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Thursday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Pitching Probables
Rochester Won, 8-4 vs. Buffalo, 6:05 p.m. Adon (0-1, 4.35) vs. Yosver Zulueta (0-0, 0.00)
Harrisburg Won, 7-6 vs. Richmond, 12 p.m. Rutledge (0-0, 3.86) vs. Seymour (0-0, 2.25)
Wilmington Won, 7-5 vs. Hickory, 6:35 p.m. A. Lara (0-0, 0.00) vs. TBD
Fredericksburg Lost, 15-2 @ Fayetteville, 7:05 p.m. Bennett (0-0, 0.00) vs. A. Taylor (pro debut)

Rochester 8 Buffalo 4
• T. Romero 3⅓ IP, 3H, 1R, 1ER, 2BB, 4K
• Ferrer (W, 1-0) 1⅔ IP, 1H, 0R, 1BB, 1K, WP
• Y. Hernández 3-5, R,
• Barreto 2-5, 2R, 2HR, 2RBI
• Blankenhorn 2-4, R, BB, 2RBI

Rochester scored in each of its first three ups to build a 6-1 lead and cruised to an 8-4 win over Buffalo. Tommy Romero got the start and pitched into the 4th, allowing one run on three hits and two walks while striking out four. Jose Ferrer closed out the 4th and pitched the 5th to get the win. He allowed one hit, one walk, and struck out one. Franklin Barreto, Travis Blankenhorn, and Wilson Garcia each drove in two as the Red Wings marched to a 17-hit parade, led by Yadiel Hernández.

Harrisburg 7 Richmond 6
• Cuevas 3+ IP, 4H, 5R, 4ER, 3BB, 2K, WP
• Ribalta (BS, 1) 1IP, 2H, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 0K
• Willingham (W, 1-0) 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• Harris 3-4, 2R
• Meregildo 2-4, R, HR, 2RBI
• Millas 2-4, R, 2B

The Senators rallied from deficits of 1-0 and 5-1 and blew a 6-5 lead but a passed ball in the bottom of the 9th plated the gamewinner for a 7-6 walk-off win. Michael Cuevas was knocked from the box in the 4th, charged with five runs (four earned) on four hits and three walks. He struck out two. Harrisburg scored in every inning from the 3rd to the 7th, making the most of their chances with a 4-for-8 RISP mark and just five left on, “thanks” to Yasel Antuna for getting picked off at third to end the 7th. Trey Harris led the 11-hit attack with three singles, with Omar Meregildo and Will Frizzell both hitting solo shots.

Wilmington 7 Hickory 5
• Alvarez (W, 1-0) 5IP, 4H, 3R, 3ER, 1BB, 3K, 2HR, PO @ 1B
• M. Perez (H, 1) 2IP, 2H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 5K
• Wood 3-5, R, 2B, 2RBI,
• W. Perez 2-3, 2B, BB, 2RBI, SB
• Lipscomb 2-4, R, RBI, SB

Wilmington opened up the Book of Genesis with a big inning in the 4th to turn a 3-1 deficit into a 5-3 lead and held on for 7-5 win. Andrew Alvarez was dinged for three runs on two homers and four hits total over five innings. He walked one and fanned three while earning his first win of the season. Marlon Perez and Jack Sinclair both gave up a run over two innings to pick up the hold and save respectively. Five Blue Rocks notched multiple hits, led by James Wood with two singles, a double, and two RBI. Wilmer Perez also doubled, drove in two, and stole a base.

Fayetteville 15 Fredericksburg 2
• Denaburg 2IP, 4H, 5R, 5ER, 2BB, 1K, 2HR
• Witt ⅓ IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 0K, 3-0 IR-S
• Thomas 3-5, R, SB
• House 0-1, 3BB, SB
• 0-8 RISP, 10 LOB

When the most effective pitcher was a position player, you know it was a rough night for the FredNats. Losing pitcher Mason Denaburg did little to prove 29 teams wrong for passing him over in the Rule 5 draft with five runs let in on four hits (two HR) over just two innings. He walked two and struck out one. The trio of Bryan Caceres, Jose Ulloa, and Juan Abreu combined for the last 10 runs allowed on nine hits and ten (10) walks. Johnathan Thomas reached base with three singles while Brady House did the same with three walks. They both stole a base. The rest of the lineup went 1-for-25 with four walks and 13 K’s.
Roster moves: Robert Hassell assigned from Harrisburg for MiLB Rehab.

15 Commments

  1. Wood now at .389 and Lipscomb at .368. Small sample sizes, but certainly encouraging.

    Hassell about to start rehab: also encouraging.

    Denaburg: not encouraging at all. Sigh.

    2. Welcome to City Isle Frankie T
      Fellow 3/31 birthday dude
      Numerous fans here have chatted that they would take
      Length of innings from JR and less punch outs . Harnessing pitch count priority one
      Fascinated by Alvarez doing bullpen duty this past week then
      Starter last night

    3. 85F hot hitting weather
      JDL agrees big win vs good Ranger farm club
      Including Damien Easley son .

  2. I had the misfortune of attending the FredNats game in Fayetteville last night. I saw Denaburg pitch here last year and last night looked nothing like last year. Last year he was throwing 94-95, last night was 87-88. He couldn’t get any breaking balls over the plate (3 wild pitches/passed balls in 2 innings) and gave up 2 long HR’s when he did get it over the plate. He never looked comfortable and they mercifully pulled him after the 2nd inning.

    Still a lot of strikeouts by our hitters as well, they seem to have trouble reading fastballs from off-speed/breaking balls. They’re either behind on the fastballs or way out front on the breaking balls.

    Hopefully it was just a bad night very early in the season, Thomas can really fly and was entertaining on the basepaths. House showed good plate discipline in drawing 3 walks.

    1. Good insight, thanks!

      If Denaburg’s velocity has dipped that dramatically, I fear another undiagnosed injury…

    2. there was no radar gun on the broadcast, your reported velo explains why he was throwing so many off speed pitches. he ended last year the same way. he also works way too fast for my liking but ironically got hit with two pitch clock violations, the second of which should have gone the other way as the batter was late setting up.

    3. Thomas has the most bizarre career stats I’ve seen. hardly played at all for three years at Houston then lights it up in summer league play and after transferring.

      1. Texas Southern is a big step down from U of H, but yeah. Some claim that Thomas has 80-grade speed, which seems to be the main selling point for Enrique Bradfield of Vandy, who is being talked of as a mid-first rounder. Thomas had nine homers in college last season, and four in the summer league in 2021, so apparently he doesn’t hit with a wet noodle. Billy Burns rides again?

    4. If you will be at tonight’s game I will make a deal with you to take some photos. Email me Steve @ TalkNats .com

      Thanks.

    5. If you will be at tonight’s game I will make a deal with you to take some photos. Email me Steve @ TalkNats .com

      Thanks.

    1. don’t go to the dark side now, it’s a brand new world for us Nats minor league watchers!

  4. I probably like Romero more than I should but happy to see him in the rotation. pretty good outing with his fastball up a couple tics early on.

    Ferrer yanking his slider the entire time but worked around trouble and made a nice grab and double play to get out of the fourth

    1. Just think about it, if Ferrer had a great camp, he would have been on the Opening Day roster instead of Banda. As it is, he had a poor camp and has shown he needs a lot more work. With Ferrer and Cronin as the supposed next up and Brzykcy down with Tommy John, it’s probably back to Weems and Machado as the near-term depth.

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