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Thursday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Pitching Probables
Rochester Lost, 3-1 vs. Lehigh Valley, 11:05 a.m. Je. Rodriguez (1-1, 5.61) vs. Marvel (0-5, 11.12)
Harrisburg Lost, 4-1 @ Portland, 6 p.m. Fuentes (1-1, 3.86) vs. Santos (3-3, 4.46)
Wilmington Won, 6-2 vs. Jersey Shore, 6:35 p.m. Irvin (0-0, 0.95) vs. Cr. Hernandez (1-1, 6.98)
Fredericksburg Lost, 5-3 @ Delmarva, 7:05 p.m. Theophile (3-0, 0.82) vs. Davis (1-3, 3.64)

Lehigh Valley 3 Rochester 1
• Verrett (L, 1-3) 5⅔ IP, 6H, 3R, 3ER, 4BB, 3K, HR
• Clippard 2IP, 1H, 0R, 2BB, 2K
• Fox 3-3, R, BB, 3B, SB
• Stevenson 1-3, BB, RBI, HBP

Lehigh Valley scored all three runs in the 3rd and made it stand up for a 3-1 win over Rochester. Logan Verrett pitched into the sixth for the first time this season, allowing all three IronPigs runs on six hits and four walks while striking out three. Alberto Baldonado and Tyler Clippard shut down Lehigh Valley for three and a 1/3rd innings, but the Red Wings’ offense did not take advantage. Lineup bookends Lucius Fox and Andrew Stevenson both reached base three times, with Fox tripling to lead off the 7th and scoring on Stevenson’s one-out RBI single. Rochester mustered just five hits and could not make the IronPigs pay for issuing six walks, as the Red Wings were just 1-for-9 with RISP and left on 10 baserunners.
Roster move: C Wilmer Perez activated from the Developmental List.

Portland 4 Harrisburg 1
• Reyes 3IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Troop 3IP, 3H, R, ER, 0BB, 4K, HR
• Brill (L, 1-1) 3BF, 2H, 3R, 3ER, BB, 0K, HR
• W. Garcia 3-3
• Alu 3-4, SB, CS

All four Sea Dogs runs came via the longball, including a three-run walkoff to hand the Senators a 4-1 loss. True to form, the Nats scratched Cole Henry on a road start, i.e., little chance of the road announcing crew passing along any news. Instead, Luis Reyes was trotted out for the first three innings, followed by Alex Troop for the second three. Troop gave up the first Pedro Castellanos HR while Matt Brill gave up the second Castellanos HR after putting the first two runners on in the 9th. Harrisburg’s small-ball woes continued as they could only score one (1) run on 10 singles and two doubles. Six of those singles came off the bats of Wilson Garcia and Jake Alu (three apiece) while Brady Lindsly notched two more while driving in the lone Harrisburg run.

Wilmington 6 Jersey Shore 2
• Cuevas (W, 1-4) 5⅔ IP, 4H, 2R, 2ER, 3BB, 4K, WP
• Knowles 1⅔ IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 5K
• Mendoza 3-4, 2R, HR, 2RBI
• Antuna 1-4, 2B, RBI
• Méndez 1-4, RBI

Wilmington scored crooked numbers in three straight innings as they tripled up Jersey Shore, 6-2. Michael Cuevas notched his first win of the season, but fell an out short of a quality start with both BlueClaws runs let in on four hits and three walks over five and 2/3rds innings. He fanned four. Lucas Knowles and Zach Brzykcy each threw one 2/3rds scoreless to close out the game. Drew Mendoza singled twice and hit a two-run HR to account for half of the six Blue Rocks hits. Yasel Antuna (double) and Ricardo Méndez (single) both had RBI hits.

Delmarva 5 Fredericksburg 3
• Caceres 5IP, 6H, 5R, 5ER, 0BB, 7K, BK, HBP
• Alvarez 3IP, 0H, 0R, BB, 6K, WP
• Infante 2-4, 2B, CS, E
• V. Peña 1-3, R, 3B

All three FredNats scored on an error as the ShoreBirds took this one, 5-3. It was the fifth Fredericksburg loss in its last six games. Bryan Caceres gave up all five Delmarva runs on six hits over five innings. He walked none and struck out seven. Andrew Alvarez dominated in relief, setting down six on strikes over three innings while issuing a walk. Sammy Infante singled and doubled while Viandel Peña tripled and scored a run as Fredericksburg manages just six hits and one walk, which was drawn by Jacob Young who was also hit twice by pitches.

11 Commments

  1. It was another ugly loss in Portland. The lowlight was having the bases loaded in the 8th with one out and not scoring.

  2. I know that I’m probably spitting into the wind with a guy who is 24.5 and repeating A+, but I’m still holding out hope for Drew Mendoza. He has homered in the last two games (his only two of the season) and is hitting .311. Maybe he’s finding something. (Or maybe his .419 BABIP luck is giving us a false positive.) He was once a high-level prospect whose star faded in his last college season.

  3. Along with Pineda, Drew Mendoza’s bat has awoken. He’s now batting an impressive .311/.376/.472. Still, the power hasn’t developed as was predicted, and it looks like he’s a lot more of a 2B hitter than a HR hitter. A promotion would do some assistance in clearing the logjam in Fredericksburg, allowing Emiliani or Boissiere to get promoted, and hopefully allow Will Frizzell to play some baseball.

    1. LOL, both posted at exactly 10:00 am. Hope Mendoza felt the double love.

      Frizzell had a tremendous draft-year season in college. Who knows whether he can repeat it in the pros, but it will be interesting to see him try.

  4. There were three really good outings of long relief last night among some under-the-radar arms in the system.

    Alex Troop (9th rounder from 2017) went 3 IP, raising his ERA to 2.66 along the way by allowing a solo shot. But he’s now got 28 K in 23.2 IP and a 1.18 WHIP. His career ERA is sub-3.00 across 5 seasons.

    Lucas Knowles (14th rounder from 2019) threw 1.2 IP, getting all outs via Ks. He’s now sporting a 2.79 ERA with 24:5 K:BB and a 1.14 WHIP in 19 IP. At age 24, it might be wise to be a little more aggressive with his development path.

    Andrew Alvarez (12th rounder from 2021) went 3 IP, striking out 6 and not allowing any hits. His ERA isn’t impressive (4.15), but the peripherals are. A 1.15 WHIP, 35 K in only 21.2 IP and 9 BB, and a 2.17 FIP.

    1. Troop has intrigued me since he was drafted. He lost a season to injury and another to COVID. He was a two-way player in college (good enough to be a finalist for the Olerud Award), so like some of the others (Cavalli), he also had some refining to do as a full-time pitcher. His numbers have always been good. I hope some guys like him get a long look as they shuffle through a lot of arms over the next season or two.

  5. Isreal Pineda is turning in to a prospect again; he’s hitting at a .960 OPS rate in May.

    1. It’s probably true that you can’t have too much catching, which the Nats learned all the seasons where Ramos kept getting hurt. But Ruiz is the real deal, and between Adams and Barrera, they’ve got some pretty competent reserves at the top of the food chain, all young and long-controlled. So it seems to me that a better-performing Pineda needs to be a part of the numerous trade packages they need to be rolling out at midseason. It’s just hard to see how they return to being better without moving a number of pieces. Catcher is one of the few (only?) areas where they have some excess.

      1. And now Keith Law has the Nats connected to Kevin Parada. Says that has been the rumor for weeks. It will all work itself out. Better too many than too few.

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