Sunday’s News & Notes
Three out four win on Saturday night
The Quick Rundown…
| Team | Yesterday’s Result | Today’s Game | Pitching Matchup |
| Syracuse Chiefs | Won, 2-0 | @ Rochester, 1:05 p.m. | Craig Stammen (3-2, 3.43) vs. Eric Hacker (1-1, 3.49) |
| Harrisburg Senators | Won, 7-2 | @ Binghamton, 1:05 p.m. | Tanner Roark (0-1, 13.50) vs. Brandon Moore (3-2, 5.05) |
| Potomac Nationals | Won, 13-8 | @ Lynchburg, 2:05 p.m. | Paul Demny (1-3, 2.95) vs. Cory Rasmus (0-5, 7.17) |
| Hagerstown Suns | Lost, 9-6 | @ Greensboro, 4:00 p.m. | Taylor Jordan (6-0, 2.82) vs. Kyle Winters (4-2, 4.30) |
Syracuse 2 Rochester 0
• Milone (W, 3-3) 7IP 3H 0R 0BB 9K
• Carr (H, 1) 1+ IP 0R 0H 1BB 0K
• Mandel (S, 2) 1IP 1H 0R 1BB 0K
• Brown 2-4, 2B
• Solano 2-4, RBI
Tom Milone, Adam Carr, and Jeff Mandel combined to shut out the Red Wings, 2-0, as the Chiefs won their sixth straight ballgame. Milone allowed just three hits over seven innings with no walks and nine strikeouts to even his record at 3-3. Carr and Mandel each threw an inning to notch the hold and save respectively. Corey Brown and Jhonatan Solano both went 2-for-4 to lead the Syracuse offense.
Harrisburg 7 Binghamton 2
• Peacock (W, 6-1) 6IP 1H 1R 1ER 2BB 10K 1HR
• Chico 1⅔ IP 1H 0R 1BB 1K
• Johnson 2-5, 3R, BB, HR, RBI
• Gilbert 2-5, 2R, RBI
• Ivany 2-4, R, HR, 2RBI
Brad Peacock struck out 10 over six innings for his sixth win as Harrisburg returned to .500 with a 7-2 win in Binghamton. Offensively, the Senators put runners on base in eight of nine innings, getting 11 hits and drawing six walks. The veteran trio of Josh Johnson, Archie Gilbert, and Devin Ivany went 6-for-14 with two HRs and four RBI, scoring six of the seven Harrisburg runs.
Potomac 13 Lynchburg 8
• Holder (W, 2-5) 5⅓ IP 7H 5R 5ER 0BB 6K
• Kobernus 3-5, 2R, 3B, 2SB
• Hood 3-4, R, 2B, 3RBI
• Souza 2-4, 3R, 2B, HR, 3RBI
The P-Nats have taken the “s” out of their offensive slumber, battering the Lynchburg moundsmen for 16 hits in a 13-8 romp, their fourth straight win. Designated driver hitter Cutter Dykstra was the misnomer as the only batter not to join the party, as six Potomac hitters had multiple hits with Jeff Kobernus and Destin Hood leading the way with three apiece. Starter Trevor Holder got the win despite allowing five runs on seven hits over five and 1/3rd innings, but once again did not walk a batter and struck out six. Justino Cuevas has joined the team from XST, with Francisco Soriano placed on the DL to make room.
Greensboro 9 Hagerstown 6
• Hansen (ND) 6IP 5H 2R 2ER 2BB 6K
• Brown 1⅔ 5H 4R 4ER 0BB 2K
• Graham (BS, 1)(L, 0-1) ⅓ IP 2H 3R 3ER 0BB 0K 1HR 1-1 IR-S
• Kelso 2-5, 2RBI
• Freitas 2-5, R, HR, 2RBI
• Rogers 1-2, 2R, 2BB, SB
The offense did its part, scoring six runs, with Blake Kelso and David Freitas each going 2-for-5. Starter Bobby Hansen had a quality start with two runs allowed on five hits and two walks over six innings. The bullpen, however, melted down for the second straight game, allowing seven runs in the bottom of the seventh, lowlighted by a two-out, three-run home run that proved to the difference as Greensboro defeated Hagerstown, 9-6.
As mentioned in comments, Kevin Keyes has joined the team from XST, with Randolph Oduber placed on the 7-Day DL. MiLB.com also saw fit to finally confirm our commenters’ observation that Chris McKenzie and Chad Jenkins have been removed from the roster to make room for A.J. Cole and Robbie Ray. No word on whether or not that was posted after 6 p.m. last night.
Tom Milone is handling AAA hitting quite nicely, thank you, and his improbable rise keeps moving upwards. 9K’s & 0 walks; just amazing.
What happened to the ’27 yanks, er, Suns. I checked and this was only Graham’s 2nd bad outing of the season. Still has good numbers for the season even if by BinM standards he’s an ‘old fart’.
Payback time is coming, Sue, for you and the rest of the STH’s, as the PNats play 20 out of the next 27 games @ home. With Kobernus, Hood, and Perez creating havoc at the plate and on the basepaths, this will be a great time to be catching them.
Hey now; Graham is ‘old for level’ at 23, but he’s also in his 1st professional year, so I’ll cut him some slack. I gave him a favorable mention in my Quarter-pole piece.
So I see EuryP was moved back to leadoff.
Did anyone project Peacock doing this well this year? He’s always been descent, but sheesh. Here’s a comparison to Strasburg: SS – 5 Games Started, 3-1, 1.64, 27 KO’s, 1.22 SO per inning, 0.86 WHIP.///// BP – 7 Games Started, 6-1, 2.05, 66 KO’s, 1.38 KO’s per inning, 0.83 WHIP. Brad has a higher ERA but also a higher KO count. WHIP is nearly identical. Can Peacock project as a #1 or #2 in the bigs?
Small sample size, eh? Yeah, he’s on fire now, but I’ve got to see him do this for a half a season before I’m a believer. Consider me overjoyed so far, though. At the end of last year, I thought he was on the fast track to middle relief. Now, he’s getting closer to the mix as a potential rotation asset.
#1 or #2 starter seems way, way premature. He’s got to show that he can be a starter first for a half season. Strasburg dominated AAA the same way he dominated AA. Let’s see Peacock bull his way into the AAA mix before we start anointing him as a breakout star.
From a 41st-round draft & follow signing in 2006, I think Peacock has exceeded most expectations that the Nationals may have had for him. He just turned 23 in February, so he’s learned his craft at the professional level. If he can keep posting solid numbers, I think we’ll see him added to the 40-man at some point this fall, along with Milone & Meyers. They may not make to club out of ST, but having arms like that in SYR makes for a bright future.
Another reason to call Paul Menhart, the PNats pitching coach, the ‘Magic Man’.
Is Norris hurt again?
Second day in a row that he’s out of the lineup for Harrisburg.
I think the Nats might just have another prospective major league catcher in the offing in Jhonatan Solan … but I could be wrong. Makes things interesting with Maldonando now off of the SYR roster and Norris struggling in AA.
Norris isn’t struggling at AA.
Norris is struggling. However, even with a really terrible .222 avg (For a top prospect that’s pretty damned bad.) he continues to be a great OBP machine with .374. His doubles and homers are down and so his OPS is only .749. He is still having issues with passed balls and some defensive struggles, 6 passed balls so far but has thrown out 9 with a 33% caught stealing.
He is 22 years old and still young so there is still time.
Now onto Solano who Randy Knorr (according to his latest 5/22 weekly conversation) cannot say enough good things about. (BTW, I highly recommend Knorr’s conversation with Inside Pitch to this group. Very enlightening.) This guy handles the SYR pitching staff the best … and its likely why Maldonado was removed to ensure that both Solano and Flores get plenty of time behind the plate.
Solano is a right handed 25 year old hitting .277/.329/.729 at AAA Syracuse. Knorr likes to get him into key situations at the plate because he always finds a way to make something happen. Albeit Knorr said he was a bit tiffed that he missed a bunt attempt. Yeah boyz they are doing player development the right way … finally! One passed ball which is good but only 4 caught stealing so far for at 19%. Last year he finished at 37%. He needs to ratchet that up.
Right now Jesus Flores is hitting .250/.264/.639 at AAA. That probably won’t cut it. Flores has 1 passed ball and has caught 4 stealing for 31%.
Based on what I continue to hear Knorr saying I suspect that Solano has moved up. But can he take it the rest of the way?
I dont think so, Flores is on the 40 man, Solano is not, also Flores is usualy better at the MLB than AAA for some reason, we might see them both in Washington in Spetember though