Sunday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Probables |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rochester | Lost, 3-2 | @ Lehigh Valley, 1:15pm | Palmquist (0-0, 3.00) vs. Fellows (0-0, 2.70) |
| Harrisburg | Lost, 5-2 | vs. Somerset, 1pm | Clemmey (2-3, 4.4) vs. Hess (1-0, 3.52) |
| Wilmington | Lost, 5-2 | vs. Bowling Green, 1:05pm | Bruni (2-2, 7.07) vs. TBD |
| Fredericksburg | Won, 8-0 | vs. Hill City, 1:35pm | Fischer (3-0, 1.40) vs. Flores (4-4, 4.85) |
| FCL Nationals | Lost, 4-3; Won, 10-4 |
OFF DAY | |
| DSL Nationals | Lost, 11-5 | OFF DAY |
Lehigh Valley 3 Rochester 2 (7 inn.)
• Lara (L, 2-4) 4⅓ IP, 6H, 3R, 3ER, 2BB, 4K
• Granillo 1⅔ IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 1K, 3-2 IR-S
• Franklin 1-3, R, BB, 2K
• Morales 1-3, R, HR, 2RBI
Rain delayed the start of this one by 143 minutes, shortening the game to seven innings. Lehigh Valley took a 3-0 lead that Rochester cut to 3-2 before running out of time. Andry Lara was charged with all three IronPigs runs on six hits and two walks over four and a 1/3rds as Andre Granillo let in two of three inherited runners. Christian “Hey It’s” Franklin reached base twice and scored ahead of Yoyo Morales’s 14th HR in the top of the 6th.
Somerset 5 Harrisburg 2
• Lyon (L, 0-2) 4⅓ IP, 5H, 5R, 5ER, 3BB, 6K, HR
• Van Scoyoc 2⅔ IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 4K, HBP, 2-2 IR-S
• M. Romero 1-4, R, BB, HR, RBI
• S. Brown 1-3, 2BB
The Patriots got to Issac Lyon for a three-run HR in the 3rd and two more runs in the 5th to hand the Senators a 5-2 loss. Lyon walked three and gave up five hits while strikijng out six over four and a 1/3rd innings. Sam Petersen hit a sac fly to break up the shutout while Max Romero Jr. homered again for the second Harrisburg run, with the offense unable to connect for a hit in 11 RISP chances to leave 11 men on base. Roster moves: C Kyle Hayes activated from Development List.
Bowling Green 5 Wilmington 2
• Meckley 5IP, 3H, 2R, 2ER, 2BB, 5K, 2WP, BK, PO @ 1B
• Huizi (L, 4-2) 1IP, 2H, 2R, 2ER, 3BB, 1K
• Bazzell 3-4, 2B, RBI, SB, PO @ 1B
• R. Cruz 2-4, R
Wilmington put on 15 baserunners and could only prevent 10 of them from scoring as Bowling Green prevailed, 5-2. Xander Meckley went the first five and let in two runs on three and two walks. The loss went to Eiker Huizi, who walked three in his single inning thrown and gave up two runs. Kevin Bazzell singled twice and doubled once while Ronny Cruiz was 2-for-4 with a run scored to lead the Blue Rocks offense.
Fredericksburg 8 Hill City 0
• Sullivan 6IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 6K
• Hughes 2IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• Fien 1-2, 2SF, 5RBI, SB
• Willits 3-4, 3R, BB, 3B, RBI
• M. Cabrera 2-4, R
The FredNats inched closer to the first-half title Last Night in Fredericksburg.
FCL Astros 4 FCL Nationals 3 – GM. 1 (8 inn.)
• Swan 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 2K, WP
• Bogosian (BS, 1) 2IP, 1H, 0BB, 2K, 3-1 IR-S
• Frieda (L, 0-2) 1IP, 1H, 2R, 1ER, 1BB, 0K
• Cortesia 2-4, R, SB(5)
• Hurtado 1-3, BB, SB
In the first game, the FCL Nationals took a 2-0 lead but couldn’t push across another run until extras, where they fell one run short for 4-3 loss. Eriq Swan made his first appearance since April 14, opening the game with a scoreless inning with one hit, no walks, and two whiffs. Travis “Sunday” Sthele followed with a run over two frames. Eric Bogosian let in one of three baserunner to get a blown save while Colby Frieda took the loss with two runs allowed in the 8th. Brayan Cortesia singled twice and stole his fifth base while Victor Hurtado reached base twice with a walk and a single and stole his fourth base.
FCL Astros 10 FCL Nationals 4 – GM. 2
• Ju. Lopez 2IP, 3H, 3R, 3ER, 4BB, 2K, BK, 2WP
• Schoff (W, 2-2) 3IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 1K, PO @ 1B
• B. Martinez 3-3, 2R, 2BB, 2-2B, 2RBI
• Cerkownyk 3-4, R, 2-2B, 2RBI
• N. De La Cruz 2-5, 2RBI
• L. Arias 1-3, R, BB, 2RBI
In the “aftercap,” the F-Nats fell behind 3-1 before busting out for four in the 4th and a pair of two-spots en route to a 10-4 win that split the doubleheader. Juan Lopez was dinged for three runs on three hits and four walks over two innings. The decision went to Tyler Schoff, who turned in three scoreless with two hits, no walks, and one K. Browm Martinez reached base five times with a single, two doubles, and two walks, and… wait for it… two RBI while Brady Cerkownyk doubled twice, singled once and drove in two to lead the FCL National offense. Roster moves: RHP Eriq Swan assigned from Harrisburg, RHP Travis Sthele from Wilmington for MiLB rehab..
DSL Cardinals 11 DSL Nationals 5
• Carela (L, 0-1) 2IP, 1H, 2R, 2ER, 1BB, 2K, HR
• D. Reyes 1IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Serrano 3-4, 2B, RBI, CS
• Garces 1-3, 2R, 2BB, OF assist @ 1B0
• B. Rodirguez 1-3, R, 2B
A six-run 3rd would be more than enough as the DSL Cardinals manhandled the DSL Nationalss, 11-5. Enmanuel Carela took the loss with two runs on a home run over two innings thrown. He walked one and struck out two. Samil Serrano singled twice and doubled once to while Jonierbis Garces also reached base three times on a single and two walks to lead the DSL Nationals eight-hit, seven-walk offense.
I’m still perplexed by Tyler Schoff’s rehab. He’s now at day 29 of a possible 30 days, and still pitching in the FCL. Schoff was most recently in AAA before his injury and playing quite well, so the FCL is miles below his talent level. It shows. He’s been great (1.98 ERA in 9 games). But I don’t understand why he hasn’t been moved up to a more age/talent appropriate level. Schoff is 27, pitching against mostly very raw Dominican teenagers. I don’t know what this extended spell is doing for him at this point.
The only explanation is that the org is extending his rehab as long as possible because it’s butting up against the maximum player limit of 140, and Toboni seems to be a bit of a player hoarder. We’ve brought in literally dozens of castoff arms from other orgs or UDFAs to fill out our rosters due to suboptimal player development from recent years past. Every team has a handful of random guys competing the bullpen or rotation, but the FCL is the most extreme example. An unbelievable 24 (yes, twenty four!) pitchers aged 23 or older have pitched for the FCL Nats this year. This is insane because the average pitcher age in the FCL is 20, meaning basically half are under 20. The Nats are an absurd outlier here. The team’s average pitcher age is 23.1, a whole year older than the next oldest team. The Nats are using the FCL unlike anyone else. And a part of this is stashing guys like Schoff there for way longer than any other guy has rehabbed for. But it’s also been giving extended runs to guys like Waco, Bothwell, Dannelley and Shortridge, who are also way age inappropriate for the level.
Its an interesting development. I still don’t understand what’s going on with Schoff, but I’m really happy to see the new management doing things differently than every other team. However I wonder if this is being done out of necessity (the pipeline of talent from the DSL on the pitching side has been nonexistent for years now) or if this is seen as some sort of new method of player development/roster management. Will be curious to see how this goes, especially when the FCL ends early in the rest of the seasons.
Yeremy Cabrera left Thursdays game due to injury and hasn’t appeared since. I hope the Blue Rocks not yet sending him to the IL means it’s not a serious injury.
For the Sens Lomavita played 2B. Not sure what that was about, but Wallace was not in the lineup.
Thanks for pointing that out, I’d missed it.
That, along with using catcher, Brady Cerkowynk, as a high leverage reliever, is taking the org’s new infatuation with positional versatility to a new level!
I saw Cayden in the back parking lot as the gates were opening from the rain. I asked him if the game was called and he said no, that he would be right back. didn’t see him again once the game started