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Wednesday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Pitching Matchup (’23 Stats at the Level except for AAA)
Rochester Lost, 6-5 @ Buffalo, 6:05 p.m. Gsellman (0-0, 13.50) vs. Bash (0-0, 6.23)
Harrisburg Lost, 8-7
(10 inn.)		 @ Altoona, 6:30 p.m. Cuevas (4-8, 5.53) vs P. Chen (5-8, 4.44 @ A+)
Wilmington Lost, 4-0 @ Aberdeen, 7:05 p.m. Theophile (0-3, 3.48) vs. Fruit (pro debut)
Fredericksburg Won, 15-4 @ Lynchburg, 6:30 p.m. Sanchez (1-2, 6.42) vs. Humphries (0-6, 5.61 @ ACL)

Buffalo 6 Rochester 5
• Ward 3⅔ IP, 5H, 3R, 3ER, 3BB, 2K, HBP
• Willingham (L, 0-1) 1⅔ IP, 4H, 3R, 2ER, 2BB, 1K, HR
• Yepez 2-4, BB, RBI
• Wood 2-5, 2-2B(5), CS
• Lindsly 2-4, 2B, RBI, PB

After battling back to tie the game at 3-3 in the 5th, Amos Willingham served up a solo HR in the 6th and two more in the 7th as Rochester dropped the series opener, 6-5. Thad Ward got the start and had but one clean inning out of four as he let in three runs on five hits, three walks, and a Robles over three and 2/3rds. James Wood doubled twice without striking out while Juan Yepez reached base three times on a pair of singles and a walk to lead the Red Wings’ offense. Roster moves: RHP Joan Adon recalled to Washington; RHP Stephen Nogosek assigned from XST; C Jarrett Gonzalez activated from Developmental List.

Altoona 8 Harrisburg 7 (10 inn.)
• Luckham 4IP, 2H, 2R, 0ER, 2BB, 5K
• Sinclair (BS, 1) 2IP, 2H, 2R, 2ER, 1BB, 3K, HR
• S. Reyes (L, 0-1) ⅔ IP, 1H, 1R, 0ER, 0BB, 0K
• Crews 4-5, R, HR(EWS), 4RBI
• D. Garcia 2-5, 2R, 2HR, 2RBI
• Hassell 2-4, 2R, RBI, HBP

Dylan Crews broke out of a 1-for-18 funk with four RBI and four hits, including an Earl Weaver Special for his first homer of 2024. Meanwhile, the Senators bullpen blew a 7-0 lead to lose this one in extras, 8-7. Starter Kyle Luckham allowed two unearned runs while walking two and giving up two hits over four innings. He struck out five. The loss went to Samuel Reyes on a two-out single in the 10th that drove in the free runner. Dérmis Garcia homered twice while Robert Hassell went 2-for-4 with two runs scored to power the Harrisburg offense. Roster moves: IF Nick Senzel assigned from Washington for MLB reahb; LHP Dustin Saenz placed on the 7-Day I.L.; RHP Brad Lord reassigned from Wilmington.



Aberdeen 4 Wilmington 0
• Cornelio (L, 0-1) 5IP, 2H, 2R, 1ER, 3BB, 2K
• D. Diaz 1IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 1K
• Lile 3-4
• Made 1-3, BB

Wilmington mustered just six hits while striking out 13 times in a 4-0 shutout by Aberdeen. The loss went to Riley Cornelio on two runs let in on two hits and three walks over five innings. Lile did not strike out while going 3-for-4 while Kevin Made reached base with single and a walk. Murphy Stehly had the lone extra-base hit for the Blue Rocks, a leadoff double in the 4th. Roster moves: LHP Evan Lee emerged from witness protection assigned from XST.

Fredericksburg 15 Lynchburg 4
• Sullivan 4⅓ IP, 6H, 2R, 2ER, 2BB, 9K
• Hall (W, 1-0) 1⅔ IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 1K, 1-0 IR-S
• Cox 3-4, 3R, 2B, 3RBI, HBP, SB
• Pimentel 3-5, 3R, 2-2B, 3RBI
• Green 2-4, 2R, 2B, 2RBI, 1K, E
• Dugas 2-5, 2R, 2-2B, BB, RBI, E

The FredNats pounded out 15 runs on 15 hits in a 15-4 defenestration of the Hillcats to remain unbeaten. Pay no attention to those four errors that brought their season total to nine. Liam Sullivan struck out a career-high while pitching into the 5th, allowing two runs on six hits and two walks. The win went to Bubba Hall, who stranded a runner while getting out of the 5th then put up a goose egg in the 6th. Brenner Cox and Brandon Pimentel both had three hits and three RBI while Elijah Green and Gavin Dugas combined for four hits and four runs as all but nine starters reached base.

18 Commments

  1. I shout out a Roger Craig “ Humm , baby !” To Liam Sullivan and toss a nickel to Cornelio who put in another 5 IP effort on the farm collective on this opening salvo of farm starts .
    Looks like Cornelio has gone with the long hair look Hunter Harvey style .

    1. Can somebody explain the “ 1 “ option they found for Adon in late winter
      Since he was just optioned was his “ 1 “ burned ?

  2. Well, that explains Harrisburg’s rotation confusion. Saenz is injured. Wonder when that happened.

    Fantastic performance from Crews, but also Wood, and Hassell, and Green and Cox! The doubtees were out to disprove the doubters!

    Curious that two starters were allowed to exceed 80 pitches (Sullivan and Cornelio), while other arms before them have been capped around 50-60.

    1. Let’s hope Saenz isn’t following the conga line after Gray
      Oh Lord has made AA mmm
      Todd you spoke about how Lecroy trying to get PT spread around some guys with limited defensive matrix .

    2. On second thought, are the Senators just going forward with a 6 man rotation??

      We now have a full run through the rotation:
      1. Alvarez
      2. Henry
      3. Knowles
      4. Luckham
      5. Cuevas

      I thought Saenz injury just confirmed this, but with Lord (a starter) replacing him on the roster, that must mean:
      6. Lord

      Right? Otherwise, the solution here was to promote Marlon Perez, and bolster the bullpen, especially as the org has leaned in heavily into the short-start model, at least for the time being. Or are they converting Lord to relief? Or is Knowles going back to the bullpen? This all feels unnecessarily complicated.

      1. Knowles started in place of Saenz. Lord pitched the day before. Based on the Sens game notes, Lord will pitch again on Saturday, with the rotation appearing to be as Mick R. said it would be.

        The answer to yesterday’s question: 2014

        1. 2014 is correct! It was kind of a trick question, as Nats affiliates in 2016 were somehow ONE game under .500 (380-381)! The 2014 farm was carried by the 87-53 Hagerstown Suns. Looking at their roster, it’s pretty unexplainable why they were so good. Both the bats and arms were only slightly above average, and there were almost no standouts on that team. But a win is a win!

        2. Just got Terry’s notes — Lord on Saturday, Luckham on Sunday — so Knowles was a fill-in.

  3. A few strange defensive choices happened yesterday.

    First, Brady House got his first start at SS since 2022. It showed, committing an error. What’s especially strange is that it was done to make space for Nick Senzel at 3B, which doesn’t make sense for several reasons. First, you don’t jerk around uber prospects for replacement players. Second, Senzel is a utility infielder. He isn’t positionally limited like House. He’s played every position (including SS and all 3 OF positions) except 1B and catcher in the minors…

    Similarly in AAA, Wood got his second game in LF, seemingly so that Blankenhorn could play RF. It should be noted that Blankenhorn has played in LF more than any other position in recent seasons. Is this the Nats priming Wood to get some experience in all OF positions before him (imminent) promotion? He is after all OPSing 1.060 and he has started exactly two games each at each OF spot.

    On the downside, due to complicated rules on the new RotY draft pick bonuses, the last day to promote Wood to have him eligible to accrue enough playing time is either today or tomorrow. The Orioles just promoted Jackson Holliday for this reason, so if Wood doesn’t get promoted imminently, it might not be for a much longer time before he does.

    1. Maybe Nats are just getting Senzel ready for a call up, after which House can go back to 3B. And it doesn’t hurt for House to shake off rust with some SS experience, for future fill-in at shortstop in MLB.

    2. Senzel will be back on the MLB team in a couple of days. Giving House a couple of games at SS isn’t jerking him around, but position versatility is of growing importance for all teams. House will be a 3B, but not beyond the realm that he could play a few games at SS if the circumstances required it.

      When Wood comes up this year, he’s not playing RF. Makes sense for him to get reps at LF.

  4. Crews and Hassell both showed their hard contact skills early. Hassell’s double was a drive to dead center a third of the way up the wall and Crews’ HR came after he had fouled off a hanger from the Curve. I guess they thought he’d miss it again, he didn’t.

    Morales was in a total funk striking out four times and on the way to a fifth when they mercifully hit him with a pitch. He also made a boneheaded error in the first botching a pickoff and rundown.

    The Sens relievers spent the last half the night giving the game back with poor command and fat pitches.

    2. There is no doubt that Hassell and Crews are talented players. The key will be consistency. Many a player has had outstanding games in the minor leagues without carving out a major league career.
      However, it is encouraging when they do well. Would like to see them consistently perform/excel.

  5. I guess the ‘Cats were not going to be outdone by The ‘Nats four errors as they made seven of their own. the only thing more comical than their play was the tv coverage they provided. impossible to watch.

    watching Green can be tough at time, his error in the first was a totally uncalled for throw and he got thrown out at second on a single to left when he slipped making sure the ball wasn’t caught. one thing I’ll will say again, while he misses a lot of pitches in the zone he doesn’t chase. if the light bulb ever goes on for him….

  6. Wood sure appears to be making the most of his AAA schooling. it sure appeared he was focusing on contact as his 2B in the first was slapped down the left field line. the one later in the game was a smash to the right field gap.

    finally, thirteen more Ks for the Rocks hitters including nine from the 2-5 hitters. you can only blame that ballpark so much. Rodney on the mound for them tonight, fingers crossed for him.

  7. sorry, I almost forgot to offer congrats to Adon for keeping the big club in the game last night. I still think he’s a starter or nothing.

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