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Wednesday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Pitching Probables
Rochester Won, 5-3
(10 inn.)		 @ Toledo, 11:05 a.m. Ureña (0-1, 9.24) vs. Hanifee (0-3, 4.89)
Harrisburg Won, 8-5 @ Reading, 6:45 p.m. Cuevas (1-0, 5.16) vs. McGarry (0-0, 3.18)
Wilmington Lost, 4-0 vs. Hudson Valley, 11:05 a.m. Luckham (0-0, 3.00) vs. Yulie (1-2, 6.11)
Fredericksburg Lost, 4-3 @ Salem, 7:05 p.m. Susana (0-3, 4.12) vs. D. Rogers (0-1, 2.49)

Rochester 5 Toledo 3 (10 inn.)
• Espino 5IP, 5H, 3R, 3ER, 3BB, 4K, HR
• H. Harris 2IP, 1H, 0R, 1BB, 1K
• Moreno (W, 2-0) 2IP, 0H, 0R, 2BB, 3K
• Alu 3-4, 2R, BB, 2B, HR, RBI, OF assist @ 2B
• Hill 2-4, R, BB, SB(5)
• Kieboom 1-4, BB, RBI

The Red Wings got five solid innings from the bullpen, enabling the offense to erase and overcome a 3-0 deficit for a 5-3 win in 10 innings. Paolo Espino gave up three runs on five including, two of which came on his 4th HR allowed in six AAA starts. Anthony Banda (1IP), Hobie Harris (2IP), and Gerson Moreno (2IP), blanked the Mud Hens the rest of the way, with Moreno getting the “W.” Jake Alu fell a triple shy of the cycle while reaching base four time while Derek Hill singled twice, walked once, and stole his 5th base. Drew Millas tripled in his AAA debut, driving in the final Rochester run in the 10th.

Harrisburg 8 Reading 5
• Troop 5IP, 8H, 5R, 3ER, 2BB, 4K, 2HR, HBP, 2PO @ 1B
• Javier (W, 1-0) 1IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 2K
• Peguero (SV, 5) 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 0K
• Rutherford 3-4, 2R, BB, HR(5), 3RBI
• Dunn 1-2, R, 2BB, SF, 2RBI, 3SB(12), E(3)
• Hassell 2-4, 2R, 2B

Harrisburg blew a 3-0 lead but rallied for five runs in the late innings to win its third straight, 8-5 over Reading. Alex Troop wobbled through five innings, giving up a pair of two-run HRs and five runs total on eight hits over five innings. He walked two and struck out four. Odalvi Javier was the pircher of record after working around a walk in the 6th, which got him the “W,” while Joel Peguero gave up a double in the 9th but nothing else to earn the save. Blake Rutherford, José Sánchez, and Jack Dunn all hit solo HRs while the Sens marched to a ten-hit parade, led by Rutherford with three, and followed by Hassell with two (single, double). That’s the fifth time Harrisburg has won three in a row but has yet to string together four.

Hudson Valley 4 Wilmington 0
• Tetreault (L, 0-1) 3IP, 6H, 3R, 3ER, 0BB, 3K, HR
• Saenz 6IP, 5H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 8K, WP, PO @ 1B
• Wood 2-4
• Mejia 1-2, BB

The Blue Rocks were shut out for the second time this season, 4-0 on four hits to lose to the Renegades in the series opener. Jackson Tetreault emerged from witness protection and “worked on some things” for three runs on six hits (one HR) over three innings. Dustin Saenz stayed on his schedule and finished the game with a bullpen-saving six innings of one-run ball on five hits without a walk while striking out eight. James Wood singled twice while Erick Mejia reached base on a single and a walk. The rest of the lineup went 1-for-23 with four walks.

Salem 4 Fredericksburg 3
• Bennett 6IP, 5H, 0R, 0BB, 5K, 2PO @ 1B
• González (H, 2) 1⅔ IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, K
• Gomez (BS, 3; L, 3-3) ⅔ IP, 5H, 4R, 4ER, 0BB, 0K, HR(2R)
• Lile 1-3, BB, SB(10)
• W. Perez 2-3

Fredericksburg got strong pitching, good-enough offense, and two decent innings of relief. The problem was they needed three, which they did not get as Salem pressed Miguel Gomez for four runs on five hits in the 9th to turn a 3-0 lead into a 4-3 walkoff loss. The implosion turned Jake Bennett’s best outing into a no-decision as the 22-y.o. blanked the Red Sox for six innings on five hits and no walks while striking out five. The FredNats made the most of its seven baserunners (six hits, one walk), converting three of them into runs on a Brady House double, a Sammy Infante groundout, and a Paul Witt solo home run.

18 Commments

  1. Jake Alu is back to doing Jake Alu things. His .847 OPS in Rochester is yet again fantastic, but unnoticed by many is that he’s managed to cut down on his strikeouts considerably so far. His career average was around 19%, which is already pretty good, but he’s down to 12.6% so far in Rochester.

    Jake Bennett is also doing fantastically. Hope he’ll follow Henry to Wilmington for his next start. He’s simply too good to continue pitching in low A.

    Another really solid game for Dustin Saenz. It’s nice that there’s some choices to be made about which starter to promote to Harrisburg to make space for Bennett, between him, Alvarez and Luckham. Saenz has been the best, and is also repeating the level, so he’d make the most sense.

    Lastly, great to see Tetreault reappear. It’s such a shame how things transpired last year. He’ll always have those 4 big league starts, and hope he’ll be backstopping a clearly struggling Rochester rotation soon. Of 8 pitchers to start 2 or more games, Paolo Espino has the best ERA of the bunch at 4.70. 5 of them have ERAs well above 6.00. Pretty bleak stuff…

  2. At what point do you guys start to worry about Elijah Green? Me, I’m already seriously worried. His unsustainable hot start has faded fast, and he’s now batting .230/.333/.325, anchored by an astronomical 45.6% K% (3rd worst among 850 qualified minor leaguers). He’s not hitting for power like last season, without a HR since April, and only 8 XBH in 148 PA this season. And perhaps most worrisome is this is a continuation of Green’s abbreviated 2022 season, where he posted 40.4% K%. Granted he did display more power, coupled with an unsustainable .526 BABIP. Green now has 199 professional PA, and a 44.2% K%. You’d be hard pressed to find a prospect with these dismal numbers at any stage in their career.

    1. Guy was considered a toolsy project and is 1.5 months into his first full season of pro ball. He’s shown the tools already, but not consistent and needs work.

      You’re about two years early on dismissing him.

  3. Ok folks
    I’m an Aries head first into the breech .
    Nats should have drafted somebody other than Elijah ( he’s no prophet or .300 hitter ). Like Orson Welles found out about Rita Hayworth .. sometimes the chasse is irresistible but you need to know what’s under the hood .
    Like clock work : Saenz and Bennett pitch like their last outing in their present level .
    Good to see JT back in action . That’s an impressive Hudson Valley lineup to face including Dandy Vandy alum Spencer George Jones whose Dad probably loves George Jones the late singer or Spencer is related to ???
    Good see see V Peña getting on base despite a .248 BA
    Lile and Peña would be fun to watch as 1 -2 or 1-3 hitters depending on when that Wood to City Isle occurs .

    1. Pena’s first 15 games .140 BA / .261 OBP.
      Pena’s second 15 games .346 BA / .500 OBP.

      he started hot last year and tailed off, never hitting .250 in any month after April though he continued to draw walks at a good rate. he’s one to watch

      1. Peña a Grinder despite the BA
        Like the Whitey Herzog line
        Speed never sleeps

  4. Quietly Frizzell hitting .294 at Will
    Let’s hope humidity helps the lumber with him !

  7. Tetreault had an unusual injury, a broken bone in his shoulder, I think. I hadn’t realized how dreadful the Rochester rotation was until Will’s post.

    It’s almost comical that Bennett is at Low A, a 2nd round pick from a major program shouldn’t be there.

    I take solace that Elijah Green is still only 19. Let’s see how he’s doing in August.

  8. I’m intrigued by some of the middle relief at AA.

    Recently promoted Jack Sinclair threw 2 scoreless innings yesterday. The 6-foot-7 Orlando Ribalta is quietly having a solid season, Malvin Pena, who somehow has been with the organization for a decade!, is posting his second straight productive season at AA, former second rounder Tim Cate, in his first year as a reliever, has a 1.2 WHIP and Reid Schaller, once taken in the third round, is having a similar year.

    At some point, the Nats will have to have some of these guys follow Amos Willingham to Rochester, where there are a whole lot of older vets with ballooned ERAs.

    1. Agreed. Rochester really needs for some of the pitchers at Harrisburg to force their way upward.

    3. Not only that, but a bunch of these guys are Rule 5 eligible, and relievers in AA and AAA can be risky to leave exposed. It’s why Cronin and Ferrer got added to the 40 man squad this winter. But we’ve now got a bit of a glut of arms that partly due to the club’s extremely cautious promotion schedule coupled with the lost 2020 season, are now pretty big question marks, while still being potentially big league ready, and a risk to lose this offseason. This includes 2018 draftees (Cate, Schaller, E. Lee), 2019 draftees (Ribalta, Knowles, Willingham, Yankosky) and 2020’s picks (Henry and Parker).

      Fortunately, there’s a ton of pretty useless players on the 40 man roster, but there will still be some tough decisions to be made.

      1. every organization has the same situation, the same type of guys. it’s tough to part with a prospect that you’ve watch develop but it’s not paramount to the success of the organization

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