It took until the final half inning of the first half of Monday night’s doubleheader for any scoring at Harry Grove Stadium. With the bases loaded and no outs in the bottom of the seventh of a scoreless game, Frederick C Jonah Heim hit a fly ball single down the left field line, which plated 1B Aderlin Rodriguez and got Frederick a 1-0 walk-off win. In game two, Potomac plated two runs off of Keys’ LHP Max Schuh (L, 0-3) in the second inning and cruised the rest of the way to a 2-0 win.
Game one of the twin bill was as much a pitcher’s dual as one could ask for. RHP Erick Fedde (ND) and LHP John Means (W, 5-0) both took complete control of the game. For Potomac, Fedde tossed five-shutout innings, gave up just three hits, and struck out six in the no-decision. Means meanwhile got credit for the complete game, as the lefty went seven innings, struck out eight, gave up three hits, and walked just one in the victory. In two starts vs. Potomac, Means has struck out 18 and walked just two over 13 innings.
Potomac had a least one base runner in four innings in game one but never advanced anyone beyond second base. CF Andrew Stevenson led off the game with a walk but he was left at second base. DH Khayyan Norfork singled to start the second but was left at first base. 2B Bryan Mejia singled in the fifth but nothing came of it, and C Raudy Read did the same in the seventh, but again, Potomac could not turn it into a run.
Fedde worked out of multiple jams himself, as the first two reached in the second inning on singles by Rodriguez and DH Wynston Sawyer, but the right-handed starter got a strikeout and a double play. RF Conor Bierfeldt then led off the third frame with a double but was left at third base.
On rehab from the Washington Nationals, RHP Matt Belisle worked around a leadoff single in the sixth to provide a scoreless inning of relief and gave way toRHP Greg Ross (L, 1-2) for the seventh. Rodriguez led off the seventh frame with a single and took second base on a wild pitch by Ross. Sawyer walked before 3B Jomar Reyes singled, which loaded the bases. Playing with five men on the infield and only two outfielders, Potomac saw Heim loft a ball down the left field line, past the outstretched glove of LF Dale Carey, as the walk-off hit gave Frederick a 1-0 win.
Game two featured more stellar pitching from Potomac, as RHP Boone Whiting (W, 5-1) matched Fedde with five-shutout frames. Whiting gave up just four hits, struck out three, and did not walk a batter as he pitched one batter into the sixth inning. The righty gave up three hits, two doubles, in the first frame, but did not allow a run, as LF Jay Gonzalez ran into an out at third base. After a double by Rodriguez with two outs in the inning, Whiting then retired 13 straight Frederick hitters until SS Erick Salcedo ended Whiting’s night with a leadoff double in the sixth.
Offensively in the back half of the doubleheader, Potomac’s lone run-scoring inning came in the second frame. Carey started the inning with a single and LF Alec Keller reached on a single hit five feet in front of the plate, as Schuh and C Austin Wynns both pointed at one another to pick it up. A groundout by Norfork put men at second and third with one out before a wild pitch plated Carey and made it 1-0, the eventual winning play. 1B Grant DeBruin followed with an RBI double, which plated Keller and made it 2-0, the eventual final.
After Salcedo’s double in the sixth, Potomac turned to its two best bullpen arms thus far in 2016. LHP RC Orlan came in and got Gonzalez to ground out, which moved Salcedo to third base. After CF Josh Hart walked, Orlan struck out 2B Steve Wilkerson, before Potomac went to the pen again. In came RHP Ryan Brinley (SV, 6), who got Rodriguez to fly out to centerfield to end the sixth. Brinley gave up a single in the seventh but induced a game-ending double play groundout by Wynns to secure the 2-0 victory.
With the split, the P-Nats moved to 5.5 games back of division leading Lynchburg. Done in Frederick, Potomac will head back to Woodbridge, VA to start a seven-game homestand, as they welcome the Salem Red Sox to town for the first time in 2016. After three games vs. the Red Sox, the Winston-Salem Dash make their first appearance at The Pfitz for a four-game series taking the clubs through Memorial Day weekend. Game one of the homestand gets underway at7:05 Tuesday night at Pfitzner Stadium.
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