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Thursday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Pitching Probables
Rochester Lost, 3-0 vs. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, 6:45 p.m. Ward (4-3, 6.89) Warren (4-4, 7.24)
Harrisburg Won, 4-0 vs. Bowie, 6:30 p.m. Luckham (2-4, 4.55) vs Bright (0-5, 3.67)
Wilmington Won, 7-2 @ Jersey Shore, 7:05 p.m. Cornelio (5-4, 5.08) vs. Aldegheri (4-3, 3.00)
Fredericksburg Lost, 8-2 @ Carolina, 6:30 p.m. Sykora (0-3, 4.43) vs. Galindez (0-0, 2.67)
FCL Nationals Postponed @ FCL Cardinals, 12 p.m.
DSL Nationals OFF DAY vs. DSL Giants Black, 11 a.m.

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 3 Rochester 0
• Alvarez 5IP, 4H, 0R, 0BB, 2K,
• Medina (L, 4-1) 1⅔ IP, 3H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 2K
• Blankenhorn 1-4
• Call 0-1, 3BB

Rochester’s bats took the night off again as they were shut out, 3-0 on one (1) hit. Andrew Alvarez bounced back to toss five scoreless innings, with four hits and no walks allowed. He struck out two. Adonis Medina gave up the first RailRiders run on three hits over an inning and 2/3rds, which tagged him with his first loss of the season. Travis Blankenhorn broke up the no-hitter with a single in the 4th while Alex Call drew three of the eight walks issued by Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Roster moves: IF Trey Lipscomb recalled to Washington.

Harrisburg 4 Bowie 0
• Lord (W, 7-1) 7IP, 2H, 0R, 2BB, 10K
• Sinclair 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 0K
• Crews 2-4, R, 2B(10), 2RBI
• House 1-4, R, HR(10), 2RBI

For the sake of Senators, let’s hope Brad Lord can be kept down long enough to secure a playoff spot. But eight straight quality starts (one more than the Red Wings in 63 GS) begs the question: Who’s blocking him at AAA? Lord and two relievers combined to shut out the BaySox, 4-0 on four hits, one walk, and 12 whiffs. Dylan Crews and Brady House both went 2-for-4 with two RBI, with Crews collecting his 10th double and House hitting his 10th HR, to power the Harrisburg offense. Roster moves: OF Terone Harris reassigned from Wilmington; OF Robert Hassell placed on the 7-Day I.L.

Wilmington 7 Jersey Shore 2
• Theophile (W, 2-4) 6IP, 1H, 0R, 3BB, 6K
• Brzykcy 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• Glasser 2-5, R, RBI
• V. Peña 1-5, R, 3B, 3RBI
• De La Rosa 1-4, R, 2B, 3K

The wheels came off in the 7th for the bullpen, capped by a three-run triple and five runs let in. But that was the Jersey Shore ‘pen and the Wilmington offense as the Blue Rocks boiled the BlueClaws, 7-2. Rodney Theohpile turned in his first quality start of ’24, shutting out Jersey Shore for six frames on one hit and three walks while striking out six. Phillip Glasser extended his hit streak to five games with two singles; Viandel Peña hit the aforementioned triple; Jeremy De La Rosa doubled once and struck out three times to highlight the Wilmington offense. Roster moves: RHP Richard Guasch activated from the 7-Day I.L.

Carolina 7 Fredericksburg 2
• Shuman 3IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• B. Sanchez (L, 0-3) 2IP, 7H, 4R, 4ER, 1BB, 1K, BK
• Peoples 1-2, R, HR, RBI
• McKenzie 1-3, BB

The FredNats are now just game above .500 and a game out of 5th place after their third straight loss, 7-2 to the Mudcats. Seth Shuman started and shut down the MudCast for three innings on two hits without a walk and two whiffs. Bryan Sanchez was the first Fredricksburg reliever and took the loss, coughing up four on seven hits over two innings. He walked one and struck out one. Nick “Power to the” Peoples went deep with a solo HR in his Low-A debut while Jared McKenzie and Roismar Quintana both reached base twice on a single and a walk to lead the FredNats attack.

FCL Nationals vs. FCL Astros – PPD
The FCL Nationals were rained out again, setting up a doubleheader for June 22.

DSL Nationals – OFF DAY
The D-Nats were idle yesterday. It appears now that last week’s rainout will be made up on August 16.

10 Commments

  1. Alvarez faced the Bombers top prospect Domínguez three times and you’d think he was swinging a wiffle ball bat. three soft popups in the infield the first of which Alvarez caught over his shoulder ala the Say Hey Kid. not sure why they only let him throw 63 pitches, after a crazy first inning he was pretty much on cruise control

    1. Jose Rojas strikes again against a Nats AAA team
      He did that for Salt Lake in PCL Vs Fresno.!

  2. Matt Cronin had yet another masterful outing yesterday. Cronin entered with the bases loaded and one out, and proceeded to strike out the first batter and get a fly out to close out the inning with no runs scored. That brings his ERA down to 0.69. Somehow, his WHIP is even smaller (0.54), and a very good 2.02 FIP, suggesting this isn’t just a lucky, unsustainable stretch.

    Cronin is a former 4th round pick, who had been playing in AAA the past two seasons, while battling injuries. He’s now 26 years old, and is left-handed, a feature which is sorely lacking in the Nats’ current bullpen and in AAA (only 3 of the 16 arms in Rochester are lefties).

    Can someone explain to me what the heck Cronin is doing in Wilmington? Two whole years ago, he looked good enough for the majors, posting a 2.42 ERA between AA and AAA, which was only prevented due to injury.

    Well, he’s obviously healthy now, so what is going on?

    1. while I can understand the limited usage coming back from neck surgery I can’t explain why he’s doing it in A+. still, enough games left to get a good look higher up.

    2. Luke Ferrel rehabbing in FCL
      Rain today
      Nice first 50 ABs for Carlos Taveres

  3. Speaking of injury plagued arms in Wilmington, this update on Cavalli’s progress has me worried: https://www.mlb.com/news/josiah-gray-cade-cavalli-on-recent-rehab-outings

    Given the Nats’ lack of transparency and honesty on injuries in recent years, this has me seeing some warning signs:

    “He was so ramped up to go, go, go,” said Martinez. “I think now was a chance to slow him down a little bit and get him going again. But that’s part of the process with him. He’s been so good that we want to make sure we keep him going this way instead of having him hit a lull.”

    and

    “You take six months off anything and get back into it — especially if you tore it and got surgery — you need to recreate the path for your arm and your body to move,” he said.

    There is not a definitive date set for Cavalli’s return. But the more boxes he checks, the more the anticipation grows.

    Meanwhile, Seth Shuman, and Zack Brzykcy, who also had TJ at almost the exact same time as Cavalli are currently following the more traditional rehab path of gradually increasing their pitch load while working back up the affiliate ladder. This unique approach to Cavalli’s recovery definitely raises some questions. I hope it’s nothing, but their (non)explanations of Brady House or Jake Bennett’s injuries in recent years don’t fill me with much optimism.

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