With a 7-2 victory on Wednesday night, the Potomac Nationals (61-49, 24-19) earned their sixth straight victory, the first time the team has hit that mark for consecutive wins in 2018. After a 12-0 shutout victory over the Frederick Keys (54-61, 19-27) in the series opener on Tuesday night, Potomac followed with a win in which the club never trailed.
Much like in the opener on Tuesday, Potomac struck in the first inning. SS Luis Garcia hit a solo home run off of RHP Matthias Dietz (L, 0-5) two batters into Potomac’s first trip to the plate, as the P-Nats led 1-0 after one inning. Dietz settled in over the next two frames, but surrendered a leadoff single to Garcia in the fourth inning, while 3B Ian Sagdal followed with a two-run home run. Potomac led 3-0 after four innings, and Sagdal’s fourth home run of the season proved to be the difference in the game.
In his first start back in the rotation after three relief outings, LHP Matthew Crownover (ND) cruised through his first four innings, as he allowed just two baserunners. The Keys got to the left-handed starter in the fifth frame however, as the first four batters reached base. 3B Collin Woody got Frederick on the board with a leadoff home run, while a walk and two singles loaded the bases and knocked Crownover out of the game. RHP A.J. Bogucki (W, 3-1) entered with the bases loaded and no outs, and while he allowed a run to score on a double play groundout by SS Chris Clare, stranded the tying run at third base, as he struck out RF T.J. Nichting. The P-Nats led 3-2 at the midway point of Wednesday night’s matchup.
Potomac responded immediately against Dietz, who recorded just one out in the fifth inning. A one-out RBI single from 2B Bryan Mejia made it 4-2, while Garcia drew a walk, which knocked the Frederick starting pitcher out of the game. LHP Matt Trowbridge entered and struck out Sagdal, but surrendered a two-out, two-run double to 1B Aldrem Corredor. Both runs were charged to Dietz, who was tagged for six runs on five hits over 4.1 innings.
The P-Nats scored the final run of the night on an RBI single by CF Jack Sundberg, while LHP Taylor Guilbeau and RHP Jhon Romero each worked a scoreless outing out of the Potomac bullpen. Romero’s third straight scoreless outing since he joined Potomac closed out the 7-2 victory.
In search of a seventh straight win, Potomac will turn to LHP Ben Braymer (6-3, 2.82) on Thursday afternoon. Braymer has allowed just one total run over his last three starts (0.56 ERA) and hasn’t picked up a loss in more than a month. For the Keys, LHP Zac Lowther (3-2, 2.76) will aim to avoid a Frederick sweep. Lowther is 0-1 in his last three starts, but has a 1.53 ERA over that span.
First pitch at Northwest Federal Field on Thursday is set for 12:05pm. The Potomac broadcast will get underway at 11:50am with the P-Nats Leadoff Show. You can listen to the Potomac broadcast at potomacnationals.com, at http://bit.ly/P-NatsBroadcast, or on the TuneIn Radio App.
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