Thursday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Probables |
| Rochester | Lost, 6-2 | vs. Worcester, 6:05 p.m. | Espino (1-1, 0.82) vs. Walter (0-2, 5.16) |
| Harrisburg | Won, 3-2 | vs. Bowie, 11 a.m. | Troop (2-1, 3.33) vs. Povich (2-2, 4.15) |
| Wilmington | Won, 7-4; Won, 7-1 |
vs. Brooklyn, 6:35 p.m. | Saenz (1-1, 2.82) vs. Foster (0-3, 8.22) |
| Fredericksburg | Won, 8-3 | @ Carolina, 7 p.m. | Cornelio (1-2, 7.24) vs. Rudy (0-0, 2.08) |
Worcester 6 Rochester 2
• Peralta 6IP, 2H, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 10K, HR
• Ferrer (L, 2-1; H, 4) 1IP, 3H, 2R, 2ER, 1BB, 1K, WP, PTV
• Weems (BS, 3) 1IP, 2H, 2R, 2ER, 1BB, 1K, HR, 2-2 IR-S
• Blankenhorn 3-4
• Kieboom 2-5, R, HR, RBI
Rochester got another strong outing from its stAAAArter but the ‘pen? Not so much. A four-run 8th turned a 2-1 lead into a 5-2 deficit that became the 6-2 score with a run in the 9th to even the series. Wily Peralta struck out 10 for the first time since 2016 as the journeyman gave up a run on a home run and two hits total over six frames while walking one. Jose Ferrer got the loss with an “assist” from Jordan Weems, who blew his third save in six chances. Travis Blankenhorn led the Red Wings’ hit column with three singles, followed by Kevin Plawecki with two safeties while Carter Kieboom hit his first HR for 2023.
Harrisburg 3 Bowie 2
• Parker (W, 2-2) 6IP, 3H, 1R, 1ER, 3BB, 6K
• Ribalta (SV, 1) 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Rutherford 2-3, R, BB, HR, RBI, SB
• Valera 1-3, SF, RBI
Mitchell Parker turned in another quality start while the Senators *did* get the bullpen help needed to edge the BaySox, 3-2. Parker gave up a run on three hits and three walks while striking out six for his second win. Three relievers combined for a run over three innings, with Tim Cate rebounding to earn his fifth hold and Orlando Ribalta pitching a 1-2-3 ninth for his first save. Blake Rutherford homered, walked, singled, and drove in two while Leonel plated the deciding run on a sacrifice fly to lead the five-hit, four-walk offense.
Wilmington 7 Brooklyn 4
• Lara (W, 1-3) 6IP, 3H, 0R, 1BB, 6K
• M. Gomez 1IP, 3H, 4R, 0ER, 1BB, 0K
• McKenzie 2-3, R, RBI
• Wood 1-3, R, HR, 3RBI
• Lipscomb 1-2, R, BB, 2SB
It was a tale of two innings in Game One, with Wilmington opening up a 7-0 lead with a seven-run 2nd and Brooklyn welcoming Miguel Gomez to High-A with a four-run 7th. Andry Lara got the memo and turned in six shutout innings for his first win and quality start of the season. He walked one and set down six on strikes. Gomez walked one and gave up three hits but “thanks” to an error all four runs let in were unearned. Jared McKenzie singled twice and drove in a run while James Wood’s fourth HR was a three-run shot to power the Blue Rocks attack.
Wilmington 7 Brooklyn 1
• Knowles 3IP, 2H, 1R, 1ER, 3BB, 5K, HR
• M. Perez 3IP, 1H, 0R, 1BB, 4K
• McKenzie 2-4, 2B, 3B, 2RBI
• V. Peña 2-3, R, BB, 2B, RBI
• Lipscomb 2-3, R, 2B, RBI
The Blue Rocks got back to .500 with a doubleheader sweep of the Cyclones, taking Game Two by a count of 7-1. Lucas Knowles gave up a run on a homer and two hits total in the spot start. He walked three and struck out five. Marlon Perez followed with three scoreless innings, giving up a walk and a hit to earn the “W,” his first. Jared McKenzie led Wilmington’s 12-hit parade with a double and a triple and two RBI while Viandel Peña and Trey Lipscomb both went 2-for-3 with a double, an RBI, and a run scored. Roster moves: RHP Miguel Gomez reassigned from Fredericksburg; RHP Rodney Theophile placed on the 7-Day I.L.
Fredericksburg 8 Carolina 3
• Susana 4IP, 2H, 2R, 0ER, 1BB, 4K, WP
• P. González (W, 2-0) 3IP, 3H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Boisserie 2-4, R, 3B, HR, 4RBI
• Lile 2-4, 2R, 2B, BB, RBI, SB
• House 2-4, 2R, E
The FredNats broke open a 4-2 game with a four-run 8th as they won back-to-back games for just the third time this season with an 8-3 defeat of the Mudcats. Jarlin “Oh” Susana pitched a full four innings for the second time in ’23, giving up two runs on two hits and a walk while striking out four. Pedro González got the win with three scoreless innings of relief. Branden Boisserie tripled in one and hit an Earl Weaver special to lead the Fredericksburg assault, followed by Daylen Lile with a walk, single, and a double. Roster moves: IF Sammy Infante activated from the 7-Day I.L.
The highlight of the Sens game was a skunk running onto the field. The head of stadium operations chased the skunk out to an opening in the CF fence. As he left the field, they played “There goes my hero” over the PA system. His action was also selected postgame as the play of the game.
As far as the game, Parker pitched well. Only negative was the 3 BB.
Luke my Boston wakes up @ 7 ish when you’re doing the game summations
You know give kudos to Parker getting through the Birds blue chip hitters especially Mayo and HK
That’s another form of “ hold the Mayo !”
What’s with the org lack of true clean up hitters besides House ?
Just asking
Vega
Steven Williams last season
Hum , baby ( Roger Craig )
Knowles
Pedro Gonzo
We have perfectionists or Virgos in the bleacher seats .
Hun baby , Peralta and “ Laying it on the Line ( Starship tune ) Lara !
Another day of great starting pitching performances! Parker, Lara and Susana have all had extremely disappointing seasons so far, so hopefully this is the start of them turning the corner.
A few notable performances in Wilmington:
Jared McKenzie’s bat has started to show signs of life. He’s hitting .281 in May, but he’s struck out 11 times and not walked once in that span (32 PA). His extreme K/BB splits were a huge red flag last season (19:1 K:BB), but despite not hitting in April, he reversed those splits cut his strikeouts and finally started walking, taking 12 BB and striking out 18 times in 60 PA. All in all, I’m not sure whether to be enthusiastic about his recent spell or not…
Trey Lipscomb, meanwhile, has had a genuinely good May so far, batting .343/.385/.600 (3BB:5K) with 2 HR.
Jeremy de la Rosa too has been better this month, hitting .273/.429/.364. The strikeouts are still high in this period (36%), but at least it’s down from April (48%).
TJ White, though, is still really struggling. Last season he was famous for his wildly streaky monthly splits. Well, this year he’s stopped that in a bad way, putting up a .594 OPS in April followed consistently by a .598 OPS in May.
After much consternation last season, I don’t think site favorite, Will Frizzell, has come up this season, and for good reason. He’s been awful: .159/.293/.232. There’s no shortage of disappointments to start this season, but Frizzell has FINALLY managed to get regular playing time, and has done nothing to repay that.
Really hoping he can turn things around, as he’s never had anything but success in his highly abbreviated career so far.
A friend of mine who is a casual baseball fan joined me last night. Even he noticed Frizzell’s low batting average. He assumed he had only been recently promoted and had only a few at bats.
Parker was terrific again, love to see back to back sterling outings.
Vega ha already conquered High A, what are they waiting for? Both he and Millas need to be promoted.
Daylen Lile continues to rake. Really impressive considering he missed the entire 2022 season. Even looks like “pop” is coming as he has three HRs and is slugging .554. He’s only 20. Will get stronger. Also, 7 steals in 21 games. Toolsy.
Which catcher fills the space behind home plate once Vega motors up a level .
Some of us have driven Chevy Vegas lol
Around this time last year I was looking at the numbers for Viandel Pena, Leandro Emiliani, Rodney Theophile and Jeremy de la Rosa and awaiting their promotions.
Unfortunately, they all seemed to hit “the Wilmington wall”. Hopefully JDLR gets it going soon.
Frizzell had 11 games at the complex, 34 games at the A level . . . and got skipped to AA. Even Soto and Harper didn’t move up that fast. Our “Rhineharted” term may have to be changed to “Frizzelled.”
Great to see good games from Lara and Susana (and that Susana apparently is healthy) and “only” three walks by Parker.
And yes, Lile is looking like the real deal. Ultimately he may benefit from the extra year he had to grow into his body and get stronger.
This is Cody Wilson’s 5th season with the Nats org. In 4 previous seasons he kept getting promoted with hitting at all with a career OPS of .632. Now with 52 AB’s at Rochester his OPS is .869.
Has the light bulb gone on?