Rosenbaum, Chiefs shut out Bats

The Syracuse Chiefs, the Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, shut out the Louisville Bats, 5-0, on Thursday night. Left-hander Danny Rosenbaum pitched into the seventh inning to earn the win, giving Syracuse a sixth victory in seven games on its 10-game road trip.

Josh Johnson started the third inning for Syracuse (51-60) with a double to left field against Bats left-hander Ryan Dennick. After a Jhonatan Solano fly out advanced Johnson to third base, Rosenbaum stepped up to bat with the infield in. He grounded a ball toward center field and off the glove of shortstop Kristopher Negron, who made a leaping attempt, to score Johnson and give the Chiefs a 1-0 lead. The play was ruled an error against Negron.

The Chiefs opened the floodgates against Dennick in the fourth inning. Tyler Moore doubled to begin the frame, and Chris Marrero's groundout to second base advanced Moore to third. Third baseman Zach Walters, next up, bounced a ball to third baseman Neftali Soto, whose throw to the plate was mishandled by catcher Nevin Ashley. Moore slid in safely to put the Chiefs ahead by a 2-0 score. After a Johnson walk, Solano smashed a double down the left-field line, scoring both Walters and Johnson for a 4-0 Syracuse advantage.

Those runs were more than enough for Rosenbaum, who held Louisville (55-59) in check throughout six-and-two-thirds scoreless innings. He allowed eight hits and one walk while striking out six batters in the game.

Syracuse picked up an extra run in the eighth inning. Danny Espinosa singled on Nick Christiani's first pitch of the frame and advanced to third base on a fielder's-choice ground ball to third base that Soto tossed into right field for a throwing error. Later in the frame, Espinosa raced home from third base on a wild pitch.

Syracuse aims for a series win in the last of a four-game set on Friday night at 7:05. Chiefs right-hander Tanner Roark and Bats right-hander Chad Reineke are the scheduled starters.