Last night, Mat Latos made his first start for the Washington Nationals triple-A Affiliate, the Syracuse Chiefs
Back in June, the Washington Nationals signed Mat Latos to a minor league contract. Last night, Latos made his triple-A debut for the Syracuse Chiefs against the Toledo Mudhens (Detroit Tigers) after pitching three games in the Gulf Coast league.
In addition to Latos making his Syracuse debut, the Chiefs had two Washington Nationals in their lineup as Ryan Zimmerman and Jose Lobaton were continuing their rehab assignments. Lobaton went 0-for-5 with four strikeouts while Zimmerman had a great game at the plate. But, the Chiefs lost to the MudHens, 4-3.
Latos gave up his first run of the game in the second when Toledo led off the inning with back-to-back singles. Then, Miguel Gonzalez hit into a sacrifice double play, but he was still able to drive in JaCoby Jones.
That one run in the second inning would be the only one Latos would give up in the game. The 28-year-old right-hander went five innings, gave up one run on three hits, struck out three, and walked four on 83 pitches (44 strikes) in the no-decision.
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While Reynaldo Lopez is currently in the big league rotation, Latos could be one of those pitchers that the Washington Nationals could use if there is another injury. Latos played for Dusty Baker with the Reds in 2012 and 2013, so there is familiarity there. Down in the Gulf Coast League, Latos had 18 strikeouts to three walks in those three starts.
As for the rest of the Chiefs, the story of the night was Zimmerman, who went 3-for-4, including a first-inning triple. He drove in the Chiefs first run of the game in the fifth with a RBI single to left that scored Jhonatan Solano and tied the game at the time. Since joining the Chiefs, Zimmerman is 5-for-8 with three runs scored, a home run, and three RBI’s in the sixth.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Mudhens took the lead back with three runs against Aaron Laffey. Those three runs came on a RBI single by Jason Krizan and a two-run double by Gonzalez with two outs.
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The Chiefs would try to rally with two runs in the top of the eighth courtesy of a two-run home run by third baseman Matt Skole, his 20th of the season. Since the triple-A All-Star Game, Skole is hitting .262 with nine home runs and 21 RBI’s over the course of 33 games.
Tonight, the Chiefs finish their three game series against the Mudhens at 7:05 p.m ET as Lucas Giolito (1-2, 3.38 ERA) takes the mound for Syracuse. You can watch this game and any Syracuse Chiefs game on MILB.TV.