Pitching at Double-A for the first time since 2007, when a then-22-year-old left-hander John Lannan worked his way from Class-A to the Majors over the course of one season, the struggling 25-year-old version of the starter threw 7.0 innings for the Harrisburg Senators last night, allowing 4 hits, 1 walk and 1 R (Unearned? Box says earned, reports say unearned?) while striking out 5 Reading Phillies and inducing 12 grounders from their batters in a 5-2 Senators' win. The one run scored with Lannan on the hill comes in the fourth, when the Phillies hit back-to-back singles to start the frame, successfully pull of a double steal, and get an RBI groundout to pull within three runs at 4-1 Senators. Lannan's 7.0 IP come after three-straight starts for the Nationals in which he failed to get out of the fifth inning. In his last 4 starts for the Nats, before being optioned to Double-A to sort out what are believed to be mechanical issues, Lannan had allowed 39 hits and 22 R, 17 ER in 19.1 IP, losing three of the four starts and causing the Nationals enough concern that they made the tough decision to send their starter down...
Another former Nats' lefty, Matt Chico got the win for the Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs last night, throwing 93 pitches, 54 for strikes over 5.2 IP in which the 27-year-old starter gave up 5 hits, 3 walks and 1 ER in a 6-1 win over the Pawtucket Red Sox. Chico improved to (3-3) on the season with his second-straight win, having thrown 6.0 scoreless in his last turn in the Chiefs' rotation against the Gwinnett Braves.
• LINK: Matt Chico doesn't get a mention in MASNSports.com's Byron Kerr's recent article entitled, "When will the Nats go to a fifth starter?", wherein Mr. Kerr speculates about which pitcher might get the call when the Nats need a fifth starter. Shairon Martis? Ross Detwiler? Craig Stammen? Lannan? Where will the Nationals turn when a decision needs to be made?