Globe iconLogin iconRecap iconSearch iconTickets icon

Lopez's resilience begins to pay off for Nats

Washington's No. 4 prospect fans career-high 11 over seven innings
August 13, 2015

Coming off a strong performance in his first full season, Reynaldo Lopez got off to a hot start this year. But then Carolina League hitters got wise to him.

After a tough campaign, the Nationals' No. 4 prospect continued to battle back and the results are finally showing. He struck out a career-high 11 while allowing two hits over seven scoreless innings as Class A Advanced Potomac topped Winston-Salem, 8-2, at G. Richard Pfitzner Stadium.

"From the first pitch of the game, he was dialed in, that's for sure. He had as good an angle on his fastball as I've seen him," P-Nats manager Tripp Keister said. "He pitched off his fastball, he commanded it to both sides. He had good angle, threw some good curveballs and changeups. It was an outstanding performance."

Lopez (6-7) did not issue a walk during his first win in exactly a month. The 21-year-old right-hander reached 97 mph on the radar gun as he surpassed his previous career high of nine punchouts, set on July 28, 2014 for Class A Hagerstown.

"I think he just kept his composure and kept pitching with his fastball. He had three pitches working tonight and it was fun to watch," the skipper said. "He was hitting his spots and he got some swings-and-misses with his secondary stuff. He did a nice job. … This is probably his best start of this year."

The Dominican Republic native held Carolina League foes to one run over his first 17 innings to start the season, but ran into trouble shortly after. Lopez showed glimmers during six quality starts throughout the season, but had trouble stringing them together.

"He's had some adversity. The Carolina League, the intimacy of the league is such that people get very familiar because we play them so much and there's only so many teams," Keister said of the eight-team circuit. "He's had to play through some outings that probably weren't the way he likes, but I like the way he competes and he continues to work hard and get better each day and that showed itself tonight."

Lopez's past two starts have marked his best stretch since May. The 6-foot hurler has yielded an earned run on seven hits while striking out 14 in 13 innings for the P-Nats.

"He's got the fastball, got three pitches working. He's commanding the fastball and then pitching off of that and got his secondary stuff working," the manager said. "That's the best part about it -- he continues to get better, he continues to work, he's a special talent and he's still young on the mound.

"That's what I'm most proud of him [for], the way he's approached the end of the year, he continues to just keep working and getting better."

Narciso Mesa and Craig Manuel chipped in two RBIs apiece to snap Winston-Salem's five-game winning streak while helping Potomac break out of a 2-5 stretch.

Dash starter Yency Almonte (2-1) allowed five runs on six hits and two walks while striking out four in six frames.

Kelsie Heneghan is a contributor to MiLB.com. Follow her on Twitter @Kelsie_Heneghan.