Saturday’s News & Notes
Walkoff wins in Hagerstown and Syracuse highlight Friday night on the farm
The Quick Rundown…
Team | Yesterday’s Result | Today’s Game | Pitching Probables |
Syracuse Chiefs | Won, 5-4 | @ Buffalo, 7:05 p.m. | Tom Milone (6-5, 3.51) vs. Mark Cohoon (204, 7.63) |
Harrisburg Senators | Lost, 4-3 | @ New Britain, 5:05 p.m. | Erik Davis (4-2, 3.59) and TBD vs. Steve Hirschfield (5-4, 2.72) and TBD |
Potomac Nationals | Lost, 7-2 | vs. Wilmington, 6:35 p.m. | Chien-Ming Wang (rehab) vs. Elisaul Pimentel (4-5, 3.72) |
Hagerstown Suns | Won, 6-5 (11 inn.) | vs. Lexington, 7:05 p.m. | TBD vs. TBD |
Auburn Doubledays | Lost, 5-3 | @ State College, 7:05 p.m. | Ryan Demmin (3-0, 1.69) vs. Nick Kingham (0-2, 4.15) |
GCL Nationals | Losing, 4-2 vs. GCL Marlins (Susp. Top 7th) |
OFF DAY | N/A |
DSL Nationals | Won, 7-6 vs. DSL Giants |
@ DSL Tigers, 10:30 a.m. | Gilberto Mendez (2-0, 1.88) vs. TBD |
Syracuse 5 Indianapolis 4
• J Martin, 5⅔ IP, 10H, 3R, 3ER, 0BB, 2K, HR
• Wilkie (W, 1-2) 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, K
• J Valdez 2-4, R, 2B, 2RBI, BB
• Lombardozzi 3-5, R, 2B
Syracuse scored a combined three runs in the eighth and ninth innings to come back from a 4-2 deficit and earn a 5-4 walkoff win against the Indianapolis Indians. Syracuse scored single runs in the second and fourth innings to earn a 2-0 lead. Starter JD Martin gave up the lead with two runs in the fifth on a two-out triple by Pedro Ciriaco and a run in the sixth on a leadoff homer by John Bowker. In the seventh, Indianapolis scored a run on a two-out Matt Hague double against J.C. Romero to make the score 4-2. Atahualpa Severino and Josh Wilkie pitched a scoreless eighth and ninth to keep Syracuse in the game. Jesus Flores cut the lead to 4-3 on an RBI double in the eighth. That set up Syracuse’s game winning two-out rally. Steve Lombardozzi (11-game IL debut hit streak) and Matt Antonelli singled before Jesus Valdez bashed a game-winning two-RBI double. Syracuse improves to 34-45, 12 games back in the IL North.
New Britain 4 Harrisburg 3
• Martis 6IP, 7H, 2R, 1ER, BB, 6K, HR
• VanAllen 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• Fox 2-4, 2B, 2RBI
• Rhinehart 2-2, 2R, 2B, 2BB
Harrisburg fell to New Britain 4-3 when the bullpen gave up two runs to squander the lead late. Harrisburg’s four errors hurt the cause. Starter Shairon
Martis offered another quality start, yielding only an unearned run aided by Derek Norris’ catcher interference in the first and a solo homer to Debinson Romero in the fifth. Harrisburg scored its first run in the second on a leadoff double from Bill “The Godfather” Rhinehart and a two-out RBI double from Adam Fox. Jimmy Barthmaier blew the save when he failed to retire four batters in the seventh before Corey VanAllen stranded the bases loaded, striking out two. Rafael Martin took the loss, allowing the crushing walkoff run on a two-out wild pitch. Harrisburg falls to 45-33, good for a four-game lead over Richmond in the Eastern League Western Division.
Winston-Salem 7 Potomac 2
• Selik (L, 2-6) 5+ IP, 9H, 5R, 5ER, BB, 2K, HR
• Testa 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 3K
• Soriano 2-4, RBI
• Dykstra 0-2, R, 2BB
Sue may have spoken too soon about the P-Nats playing good ball, as Last Night In Woodbridge, they reverted to form.
Hagerstown 6 Lexington 5 (11 inn.)
• Ray 6IP, 5H, 3R, ER, 2BB, 6K
• Graham (W, 4-3) 2IP, H, 0R, 2BB, 0K
• Martinson 2-5, R, HR, RBI
• Nicol 3-5, 3R, 2B
Hagerstown continued the walkoff theme with a 6-5 win in the bottom of the eleventh. Robbie Ray continued to impress with six strong innings and would have earned the win were it not for poor defensive support. In the third, a throwing error by catcher Cole Leonida on a Delino Deshields, Jr. stolen base led to an unearned run. In the fifth inning a Bryce Harper error on a double put Ben Orloff on third before Lexington scored its second unearned run. Ray finally gave up an earned run in the sixth on a leadoff double and RBI single before killing the rally with a strikeout and a pickoff. Hagerstown extended the game into extras on a clutch two out ninth inning double by Michael Taylor. After a strong two scoreless innings from Ben Graham, Hagerstown completed the walkoff with a leadoff Sean Nicol double and Cole Leonida’s one-out RBI single. With the win, the Suns take sole posession of first place in the Sally league Northern division and improve to 6-3.
Williamsport 5 Auburn 3
• Bates (ND) 5⅓ IP, 4H, 3R, 3ER, 3BB, 0K
• Henke (BS, 1;L, 0-1) 2⅔ IP, 5H, 2R, 2ER, BB, 2K, IR-S 3-1
• Jimenez 3-5, R, 2K
• Nieto 2-4, R, HR, 2RBI
A bullpen meltdown led to Auburn’s third straight loss, a 5-3 decision to Williamsport. Auburn held leads of 2-1 and 3-2 before giving up the tying run in the sixth and the deciding runs in the eighth. Colin Bates started and went five and 1/3rd innings, allowing three runs on four hits and three walks while Travis Henke took the loss, letting in one of three inherited runners in the sixth for the blown save and allowing the last two Cutters run for the loss. Hendry Jimenez (3-for-5) and Matt Skole (1-for-4) extended their hit streaks to 12 games, while Russell Moldenhauer’s oh-fer snapped his at 11. Auburn is now 8-7, two games off the pace. IF Khayyan Norfork and LHP Blake Monar were both placed on the 7-Day DL.
GCL Marlins 4 GCL Nationals 2 — SUSP.
The GCL Marlins scored twice in the top of the seventh to break a 2-2 tie before play was halted. The game will be completed on July 6th.
DSL Nationals 7 DSL Giants 6
• Navarro 1⅔ IP, 0H, 1R, 1ER, 5BB, 2K
• Silvestre 4⅓ IP, 2H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 2K, HR, IR-s: 3-0
• Marmolejos-Diaz 5-5, R, 2B, 2RBI
The DSL Giants committed nine (9) errors, the DSL Nationals walked seven (7), but somebody had to win, and it was the D-Nats that took the 7-6 decision in a game almost too ugly to recap. Miguel Navarro walked five of those seven in just one and 2/3rds innings, and actually lowered his ERA to 11.17 in the process. Hector Silvestre followed him on the mound and put in a sold four and a 1/3rd innings of relief with one run given up on two hits, only to see teammates Emmanuel De La Cruz, Brian Escolastico and Jorge Hernandez Jr. cough up four runs in the 7th. Hernandez was the beneficiary of the final two runs scored, getting the ugly blown-save-win. Offensively, Jose Marmolejos-Diaz was a perfect 5-for-5 with a double and two RBI to pace the D-Nat offense.
Nieto is an interesting story, signed for good money out of High School, relegated to backup last year and couldn’t even hit his weight. Then gets suspended for PED’s and you had to figure he was toast. Now he’s raking big time in Auburn, so you have to figure he still has a chance, I mean he’s only 21.
Not to mention he was a favorite of TBRFan!
Gotta love what Robbie Ray is doing.
Oh I like Adrian a lot. I told him through my “interpreter” (my daugher :)) that he needed to “stop that crap” and be a ballplayer. He actually appologized to me and said “never again”. I’ll forgive once, but not twice.
I have been watching him in Auburn and hope he gets back to Hagerstown when I presume or assume Freitas will get (maybe) called up.
Wow! You actually talked to him about his PED stuff, that’s impressive.
Thankfully, he’s just a pup.
A teenager with a cell phone and a number can be a powerful communication tool. 🙂 I liked his style and swing when here in Hagerstown. I hope he can make it back and progress past the low-A level in time. He said it was an innocent mistake – a 50 game suspension can surely take away your innocence fast. LOL
Great personal anecdote on Nieto. I think the kid learned his lesson when he got ‘popped’.
I think we’ll see some roster shuffling across the board once the All-Star games are out of the way. Maybe Nieto will get a bump back to HAG, since the G-Nats are carrying four catchers, and Cotton is under contract, but unassigned.
A little off topic, but today was start of international free agent signings. Any news of the Nats making any acquisitions?
Just a note on Ankiel. He is 4 for 4 since getting back with the NATS, 1 home run in the 9th of 1st game in a losing effort. Sort of balance for the gratutious slam on the guy yesterday.
Good stuff. I try to accentuate the positive in most cases. Speaking of which, let me check the score in the Potomac game, where Sue Dinem mayy be watching Chien Ming-Wang as I type!