Nationals Farm Authority

I’m here in Woodbridge for the P-Nats Opening Day made more interesting by the starting pitcher for Potomac. Rehabbing RHP Shawn Hill makes his first non-Florida appearance as he works his way back from a right forearm injury. Reports have Hill on a five inning or 80 pitch leash. Following Hill on the mound for the P-Nats will be 2008 2nd round selection Jordan Zimmermann. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05PM

Check back here for updates as the evening goes on…

In the first inning, Hill was solid, retiring the side in order on twelve pitches, including the last two on strike looking. His sinker was working early as he induced the leadoff hitter to beat a groundball into the dirt in front of the plate. Hill struck out Myrtle Beach’s Brandon Jones on a very nice offspeed pitch.

The second inning saw Hill work down in the zone with his fastball before getting the Pelican cleanup hitter to pound the ball into the ground back to mound. The second hitter wasted no time duplicating that feat with another groundball back to Hill. He finished the inning of with yet another groundball back to the mound.

Through two innings, Hill has thrown only 23 pitches, 16 for strikes.

In the bottom of the second, the P-Nats got on the board with a two-run home run by SS Seth Bynum.

In the third inning, the Pelicans leadoff hitter finally got a ball past the pitcher’s mound, grounding out to third. The trend continued as the #8 hitter grounded out sharply to 1B Chris Marrero. Hill quickly ended the inning with another groundout, this time to SS. Hill only needed seven pitches to retire the bottom of the Pelicans order.

The P-Nats managed two more baserunners in the bottom of the third but left them runner in scoring position when DH Marvin Lowrance flew out to center.

Hill broke the bat of Pelicans leadoff hitter Gorkys Hernandez, getting him to pop out to pitcher. The Pelicans finally broke through, getting a walk with one out. Hill bounced back, getting SS Brandon Hicks to strike out swinging. Then Myrtle Beach finally managed a hit with two outs. An infield hit that found its way between 3B and SS. Another IF hit by the Pelicans loaded the bases with two outs. Hill escaped further damage striking out Roberto Alvarez, leaving them loaded. That was by far Hill’s toughest inning as he threw 23 pitches, 15 for strikes.

Through four innings, Hill has thrown 53 pitches, 35 for strikes.

The fifth inning saw the Pelicans get their first ball out of the infield with clean single to center leading off the inning. Hill immediately erased that baserunner inducing a 6-4-3 double play on the first pitch to RF Jon Mark Owings. Myrtle Beach appears to have somewhat figured out Hill as #9 hitter Derrick Arnold waited on an offspeed pitch dumping a single to center field, the Pelicans fourth hit of the game. Hill got a line out to second to end the inning. Twelve pitch (seven strike) fifth for Hill. 69 pitches …. 44 for strikes through five.

(Note: Manny Acta and Pat Corrales are here watching Hill’s rehab appearance; RHPs Jordan Zimmermann and Carlos Martinez were warming up down the RF line in the top of the fifth)

 And five innings is where it ends as Jordan Zimmermann takes over in the top of the sixth. The final line for Hill was five innings, no runs, four hits, one walk, and four strikeouts. Of Hill’s other eleven outs, nine were on the ground.

Hopefully I’ll have some quotes from Hill shortly.

A couple of comments from Manny Acta

• “Shawn threw the ball well, kept his stamina up”
• “The first three innings were good but he wasn’t as good the last two innings”
• When asked about Hill pitching out of the stretch, “It was good to see him in a real game situation”
• “No decision has been made about activating Hill for Sunday’s start against Atlanta.  We’ll sit down as anorganization tomorrow to mtalk about it”

Some comments from Shawn Hill

• “Overall I think it went pretty good”
• on whether he feels he’s earned the start on Sunday, “I don’t know about earning anything. It’s entirely their decision. This wasn’t the Braves I was facing or anything. It’s a totally different ballgame. I can’t throw as many fastballs against the Braves. You need to mix it up more”
• “I feel like I’m ready to go”
• Threw primarily fastballs 
• “Didn’t throw any changeups”
• “Curveball was OK”
• “Fastball was where I needed it to be.”
• “No pain in the arm this evening”
• “It was nice to pitch in a real game with an umpire behind the plate”
• Disappointed that all I faced were righthanded hitters
• “Need to make sure I get loose to throw, not throw to get loose”
• “Only time I feel the arm is warming up to start the game”
• Pleased with fastball velocity; command was good the first few innings
• Finished up in the bullpen to reach his pitch count
• “As long as it’s not the excruciating stabbing pain, I’m fine”
• On working from the stretch, “It was kind of good. Kind of bad.”
• Commented that when he had runners on base, he got a little too quick to the plate

Jordan Zimmermann is likely to get lost in the discussion of the eveing, but that should not be the case.

Zimmermann went four scoreless innings, allowing two hits and three walks with six strikeouts to earn the save. Aside from a tense ninth inning where he loaded the bases with one out, he kept the Pelicans hitters off balance all night.

The final score was 2-0 with Hill and Zimmermann combining on a six-hit shutout.