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Thursday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Pitching Probables
Rochester Won, 8-4 vs. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, 6:45 p.m. Abbott (2-4, 5.77) vs. Vasquez (3-8, 4.59)
Harrisburg Lost, 4-2 @ Binghamton, 6:35 p.m. Parker (9-4, 4.43) vs. Suarez
Wilmington Lost, 9-3 vs. Hudson Valley, 6:35 p.m. Cáceres (0-5, 8.78) vs. Calderon (A+ debut)
Fredericksburg Won, 9-6 vs. Lynchburg, 7:05 p.m. Sullivan (1-0, 5.40) vs. Peterson (6-7, 4.21)

Rochester 8 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 4
• Peralta 4IP, 3H, 3R, 2ER, 2BB, 6K, HR
• Banda (W, 1-3) 1IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 0K
• García 2-3, 3R, BB, 2B, 3RBI, SB
• Noll 2-4, 2B, 2RBI
• Blankenhorn 1-4, R, HR, 2RBI

Rochester rallied from a 3-1 with deficit with four in the 5th, highlighted by Luis García’s three-run double as the Red Wings doubled up the RailRiders, 8-4. That made a winner out of a Anthony Banda for the first time in ’23, having pitched a scoreless 5th. Wily Peralta started and muddled through four innings, giving up three runs on three hits (one HR) and two walks while striking out six. García also walked, singled, and stole a base while Jake Noll drove in two with a double in the 4th and an RBI single in the 5th to pace the Red Wings offense. Roster moves: RHP Tanner Rainey MLB rehab transferred from Harrisburg; UT Paul Witt placed on the Development List.

Binghamton 4 Harrisburg 2
• Alvarez 4⅓ IP, 4H, 2R, 2ER, 5BB, 3K, HBP
• Troop 2⅓ IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 2K, 2-0 IR-S
• Ruotolo (L, 2-2) ⅓ IP, 1H, 2R, 2ER, 3BB, 0K, BK
• Hassell 2-4, 2B, RBI, SB
• Tostado 2-4, RBI
• 2-11 RISP; 11 LOB

Two runs weren’t enough for the Senators pitchers to work with as the Rumble Ponies galloped to a 4-2 win. Andrew Alvarez pitched into the 5th, allowing two runs on four hits and five walks over four and a 1/3rd innings. He struck out three. The loss went to Patrick Ruotolo, who gave up a leadoff single in the 8th then walked three straight. Jack Sinclair got the last three outs, the first on a sacrifice fly. Frankie Tostado got the sixth and final hit for Harrisburg wih one out in the 9th but neither Donovan Casey nor Israel Pineda could push him up to second, never mind across. Tostado and Robert Hassell both went 2-for-4 with an RBI while James Wood and Trey Lipscomb each had a single.



Hudson Valley 9 Wilmington 3
• Bennett (L, 0-3) 2⅔ IP, 10H, 7R, 7ER, 0BB, 0K, HR
• Guasch 1⅓ IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 0K
• Pinckney 2-3, R, 2BB,
• Morales 2-4, 2B, BB
• 0-10 RISP; 11 LOB

Jake Bennett retired the side in order in the 1st. After that? Not so much. Hudson Valley went to town on the southpaw for seven runs on 10 hits en route to a 9-3 beatdown of Wilmington. It was Bennett’s second loss in three starts after going missing for nearly two months. Andrew Pinckney reached base four times with two singles and two walks while Yohandy Morales doubled, walked, and singled to lead the Blue Rocks offense. Roster moves: SS José Sánchez activated from the Developmental List.

Fredericksburg 9 Lynchburg 6
• Cornelio 5IP, 6H, 4R, 3ER, 3BB, 4K
• Hall (W, 3-2) 2IP, 2H, 2R, 1ER, 1BB, 0K
• Pogue (SV, 1) 2IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Vaquero 3-5, 3R, 3B, HR, 5RBI, SB
• Quintana 2-4, 2RBI, 2K
• Brown 1-4, R, HR, 2RBI

Mike Tyson’s favorite Nats prospect Christhian Vaquero had a career-best eight total bases and five RBI in a 9-6 FredNats win over the Hillcats. The 18-y.o. Cuban was a double shy of the cycle as he scored three runs and stole his third base. Riley Cornelio started and let in four runs (three earned) on six hits and three walks while striking out four. Bubba Hall picked up the win despite giving up two runs in two innings. Nick Pogue locked it down with two perfect innings to get the save. Roismar Quintana drove in two with a pair of RBI singles while Marcus Brown connected for his first HR as a pro, a two-run shot that tied the game at 4-4 in the 4th. Fredericksburg’s third straight win pulled the Nats’ Low-A entry to within two of C.L. North-leading Carolina with ten games left to play.

11 Commments

  1. when you start Antuna in LF and Pena in CF you’re asking for trouble. yes Bennett gave up some contact, but the Rocks kicked it all over the field, threw to the wrong base, botched a rundown and missed the opportunity to bail him out a couple times.

    1. Good catch. That’s some horrible roster construction. 9 infielders to go along with 4 OFs….

      Why not give Frizzell an undeserved promotion to AA, since they recently created this roster problem that they didn’t need to by unjustifiably promoting Boissiere. Or Murphy Stehly could also get a bump to Harrisburg, hitting .322/.386/.435, now that Morales is blocking him at 3B.

      After Harrisburg’s insane outfield, their team is pretty bad. Their 1B is Frankie Tostado, hitting .239/.300/.382.

      Meanwhile in Fredericksburg, there’s a mini glut of OF, with Vaquero, Green, Nunez, Thomas and Quintana all competing for playing time. Nunez has earned a quick promotion after batting .310/.429/.324, mostly because he’s CF capable. But Roismar Quintana has had a fantastic past two months, hitting .320/.437/.387 to earn a promotion.

      Either would be better than using Viandel Pena in the OF, who never played there in 5 seasons before a couple weeks ago.

  2. Guess I should post every day to question Vaquero’s power! LOL. I’m always glad to be made to “look bad” in that way. He’s really coming on. It seems pretty safe to say that he’s now passed Green (0-5, 3 Ks) in prospect status at the moment.

    FredMD made a good point in a follow-up comment to mine yesterday: Green has plate discipline in that he’s taking walks and seems to know the strike zone. His bigger issue is chase/miss in the zone, which is concerning. It is more manageable if he’s not chasing a lot of bad pitches, though, at least theoretically. This will be a big fall/winter for the young man. It’s been a humbling year for him, and he’s going to have to work hard to adjust.

  3. The good news out of Wilmington is Yoyo and Pinckney continue to rake and looking better by the day.

    How is that lineup at Harrisburg doing so badly for over a week now?

    1. It’s fair to think that part of it is that a lot of the younger players are hitting a wall, not just with the number of games, but with the travel and the minor-league lifestyle. We scratch our heads when we see org guys starting ahead of prospects, but the managers are probably just trying to give some of these guys a break from the grind.

      1. I agree. It’s a big difference playing 6 days a week. A lot of people don’t realize they are at the field working on things all afternoon and then playing a game in the evening. In watching the Sens on the island and on MILBTV, it seems like there are too many swings and misses on fastballs over the plate. Last night, however, the home plate umpire was the problem. Too many called third strikes on balls off the plate. Cluff was ejected for saying something and I thought House would too.

    1. I think Bennett was hurt or at the very least experiencing more soreness than usual. His mechanics look very deliberate, as if he’s trying not to do somethng vs. trying to execute. It’s always tempting to write off that many hits to shitty defense, but minor-league hitters will hit a waist-high fastball over the plate… and there were a lot of those (hits and fat fastballs) in the 2nd and 3rd innings.

      I have question the wisdom of giving him SO much time off now that’s been cleared to pitch. I get that they want to limit his pitch count/innings, but I don’t think they’re doing him any favors by giving him seven or more days off between appearances, as they have in 11 of his 15 starts.

  5. August had two full moons .
    Who knows what factors lull players into slumps , errors , not being in the moment ??
    Cornelio has been behind the latest overall FRED push above .500.

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