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Thursday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Pitching Probables
Rochester Won, 5-0 @ Norfolk, 12:05 p.m. Irvin (1-1, 5.02) vs. B. Zimmermann (0-1, 3.72)
Harrisburg Lost, 5-3 @ Akron, 6:35 p.m. Parker (0-1, 14.29) vs. G. Williams (1-0, 0.96)
Wilmington Won, 5-3 @ Brooklyn, 7 p.m. Lara (0-0, 3.60) vs. Gómez (0-0, 12.27)
Fredericksburg Lost, 7-4 vs. Delmarva, 7:05 p.m. Susana (0-1, 6.35) vs. Beck (0-0, 6.43)

Rochester 5 Norfolk 0
• Adon (W, 1-2) 5⅓ IP, 6H, 0R, 1BB, 5K, PTV
• Cronin (H, 2) 1⅔ IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 1K, 1-0 IR-S
• Baker 1-3, 2R, 2BB, 2B
• Mazara 1-4, 3RBI
• Plawecki 0-1, 3BB

Four Red Wings combined to shut out the Tides, 7-0, on seven hits. Joan Adon went the first five and a 1/3rd, allowing six hits and a walk while striking out five. Matt Cronin stranded a runner while getting out of the 6th then put up a goose egg in the 7th. Gerson Moreno and Jordan Weems did likewise. Darren Baker reached base three times with a double and two walks while Nomar Mazara drove in three while going 1-for-4 to lead the Rochester offense.

Akron 5 Harrisburg 3
• Rutledge 6IP, 5H, 2R, 2ER, 2BB, 4K
• Cate (H, 1; L, 0-1) ⅔ IP, 1H, 2R, 0ER, 0BB, 2K, PTV
• Willingham (BS, 1) ⅓ IP, 2H, 1R, 0ER, 0BB, 0K, 2-2 IR-S
• Tostado 2-5
• Arruda 1-2, R, BB, RBI, SB

Two errors led to three unearned runs, turning a 3-2 lead into a 5-3 defeat for Harrisburg. Jackson Rutledge turned in his first quality start of ’23 with six innings of two-run ball on five hits and two walks while fanning four. Tim Cate struck out two but put on two runners with a single and “help” from Leonel Valera. Amos Willingham blew the save with back-to-back singles before rolling a 3-1 putout to end the frame. The Sens managed just five hits, with but one in 11 RISP chances, but did manage to convert two of their eight walks drawn into a run with Valera HR in the 1st and two sacrifices in the 2nd. They left on 11 baserunners, including the tying runs in the 9th.

Wilmington 5 Brooklyn 3
• Alvarez 4⅔ IP, 2H, 2R, 1ER, 3BB, 9K, 2WP
• Zinn (W, 2-0) IP, 1H, 1R, 0ER, 1BB, 2K
• Schoff (SV, 1) 1IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• Wood 1-3, 3B, BB, HBP, 2K
• De La Rosa 1-3, R, 2BB
• White 1-3, R, BB, RBI

Blue Rocks rallied for four runs in the 8th to erase a 3-1 deficit and take another one from the Cyclones, 5-3. Andrew Alvarez retired the first 10 batters he faced but saw the no-no turn into an ugh-ugh with single runs in the 4th and 5th innings. He finished with two runs (one earned) on two hits and three walks while striking out a career-best of nine. Jaren Zinn tossed two scoreless to pick up the win while Tyler Schoff cordero’d around a one-out single and a two-out double to earn the save. T.J. White’s one-run single with the bases loaded in the 8th was the one hit in 13 RISP chances, as Wilmington got two bases-loaded walks and a sac fly to complete the aforementioned scoring binge.

Delmarva 7 Fredericksburg 4
• Bennett 5IP, 3H, 2R, 1ER, 2BB, 9K
• Atencio (L, 0-2) 2IP, 6H, 3R, 3ER, 1BB, 4K
• Witt 2-4, R, HR, 2RBI, PB
• Infante 1-2, R, 2BB, HR, RBI, CS

Delmarva had its way with the Fredericksburg bullpen to break a 2-2 tie and cruise to a 7-4 win. Jake Bennett bounced back to go five innings, with two runs (one earned) on three hits and two walks. He struck out nine. Jose Atencio threw in-game BP again, allowing six hits and three runs over two innings to lose for the second time in as many appearances. Paul Witt and Sammy Infante hit back-to-back HRs in the 9th while Robert Hassell tripled and Branden Boisserie doubled to lead the seven-hit, four-walk attack. Roster moves: C Maxwell Romero placed on the 7-Day I.L.; C Matt Suggs reassigned from Wilmington.

12 Commments

  1. We still consider Alvarez a swing guy or is he being stretched out into a starter ??

  2. Hooray for night of good starting pitching all the way around. Here’s hoping it starts a trend (but not counting on it).

    Good starts to the season for 2d rounders Sammy Infante (.353) and Daylin Lile (.318). Both are striking out too much (gee, where have we heard that before?) but taking some walks. Infante is repeating the level after a .210 season so needs to be showing this significant improvement.

    1. Lile just might be the most underrated player in our system. After losing so much time to injury, I suppose many like me forget that he’s a 2nd rounder and only 20 years old (almost exactly one year older than Elijah Green, for example).

      However the Fburg Nats need to solve this OF log jam. Lile has only played 6 of Fburg’s 11 games. Meanwhile, Donovan Casey was inexplicably rehab demoted to Fburg and has been stealing starts from our bevy of exceptionally talented OFers. No offense to undrafted FA Zion Pettigrew and Courtland Lawson, but they also have no business taking playing time at DH from the likes of Green, Hassell, Cox, Lile and even Johnathon Thomas.

      1. I had the same thought — why in the flip is Casey (age 27, coming off a .216 season at AAA and lucky to still be in baseball) taking playing time from Green, Cox, and Thomas? And yes, why has Lile — a 2d rounder — only played in six games? The Nats’ last two 1st-round picks sat last night. The average age of their single-A lineup was probably about 24.

        As for Lile, there’s going to remain some “prospect” skepticism about him until he develops some HR power. He’s not going to succeed at a corner OF position without it. We certainly hope he does, of course.

        1. The whole “rehab” stint for a minor league player is lost on me anyway.

          Understand why a MLB pitcher, like Strasburg (who was often on the DL) would need a few minor league starts to ramp up before facing MLB competition, but think the Nats may be taking that to the extreme, by placing a AAA or AA player in Single A to ‘rehab’. Isn’t that what West Palm is for?

          Players get reps at the training facility, and when they are healthy enough to play, they should return to their developmental level. Not sure what the explanation is for Casey, since he is past prospect status, but guessing the Nats wanted to Hassell to kill it at Low A for a week after struggling last year. Regardless, agree that it seems dumb to send minor league players to a lower level to ‘rehab’.

          1. I agree in general about the weirdness of minor-league rehab. With the majors, the point of having rehabbing guys in the minors is so you don’t have them tying up a MLB roster spot until they’re full speed. In the minors, if they only play half games at first while coming back, no big deal.

    2. Interesting story in Paul Witt switching into a catcher
      Logging 4 ABs including a HR ( amazing for him ) and caddying for Bennett
      Strikeouts ? We’re guys here and totally understand stroking out in life
      Females , business ventures , fishing , hunting . Lol

  3. Four very good starts from (aside from Bennett) fringe prospects. We’re going to need guys like Adon and Rutledge to rediscover some of that prospect helium for the big league team to stand a chance at being competitive over the next decade. Rutledge hasn’t been dominant, but he’s more than held his own after kind of skipping a level to AA. Looks like Bennett needs a stiffer challenge.

    A few notables from the bullpen: Cronin keeps doing Cronin things. His ERA is down to 1.04. The Nats’ bullpen has been surprisingly solid so far, but Anthony Banda the LOOGY has been as bad as expected (7.20 ERA). Cronin, himself a LOOGY, should be tempting to call up.

    Anyone want to bet on who of Cronin and Alu will get promoted first?

    My bet is on Cronin, even though I’d like to see Alu.

    In Wilmington, Schoff and Harvard grad, Zinn, have been surprisingly good. It would be an amazing story if Zinn can carve out even a good minor league career. He was very bad at Harvard (college career 7.96 ERA) in the very weak Ivy League. I have no idea what scouts saw in him besides him hometown connection, but more of this please.

    Also, Guasch has bounced back nicely after an awful 2022, and seems better suited to relieving than starting. Still only 4.2 IP to go by, but he’s another type of player we’re going to need to start performing well. Hope he can sustain it.

    1. My bet actually would be that they promote Ferrer before Cronin. They seem to favor Ferrer and his velocity, despite his lack of upper-level experience.

  5. Looks like the Nats signed 3 more IFAs .
    You think they paid more than a price of a used car for each ??

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