Pena, Potomac blank Salem

There can’t be too much that bothers Potomac pitcher Hassan Pena. The pressure of a baseball game, walking a batter or giving up a home run doesn’t much compare to leaving your home country to start a new life in an unfamiliar nation or even enduring time in prison.
So it was easy for Pena to shake off a disappointing performance that saw him walk a career-high six in his start Aug. 19 at Kinston.
Last night he was almost unhittable, allowing just four hits over 7.2 innings as Potomac broke a three-game losing skid with a 10-0 win over Salem at Pfitzner Stadium.
When manager Randy Knorr reached the mound to remove Pena after two consecutive two-out hits in the eighth, the entire Nationals infield congratulated the hurler. Pena then doffed his cap to an appreciative crowd of 2,244, acknowledging their support throughout the evening.
“Sometimes I have trouble because I’m not warmed up enough,” Pena said, “but today I prepared really well for the game. That’s the difference.
“This was the first time I throw 7.2, but it felt pretty good. I think I can keep doing that if I get first-pitch strikes.”
One of the most recent additions to the P-Nats’ rotation, Pena defected from Cuba three years ago to the month, but that was after a previous unsuccessful attempt landed him in a Cuban jail and on the communist government’s list, effectively ending his baseball career in that country.
Wearing a navy blue Nationals jersey (somewhat politically-ironic in Pena’s case), the right-hander struck out a career-high nine Avalanche hitters and walked none, a marked improvement from that appearance against the Indians.
To begin the year Pena, 23, was ranked No. 26 in the Nationals’ organization by industry publication Baseball America. He missed all of 2006 when he suffered from right shoulder tendinitis (he had rotator cuff surgery prior to the 2007 season). This year Pena spent two separate stretches on the disabled list with a right shoulder injury, missing time in April and from May into July.
Because of the arm trouble, Pena was limited to just 80 pitches prior to last night’s start when he threw 93.
“He’s full-go now,” Knorr said. “He was just outstanding tonight. He mixed his pitches great, worked both sides of the plate and kept them off-balance. He was awesome tonight.”
Run support for Pena was sparse to start the game with Salem pitcher Corey Bass keeping Potomac scoreless into the fifth. But in that inning the Nationals struck hard, sending 10 hitters to the plate and scoring six runs, more than Pena would need.
Nationals outfield prospect Michael Burgess started the inning with a lead-off single and scored four batters later on Michael Martinez’s single. That was just the beginning of the offense as the next three hitters reached and drove runs in, including Andrew Lafave’s two-run hit. Avalanche reliever Jay Pacella struck out two straight to end the inning.
Dan Lyons added a two-run triple in the eighth followed by an RBI-double by Lafave. Dee Brown then singled to send Lafave home to cap the scoring.
“We’re just tired of getting beat up,” Lafave said of ending the short losing streak. “I told Randy (Knorr) early in the game, ‘We’ve got to win today, we’re just tired of losing.’
“I wanted to put the pressure on myself to help us get out of this little slump,” Lafave added.
Left-handed reliever Atahualpa Severino pitched 1.1 scoreless innings to finish the game.
Last night’s victory was Potomac’s 76th of the year, the most for the franchise since the 1982 Alexandria Dukes won 80 on the way to a Carolina League title.