The Nats took a 4-0 lead on a pair of Gavin Fien doubles, including a three-run gapper to LCF. But the Cards got two in the 5th and five in the 6th and held off a late charge by the Nats to win, 9-8.
The loss went to Josh Randall, who retired just two of seven batters faced while hitting two batters, walking one, and giving up five runs on three hits.
Fien also stole third base in the 1st, singled in the 6th for another RBI, and walked in the 9th. He finished with five RBIs while going 3-for-4 as the DH.
Phillip Glasser singled twice and doubled once to finish 3-for-5 with a walk and two RBI while playing the whole game in left field.
While the Nats racked up 11 hits and drew six walks total, the batters not named Glasser or Fien were 0-for-15 with RISP.
Top prospect Eli Willits walked twice, scored twice, stole a base, and struck out before he was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the 6th.
Expectations for Rochester may have been raised with the addition of three major-leaguers to the roster, all optioned from Washington yesterday:
- RHP Julian Fernández
- RHP Josiah Gray
- OF Robert Hassell3
According to longtime Nats beat writer Mark Zuckerman, that leaves 33 candidates for the 26 spots on the Opening Day Roster.
In terms of “our guys,” Christian Franklin appears to be competing with Joey Wiemer for the last OF spot, after the Nats kinda (sorta) gave a de facto vote of confidence to Dylan Crews, presuming, of course that Jacob Young’s wrist injury won’t land him on the I.L.
Wiemer may very well have the upper hand with 180 games of MLB experience vs. Franklin (same as you and me). Bold prediction: Absent an injury, Franklin gets sent down to “play every day instead of sitting the bench.”
Griff McGarry, who is technically a watchlister as a Rule 5 pick, appears to be a coin toss, roll of the dice, or a magic-8 ball shake to make the club. While the previous front office may have diagnosed him with Hellenic flu or a strained premise, there’s no track record with this front office.
TL; DR – your guess is as good as mine.