Friday’s News & Notes
It's a sweep north of Florida for the Nats minors
The Quick Rundown…
| Team | Yesterday’s Result | Today’s Game | Pitching Probables |
| Syracuse Chiefs | Won, 4-2 | vs. Rochester, 7:00 p.m. | Yunesky Maya (1-4, 4.34) vs. Ryan Mullins (1-3, 7.24) |
| Harrisburg Senators | Won, 3-2 (8 inn.) | vs. Richmond, 7:00 p.m. | Brad Peacock (8-2, 2.46) vs. Jeff Locke (5-6, 4.65) |
| Potomac Nationals | Won, 6-5 | @ Myrtle Beach, 7:05 p.m. | Trevor Holder (3-8, 6.14) vs. Justin Grimm (2-1, 2.22) |
| Hagerstown Suns | Won, 6-3 | @ Greensbooro, 7:00 p.m. | Taylor Jordan (7-3, 2.86) vs. Jheyson Manzueta (2-5, 5.93) |
| Auburn Doubledays | Won, 7-2 | vs. Mahoning Valley, 7:05 p.m. | Pedro Encarnacion (0-0, 7.36) vs. TBD |
| GCL Nationals | Lost, 19-7 @ GCL Cardinals |
vs. GCL Astros, 12:00 p.m. | TBD vs. TBD |
| DSL Nationals | Game Not Reported | vs. DSL Cubs2, 10:30 a.m. | Anderson Martinez (0-1, 5.91) vs. Victor Garcia (1-0, 3.18) |
Syracuse 4 Gwinnett 2
• Stammen (W, 6-3) 8.1 IP, 5H, 2R, 0ER, 1BB, 9K
• Wilkie (S, 6) ⅔ IP, 0R, 0H, 0BB, K
• Lombardozzi 3-5, 2R, 2B
• Marrero 3-3, RBI, 2BB
Craig Stammen was solid, striking out nine and walking just one batter, in a dominant start and 4-2 win over the Gwinnett Braves. Stammen allowed just one batter to get into scoring position before the ninth inning, stranding him at third with clutch strikeout and a flyout. Stammen was lifted with one out in the ninth after back-to-back singles and a Jesus Valdez throwing error ended the shutout bid for the first Gwinnett run and left a runner on third. Josh Wilkie was greeted with single to score the second run, but got a strikeout and a groundball to end the game and earn the save. Offensively, two of the Nats’ best position prospects Steve Lombardozzi and Chris Marrero came up large. Lombo went 3-for-5 with a double, scoring two runs in his best AAA game thus far. Marrero reached base all five times on three singles and two walks. Syracuse has now won back-to-back games after ending its recent five-game losing streak.
Harrisburg 3 Richmond 2 (8 inn.)
• Davis (W, 4-2) 6IP, 6H, 2R, ER, 2BB, 3K
• Lehman (H, 2) 1IP, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2K, 3-0 IR-S
• Johnson 1-3, R, HR, RBI
• Moore 1-3, R, HR, 2RBI
Harrisburg fell behind 2-0 early before vaulting to the lead in a three- run sixth inning over the Richmond Flying Squirrels. Josh Johnson and Tyler Moore both hit home runs in the inning. Bill Rhinehart, Godfather of Potomac’s Rhinehart Mafia (.259/.358/.547/905 12HR), doubled in front of Moore’s homer. Erik Davis allowed an unearned run in the third when Roger Kieschnick reached on two-out fielding error and Chris Dominguez made the Senators pay with a double to center. In the fifth, Davis hit Charlie Culberson with one out in front of a single and sacrifice fly. Pat Lehman was a relief hero, stranding the bases loaded after entering with no outs; Carlos Martinez had allowed a single and a walk, with a Tyler Moore error sandwiched in between, to fill the bases. Rafael Martin earned his second save and has yet to allow a run in six and two thirds innings at Harrisburg. Rain shortened the game to eight innings when the skies opened up with two outs in the bottom of the eighth.
Potomac 6 Myrtle Beach 5
• Olrychowski (W, 2-3) 5IP, 6H, 3R, 3ER, 2BB, 7K
• Testa (H, 3) 1⅓ IP, 0H, 0R, BB, 0K
• Lozada 2-4, R, RBI
• Higley 1-3, R, BB, RBI, OF assist @ HP
• Dykstra 1-3, R, BB, RBI, SB
Rain delayed this one for 42 minutes, but the pitchers made the offense’s one big inning stick as the first-place Potomac Nationals edged the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, 6-5. The first six batters hit safely in third, highlighted by doubles from Eury Perez and Jeff Kobernus as the P-Nats put up all six of their runs in the inning. Adam Olbrychowski made his second start of the season and gave up three runs on six hits and two walks over five innings but struck out seven. Evan Bronson (hold), Joe Testa (hold), and Hector Nelo (save) came out of the ‘pen for the last four innings, allowing an unearned run in the sixth (Bronson) and a manufactured run in the 9th (walk, two steals, single) to finish the game.
Hagerstown 6 Greensboro 3
• Grace (W, 8-5) 6IP, 5H, 3R, 3ER, BB, 6K
• Eusebio (H, 7) 2IP, 2H, 0R, BB, K
• Sanchez 3-4, R, 2SB
• Taylor 3-4, 2R, 2B, 3B, HR, 2RBI
The Suns were clicking on all cylinders as the pitching, hitting and defense were all in sync for a 6-3 win over the Grasshoppers. Matt Grace turned in a quality start with three runs allowed on a walk and five hits to go with six strikeouts. Michael Taylor doubled, tripled, and homered as part of a 3-for-4 night, as the offense cranked out 11 hits, five for extra bases with Jason Martinson also homering. Wilson Eusebio got his seventh hold with two scoreless innings while Chris Manno reverted to form with with a 1-2-3 ninth for save number nine.
Auburn 7 Mahoning Valley 2
• Estevez (W, 1-1) 5IP, 1H, 0R, BB, 5K
• Monar 2IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, K
• Jimenez 2-3, 2R, HR, 3RBI
• M Perez 2-4, RBI
• Skole 2-4, R, RBI
The Doubledays remain red hot, melting the Mahoning Valley scrappers 7-2 for their fifth straight win. Pitching has been at the core of the success, as NFA Brian clued us in with a series of tweets last night about the scoreless-inning streak that was snapped at 26⅔ innings with two runs in the ninth. Wirkin “For The Weekend” Estevez rebounded from a poor outing last time out to turn in five shutout innings with a just one hit and one walk allowed to go with five K’s for his first stateside win. Fellow Dominican Hendry Jimenez led the offense with a 2-for-3 effort, highlighted by a three-run HR in the 5th, while Miguel Perez and Matt Skole both put up 2-for-4 lines in the boxscore as the Doubledays pounded out 11 hits and left just five runners on.
GCL Cardinals 19 GCL Nationals 7
• Br. King (L, 0-1) 4⅓ IP, 8H, 12R, 12ER, 4BB, 5K, HR, HBP, WP
• Wa. Ramos 2-4, 2RBI
• HWNBWM 3-4, 3R, 2-2B, 2RBI
• E Martinez 1-3, 2B, BB
2009 draft pick Brandon King, making his third tour through the GCL, got hammered in his first start of ’11, giving up 12 runs on eight hits and four walks over four and 1/3rd innings as the GCL Cardinals pounded the GCL Nationals, 19-7. Wander Ramos was the leading age-appropriate batter, going 2-for-4 with 2RBI, followed by Estarlin Martinez, who doubled and walked.
DSL Nationals vs. DSL Giants — Game Not Reported
Doubtful that it was a very isolated rainstorm, as this was the only game not recorded yesterday in the DSL
Great performance in Syracuse last night by Stammen, Marrero, and Lombardozi (I knew he should be promoted). Keep it up guys!
Wait, there was a 42 minute rain delay in Myrtle Beach and they actually played a game. It must have been a miracle, because that surely would have resulted in a rain out at the Pfitz.
(Take note Potomac, this is how a drainage system should work).
I bet their GM was helping to pull the tarp instead of hiding in his office to wait and sell cookies.
that field is like a golf course. it’s stunning. i’ve been there for games and it’s rained cats and dogs for 30 minutes – and within one hour the field is ready to play. 🙂 the entire area is crazy for drainage…you can go there and within 20 minutes after a storm there’s never a puddle even on a road.
The coastal areas from Wilmington NC all the way down to Savannah GA are basically sandbars. Rain pecolates down very quickly, because the region doesn’t have the clay sub-strata that we deal with further to the north. That’s a big part of why Myrtle Beach became such a golf destination over the last 35 years; that, and development $$$.
So much for an adjustment period for Lombardozzi at the next level, he’s quickly rising to through the system without a blip.
Sue, can’t say it any better about Rhinehart. They’re treating him like an OG, but he’s maintained a .900 OPS almost all season. Looks like he’s finally recovered from all that bad handling in past years.
Props to SoulD on that one. In my rush to post, I forgot to correctly mark that this was a “Two SDs” post.
U guys are way to funny about the GM I can not stop laughing . Oh guys by the way went to the all star game in Delmarva. Nice job by the shorebird brass. also great job by Kelso ,Manno