’t have nearly enough of it.
I meant to ask yesterday, but does anyone who was there or watching have a report on Seth Romero’s velocity? It was said in a recent start that he wasn’t even breaking 90. He’s still striking a lot of guys out but also walking a crazy number of them.
getting regular velocity readings is dependent on the away announcers so it’s been sketchy. I’d say he’s been in the low (very) 90s. with no one on base he pitches for the very edges and hence the walks. but he also has very good breaking pitches and get a lot of swings and misses. when guys get on he comes after them a little more.
he’s pitched so little in the last few years that it’s hard to predict his future, if he’s finally got his life in order then at least he’s increased his chances.
The Arizona Fall League rosters were announced. I’m sure Luke will have the full skinny tomorrow but there were only 3 of the Nats Top 30 there.
Robert Hassell, Yasel Antuna, and Drew Millas.
He says scratching his head.
Maybe the good news is that none of the Nats’ Top 30 guys are both eligible to play and eligible for the Rule 5 draft? Frankly, I’m surprised Antuna and Millas are still considered Top-30 material.