The Fredericksburg Nationals bounced back from their five-hit performance in a big way with the help of a 10-run 8th inning. Leandro Emiliani, the reigning Carolina League Player-of-the-Week, hit a grand slam to break the game open and Jeremy De La Rosa stayed hot with a three-hit, three-RBI performance. In relief, Jose Ferrer pitched another clean inning with a strikeout. I’m a big fan of Ferrer, and featured him in my preseason prospect watch list.
In Harrisburg, Jackson Cluff had another rough game. Jack Dunn hit a grand slam as the offensive highlight and game winner in extra innings. Matt Cronin went in to shut the door in the bottom of the 12th inning, but had some control issues. The ghost runner scored who started the inning on second per the extra-inning rule, so his ERA remains 0.00. Cronin did close-out the game and sealed the win in a non-save situation.
Mitchell Parker threw a gem in Wilmington, going 5 2/3 innings with nine punch outs and only two hits allowed. This outing comes after he threw nine combined innings with two earned runs in his first two starts of the season. If he keeps this up, the southpaw could get a call from Harrisburg soon. In 2021, Parker had 144 strikeouts in 101 2/3 innings.
Keibert Ruiz had a nice game after going hitless in his previous three. One of his hits was a really clutch oppo RBI single to breakup a shutout-in-progress. While he was 2-4 officially, Ruiz crushed a pitch to the wall in dead centerfield and was robbed.
