Saturday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Probables |
| Rochester | Won, 10-1 | vs. Syracuse, 1:05 p.m. | Adon (1-2, 7.88) vs. Kranick (0-0, 5.40) |
| Harrisburg | Won, 2-0 | vs. Altoona, 6 p.m. | Luckham (1-1, 3.86) vs. Dombkowski (1-1, 2.25) |
| Wilmington | Won, 13-8 | vs. Hudson Valley, 6:35 p.m. | Lara (2-3, 2.28) vs. Schlittler (3-0, 1.29) |
| Fredericksburg | Won, 7-2 | vs. Down East, 7:05 p.m. | Davis (0-0, 5.40) vs. Rosario (0-1, 1.17) |
Rochester 10 Syracuse 1
• Ward (W, 1-1) 6IP, 5H, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 8K, E
• Medina 2IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 3K
• Robles 3-5, R, 2B, SB, 0HBP
• Wood 3-5, R, BB, 2RBI
• Millas 3-5
• Yepez 2-4, R, 2B, 2BB
Rochester opened the Book of Genesis on Syracuse in the 6th, sending 14 men to the plate and scoring eight in a 10-1 demolition. The big inning came just in time for Thad Ward (pictured above) as the 2022 Rule 5 Pick turned in his first quality start since 2019 with six innings of one-run ball on five hits, one walk, and two hit batsmen while striking out eight. Victor Robles, James Wood, and Drew Millas each went 3-for-5 to lead the Red Wings’ season-high 17-hit attack.
Harrisburg 2 Altoona 0
• Lord (W, 1-1) 6IP, 4H, 0R, 2BB, 6K
• Ribalta (H, 1) 2IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 5K
• Walters (SV, 3) 1IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 1K, HBP
• Hassell 2-4
• House 1-4, R, HR(5), RBI
The Senators survived a harrowing 9th, loading the bases with one out before the Curve’s Joe Perez decided for some reason to run home from third standing up on a would-be sac fly… and missed home plate while trying avoid the tag from Israel Pineda. Instead of 2-1 with two out and two on, it was a game-ending double play and 2-0 shutout – Harrisburg’s sixth straight win and Altoona’s 14th straight loss. Brad Lord won his first AA game with a quality start of six scoreless inningws with four hits and two walks allowed and six whiffs. Orlando Ribalta struck out five over two perfect innings for the hold and Nash Walters got credit for the save, his third. Robert Hassell notched his ninth multihit game with two singled while Brady House hit his third HR of the series, fifth of season to power the Harrisburg offense.
Wilmington 13 Hudson Valley 8
• Theophile 1⅔ IP, 4H, 6R, 6ER, 3BB, 3K
• M. Perez (W, 1-0) 1⅔ IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 2K, 3-0 IR-S
• Grissom 2IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 3K
• Boisserie 3-4, 2R, 2B,
• Suggs 2-4, 2R, BB, 2B, 3RBI
• Witt 2-4, 2R, 2B, SF, RBI
• Thomas 2-6, R, 3B, 3RBI, OF assist @ 3B
Wilmington’s bats awoke with three-spots in three straight innings to turn a 6-0 deficit into a 9-7 lead as the Blue Rocks outslugged the Renegades, 13-8. Rodney Theophile gave up those afored mentioned six runs on four hits and three walks over just an inning and 2/3rds. The win went to Marlon Perez, who rolled a double play ball to get out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam then put up a goose egg in the 5th. Branden Boisserie led the Wilmington hit column with two singles and a double while Matt Suggs and Johnathan Thomas both drove in three as the Blue Rocks hit double digits in both runs and hits for the first time this season.
Fredericksburg 7 Down East 2
• Susana 4IP, 3H, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 6K
• Vasquez (W, 1-0) 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• Bollenbacher (H, 1) 2IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 3K
• Dugas 2-3, R, BB, RBI, SB
• Pimentel 2-4, 2B(10), RBI
• Vaquero 1-2, 2BB, SB
A five-run 5th broke open a one-run game as the FredNats (17-8) won 7-2 to keep pace with the Mudcats (18-7). Jarlin Susana put in his usual four innings, getting 12 outs on 61 pitches while allowing one run, three hits, and a walk. He struck out six. The win went to Samuel Vasquez with a scoreless top of the 5th. Brandon Pimentel, the Carolina League Player of the Month for April, drove in his league-leading (tied for MiLB lead) 34th run on a first-inning single and connected for his 10th double (yes) while Gavin Dugas reached base three times on two singles and a walk to lead the Fredericksburg offense. Roster moves: RHP Brayan Romero reassigned to the FCL.
After a bunch of stinkers by our SPs yesterday, we got 3 gems yesterday. Susana wasn’t exactly pounding the zone, but was getting strikes when he needed them. Though they’re still handling him with kid gloves, letting him throw only 61 pitches.
It’s also really encouraging to see Marlon Perez put in a very good outing. He’s had a rough start to the season. In fact, the only time he’s struggled for an extended period of time in his short career. Hope this is his return to dominance.
Don’t look now, but Orlando Ribalta is absolutely destroying AA batters. He’s now sporting a spectacular 1.80 ERA through 10 IP, but most impressive is he’s struck out 21 batters in that period. That’s an insane 18.9 K/9! After spending the majority of 2023 in Harrisburg, I don’t know what more he needs to do to get a promotion to Rochester.
Think a pretty major shake up is overdue. Too many players like Ribalta are repeating levels, while others like Zeuch, Nogosek and Cate are getting rocked a level above them.
While Susana’s ERA hasn’t improved this year, these numbers indicate progress
2023: 5.7 BB/9 8.9 K/9
2024: 2.8 BB/9 12.7 K/9
He just turned 20.
Good point!
Interesting sequence of events for Adon in the third . Bases loaded . Adon gets a SF . Next batter a ground ball to end IP .
Pitch count always gets Joan . The art of pitching truly is getting the batter to do what your pitch arsenal can do .
Yeah bullpen role in future .
Lord came out slinging that cutter/sinker up there low to mid nineties, velocity down a few ticks by the fifth however.
Ribalta with his second straight sharp outing. agree it’s time to see if his two pitch arsenal plays up
Pinckney made a really nice throw on the final play
What was left out was a brilliant set up and throw to home by Andrew Pinckney to close out the game at Harrisburg. The runner needed to be dumb there but hats off to a Nats prospect.
A couple of days ago I was looking at the WAR for drafted players. I took a look at how we did compared to our division rivals (only career WAR < 2 listed) As a contending team for multiple years, we moved draft picks to try to get over the top, so I'm not concerned here with who we kept. I'd say the yield for our rivals was better. (But hey, the Nats got a championship and Juan Soto). Also see a couple of names in the Marlins group who are with the Nats now…
WAS
2011: A. Rendon 33.6 B. Burns 2.0
2012: L. Giolito 12.5
2013: N. Pivetta 8.6
2015: B. Perkins 2.2
2016: J. Luzardo 6.0 D. Dunning 5.2
PHI
2011: K. Giles 7.5
2012: H. Milner 2.3
2013: J. Crawford 16.1
2014: A. Nola 32.2 R. Hoskins 11.4
2016: C. Irvin 3.6
2018: A. Bohm 2.3
2019: B. Stott 5.7
NYM
2011: B. Nimmo 21.3 M. Fulmer 12.6 S. Lugo 12.1
2012: K. Plawecki 2.3 P. Sewald 3.1 L. Guillorme 2.6 J. McNeil 19.3
2013: M. Conforto 16.8
2016: P. Alonso 17.7
2017: D. Peterson 2.5
ATL
2011: N. Ahmed 12.5 T. La Stella 3.6
2012: A. Wood 13.2
2013: V. Caratini 2.6
2014: J. Webb 2.2
2015: M. Soroka 5.5 A. Riley 18.3 A. Minter 5.2 E. Philips 4.1
2016: I. Anderson 3.7
2017: K. Wright 2.6
2019: M. Harris 9.2
2020: S. Strider 7.0 B. Elder 4.3
MIA
2011: J. Fernandez 14.2 A. Barnes 4.0
2012: A. Heaney 7.3 A. Nola 5.0 D. Steckenrider 2.9
2013: Trevor Williams 6.9
2014: B. Anderson 10.0 Stone Garrett 2.3
2015: J. Naylor 5.5 C. Paddack 2.2
2016: B. Garrett 5.1 M. King 5.3
2017: T. Rogers 3.6
Always interesting to see Adon and Lara
Step on the mound on same night . Go attack the strike zone , boys .
Does Kyle feel lucky tonight , punk ?
I realize the value they see in Nunez but how nice would it be to have Jack Dunn as your 26th guy. he can play every position, runs well and just homered, now hitting .321 for the year