Wednesday’s News & Notes
Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Probables |
Rochester | Lost, 12-5 | vs. Syracuse, 1:05pm | Law (MLB Rehab) vs. Pintaro (1st AAA start of ’25) |
Harrisburg | Won, 3-2 | @ Akron, 6:35pm | Lara (1st AA start of ’25) vs. Boone (5-3, 2.17) |
Wilmington | Won, 1-0 | vs. Hudson Valley, 6:35pm | Ogasawara (0-0, 6.00) vs. Hess (4-2, 4.05) |
Fredericksburg | Won, 10-9 | vs. Kannapolis, 6:35pm | Polanco (4-5, 3.96) vs. Umberger (5-1, 2.54) |
FCL Nationals | Lost, 5-4 | OFF DAY | |
DSL Nationals | Won, 7-5 | OFF DAY |
Syracuse 12 Rochester 5
• Alvarez 5⅓ IP, 8H, 4R, 3ER, 0BB, 3K, 2HR
• Weigel (BS, 4; L, 4-5) ⅔ IP, 4H, 7R, 7ER, 3BB, 1K, HR, WP
• Morales 2-3, 2BB, 2B
• Baker 2-3, R, HR(1), 2RBI
• Hassell 1-4, R, BB, HR, RBI, SB
The wheels came off the bus for Rochester in the 8th as Syracuse sent 11 men to the plate and eight across to turn a 5-4 deficit into a 12-5 win. Patrick Weigel bore the brunt of the beating with seven runs charged on four hits and three walks in 2/3rds of an inning for a blown-save-loss. Andrew Alvarez might’ve won despite a pedestrian line of four runs on eight hitd (two HR) over five and 2/3rds. Yoyo Morales singled, doubled, and walked twice while Darren Baker singled, homered, and drove in two to pace the Red Wings offense.
Harrisburg 3 Akron 2
• Conley (W, 2-4) 8⅔ IP, 1H, 2R, 2ER, 3BB, 6K
• Davila (SV, 1) ⅓ IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 1K, WP, 1-1 IR-S
• Stehly 2-3, 2R, 2B, BB
• M. Romero 2-4, 2B(10), 2K
• Glasser 2-4, R, HR, RBI; 7G hit streak
Bryce Conley took a no-hitter into the 9th before a walk, and a two-out single on a 3-2 count ended both the no-no and the shutout. Garrett Davila came on and gave up an RBI double then wild-pitched the tying run to 3rd before getting the last out on a whiff to seal the 3-2 win. Conley won for just the second time this season, charged with both RubberDuck runs on one hit and three walks over eight and 2/3rds. He struck out six. Murphy Stehly reached base three times on a double, single, and a walk while Max Romero Jr., Phillip Glasser, and Kevin Made each went 2-for-4 to lead the Senators 12-hit parade.
• Sykora (W, 3-0) 6IP, 2H, 0R, 2BB, 8K, PO @ 1B
• Amaral (H, 3) 2IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 3K
• M. Gomez (SV, 2) 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Dugas 1-3, R, HR, RBI
• Lomavita 1-3, BB
Led by Travis Sykora, three Wilmington pitchers combined to shut out Hudson Valley, 1-0 on four hits. Sykora allowed two hits and two walks over the first six and struck out eight to earn his third win. Austin Amaral worked around a pair of two-out singles in the 7th and 8th to get the hold while Miguel Gomez retired the side in order in the 9th to earn the save. Gavin Dugas homered to account for the Blue Rocks run while Caleb Lomavita pushed his hit streak to seven with a single in the 1st.
Fredericksburg 10 Kannapolis 9
• B. Romero 3IP, 6H, 7R, 6ER, 4BB, 0K, HR
• Baldo (W, 4-1) 1IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 0K
• Ochoa 3-5, R, 2B, 3RBI
• Quintana 2-4, R, 2B(10), BB, RBI
• R. Diaz 1-3, 2R, 2B, BB, SF, 2RBI
• Vaquero 1-2, R, 2BB, 2SB
The FredNats fell behind 7-0 after three but roared back in the late innings to walk off the Cannon Ballers, 10-9. Brayan Romero gave up those aforementioned seven runs on six hits (one HR) and four walks over those first three while striking out nobody. The Fredericksburg bullpen combined for six innings of two-run ball, highlighted by two goose eggs from Pablo Aldonis and a zero in the 9th by Merrick Baldo, who picked up the win. Nate Ochoa led the FredNats hit column with two singles, a double, and three RBI, including the game-winner in the 9th. Roismar Quintana also reached base three times on single, double, and a walk as did Cristhian Vaquero on two walks and a single. Roster moves: RHP Euri Montero assigned from the FCL.
FCL Cardinals 5 FCL Nationals 4
• Portorreal 2⅔ IP, 5H, 4R, 4ER, 1BB, 3K, HBP, WP
• Johnson (L, 4-1) 5IP, 4H, 1R, 0ER, 0BB, 5K, WP, PO @ 1B
• Green 2-4, 2B, 2K, Of assist @ 3B
• A. Feliz 1-4, BB, CS
The FCL Cardinals put up four in the 3rd and the FCL Nationals matched them in the 7th to force extras. The F-Cards got the deciding run in the 9th on a throwing error while the F-Nats got the tying run to third and the winning run to second with one out. The two runners watch Elijah Green strike out and Dashyll Tejeda fly out for the 5-4 loss. Leuris Portorrel was knocked from the box in the 3rd and was charged with the first four runs on five hits, one walk, and a Robles. He struck out three. Luke Johnson finished and lost the game with five innings of one (unearned) ball on four hits, no walks, and five K’s. Green singled and doubled he wasn’t cooling off the F-Cards infielders while Angel Feliz also reached base twice on a walk and a single to lead the FCL Nationals offense.
DSL Nationals 7 DSL Marlins 5
• M. De La Cruz (W, 1-1) 5IP, 3H, 1R, 0ER, 2BB, 7K
• German 2-3, 3R, BB, HR, RBI, 2SB, 2E
• N. De La Cruz 2-4, 2R, HR, 2RBI
• Marmolejos 2-4, R, 2B, SB
The D-Nats put up crooked numbers in three of their first four “ups” and held off a late charge to hook the D-Marlins, 7-5. Marlon De La Cruz got his first “W” of the season with five innings of one-run ball on three hits, two walks, and seven whiffs. 17-y.o. Marconi German singled, walked, homered, drove in one, scored thrice, stole twice, and committed two errors. Naris De La Cruz also went deep with two runs scored and two RBI to lead the DSL Nationals’ 11-hit, three-walk offense.
Conley threw 120 pitches before he lost the no hitter. He jammed the batter, but he blooped it into shallow left.
Cudos to Conley especially after the Stuart stampede by Rumble Ponies
Pedestrian AA is good enough with the hot Red Wings
Offense
M De La ( Pablo ) Cruz nice pitching line in dsl
We need some more arms to pop like popcorn .
Luke
Marconi ( played the Momba listen to the radio – Starship ) German
Never made sense why the inventor of radio would be handling snakes, but…
99 pitches for Sykora in that heat, with his Texas upbringing I doubt he noticed. what’s the over under for a promotion. I’d say one more like this in Wilmington would do it.
I think Sykora ought to be promoted now. Ten starts, 1.11 ERA/1.08 FIP, K%-BB% of 41. He threw 99 pitches last night, so he’s stretched out. High-A hitters just can’t make contact with his stuff and he needs to face better hitters in AA to improve. His only middling (but still good!) start in High A had a bunch of walks and not a bunch of hits. I think the goal should be ten starts in AA this year, which I think would require a promotion soon.
Longosz did an interview on June 7, and was (understandably) raving about Sykora (link in case others missed the last time I posted it: https://www.mlb.com/nationals/video/eddie-longosz-on-the-progress-of-nats-top-prospects). He said that they wanted to ramp up Sykora’s workload, giving him “probably 1 or 2 more outings at 5 innings and then the chains are off, and knock on wood, he’s probably going to the Island very soon”
Well, since June 7, he went 5 IP on June 12, throwing 79 pitches. Then started again on June 18, seeing his pitching count jumping to a career high of 93 (the chains off). I’m honestly a little surprised he got another start last night, but now having thrown 6 more dominant innings, my bet is that we saw his last game in A ball, and he’ll be moving to the Island (Harrisburg). It’s fully deserved. The bats in the Sally League look just as impotent as those in the Carolina League and FCL. Let’s see whether Sykora will finally have a real test in the Eastern League.
What a reaction from Hassell! I know it’s an insanely small sample, and Hassell is consistently inconsistent with regular hot-and-cold streaks in his game. But we’ve never seen a burst of power like Hassell is currently displaying since his demotion.
In 5 games, he’s hit 3 HR, 2 2B. Since joining the Nats, the next fewest games it’s taken him to hit 3 HR was 13 games (accomplished in late 2023). This is unprecedented, and exactly the signs I’ve been waiting to see from Hassell. The power needs to develop, otherwise he’s just a worse version of Jacob Young. But if he can keep this up, it’d be a game changer.
Meanwhile, Lile has sputtered out, hitting .154/.214/.308 since swapping spots with Hassell. Are we due for another swap, and just try to ride the hot bat between them?
That’s the benefit of going back to AAA to get back in the groove. Hassell was lost with the Nats. Lile has been hitting in some bad luck, and his defense has been good. Not sure if the Nats switch Hassell and Lile before Crews returns.