Home Doolittle pitches perfect inning in P-Nats win
Baseball

Doolittle pitches perfect inning in P-Nats win

Chris Graham

Potomac NationalsThe Potomac Nationals (36-30, 66-67) won their third consecutive game and kept pace with the first-place Salem Red Sox with an 8-1 victory over the Frederick Keys (24-40, 53-80) on Friday night.

RHP Jackson Tetreault (W, 4-2) pitched the first five innings of a solid pitching performance for the P-Nats, earning his fourth win in the process. With four games to play, Potomac trails Salem by 2.5 games in the Northern Division standings.

Frederick RHP David Lebron (L, 2-6) had struggled in the first inning of his recent starts, and the P-Nats made sure that his trend would continue as they jumped out to a 2-0 lead. LF Jack Sundberg, CF Cole Freeman and 1B Aldrem Corredor each singled to start the game, with Corredor’s league-leading 87th RBI scoring the first run of the contest. Freeman scampered home from third on a wild pitch to give Tetreault an early advantage.

The Potomac starter allowed a run back in the fourth on an RBI single from 2B Chris Clare, but got through 5.0 innings with only one run allowed to qualify for the win and bridge the gap to the bullpen. 3B Austin Davidson collected an RBI single in the third and an RBI double in the fifth to put Potomac ahead 4-1 heading to the sixth.

Rehabbing Nationals LHP Sean Doolittle needed only 13 pitches to work a 1-2-3 sixth inning, and RHP Angel Guillen (S, 1) earned his first save by pitching hitless ball in the final three frames. SS Gilbert Lara’s RBI double in the eighth was followed by a three-run homer from Sundberg, his first of the year, to extend the lead to its final of 8-1.

The P-Nats play a twin bill on Saturday against the Keys as they make up a postponement from August 22. LHP Tim Cate will square off against LHP Cameron Bishop in game one, followed by an unannounced Potomac starter against RHP Luis Pérez in the nightcap. First pitch of game one from Nymeo Field is set for 4:00 pm, with the P-Nats Leadoff Show beginning at 3:45. Fans can listen to the Potomac broadcast at potomacnationals.com or on the TuneIn Radio App.

Support AFP

Multimedia

 

Chris Graham

Chris Graham

Chris Graham is the founder and editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1994 alum of the University of Virginia, Chris is the author and co-author of seven books, including Poverty of Imagination, a memoir published in 2019. For his commentaries on news, sports and politics, go to his YouTube page, TikTok, BlueSky, or subscribe to Substack or his Street Knowledge podcast. Email Chris at [email protected].