P-Nats offense rallies again

By Joe Conroy

Published: July 22, 2008

Potomac starter Jeff Mandel had his worst start of the year against Kinston in a game at the end of June, and Monday night’s series opener with the K-Tribe did not look much better for the right-hander.
And like that five-run, 5.1-inning showing last month, Mandel could not keep the opposition’s offense in check, working six frames and allowing four runs. Luckily for the Baylor product the Nationals found their offense late in what turned out to be a 7-4 win in front of 3,768 Potomac faithful.
The Nationals’ bats came to life in the seventh, trailing 4-2 against Indians reliever Sung-Wei Tseng when an error allowed Michael Martinez to reach base to start the inning. Martinez scored one hitter later on a Francisco Plasencia double. Plasencia then reached third on a passed ball and scored when Dee Brown singled through the right side of a drawn-in infield.
Potomac completed its three-run half of the inning with a sacrifice fly off the bat of Brian Fine-gan, sending Andrew Lefave home putting the P-Nats up 5-4.
In the eighth, Plasencia extended the lead to three runs by driving in both Boomer Whiting and Martinez with a single right back at reliever Matt Meyer.
“We got the base hits when we needed them,” Plasencia said after a 2-for-4, three-RBI perform-ance.
“The first two at-bats I didn’t feel so well,” the speedy center fielder said of a strikeout and reach-ing on an error. “In those at-bats I tried to pull the ball and I don’t usually pull the ball. I tried to hit the ball up the middle and the other way and that worked. I have to keep doing that.”
Things did not look to be going the Nationals’ way offensively early, however.
With the score tied at 1, Potomac had a chance to take a lead in the third inning when Dan Lyons smacked a lead off triple to the right-centerfield gap. Despite a two-out walk to Plasencia, the Nationals were unable to drive Lyons in from third.
Lyons would later drive in Potomac’s second run of the game with a two-out single to right, scoring Aaron Suess.
The speed of Whiting, Martinez and Lyons kept pressure on the Kinston pitchers all night, though, and was key to Potomac’s rallies.
“It makes all the pitchers pitch (the team) differently,” said Lyons, who was 3 for 4 with a triple and a double. “The meat of our order is going to see a lot more fastballs when we’ve got guys that can run on the bases.”
“It’s really good because before we had a lot of players who hit the ball hard for home runs,” Plasencia said. “Now we’re losing them to Double-A, which is great, but bringing a couple guys that can run can put pressure on the pitchers.”
Since joining Potomac on June 2, Mandel, who registered a no-decision, has been one of the most consistent P-Nat pitchers, posting a 2.83 ERA over 41.1 innings with a nine-inning scoreless streak entering last night’s contest to go with a 4-2 record.
That stretch ended in the first when Kinston leadoff hitter Johnny Drennen scored two batters into the game.
After settling down briefly, Mandel struggled again in the top of the fifth, an inning that included a three-run home run from No. 9 hitter Jerad Head with one out to give Kinston a 4-1 lead.
In the second, the Nationals manufactured a run to tie the game at one run apiece. Brown singled with one out and, after reaching third on a double from Suess, scored when Brian Finegan grounded out to second.
Facing Kinston in the second game of the three-game series, Potomac will send Luis Atilano to the mound to oppose Josh Tomlin.
Atilano gave up just six hits to Lynchburg last Thursday, his fourth start for Potomac this year. The right-hander is now 2-0 with a 3.25 ERA. He struck out five Hillcats, walked only one and al-lowed just one earned run in that June 17 start.
Atilano is returning from Tommy John surgery performed in 2006 and spent all of 2007 recovering.