Cards Fold Nats, 5-1
With two-spots in the 1st and 2nd innings, St. Louis took control early and cruised to a 5-1 win over Washington yesterday afternoon.
McKenzie Gore “worked on some things” for the aforementioned four runs on four hits (one HR) over four innings in his fourth spring start. He walked two and struck out three while throwing 65 pitches, 38 for strikes.
Four watchlist players saw game action:
- Leandro Emiliani pinch-hit for DH Ildemaro Vargas and struck out in the 8th
- Darren Baker pushed Michael Chavis from 2B to 3B in the 7th and drew a walk to lead off the 9th
- Drew Millas was the second catcher and drew a walk in the 9th
- José Ferrer cordero’d around three baserunners in the bottom of 8th but got three outs without a run scoring
The Nats return to West Palm Beach this afternoon and will play host to the Astros. Trevor Williams is expected to make his third spring start. The cam can be heard on MLB.com (Houston feed).
Of all the guys the Nats have in their organization, why are Barley, Emilani, and Cody Wilson getting big-league cameos?
On the flip side, why is this the first game that Blake Rutherford has gotten an AB with the big club? He hit .271 at AAA last year, which is about 80 points higher than Jeter Downs, another failed prospect who apparently is the fair-haired guy of camp. There’s a not-unreasonable chance that Rutherford might show up on Half Street this season. But he’s gotten less big-league action than Brenner Cox.
somewhat of a bounce-back weekend for Cronin and Ferrer, somewhat being the operative word. I doubt Ferrer has a shot at opening in DC but I wouldn’t rule out Cronin if he finishes strong.
The big club is in desperate need for LH arms. (OK, the big club is desperate for a lot of things, and that’s merely one of them.)
Ferrer only has a handful of appearances at A+, so he still needs some seasoning, but Cronin should be close. Not sure what happened to either of them in the game with Israel.
A handful of appearances ABOVE A+.