The Mesa Solar Sox, the Arizona Fall League team that includes Nationals prospects, went 1-1 over the weekend.
On Friday, Surprise beat Mesa 14-3. Nationals prospect Neil Holland was charged with a blown save after allowing five runs on four hits in one inning of work. The big blow was a Kyle Waldrop two-run shot against Holland, who entered the game with a 3-2 lead.
Catcher Pedro Severino went 1-for-3 with an RBI single. Second baseman Tony Renda was a part of three double plays, but went 0-for-4.
On Saturday, Mesa (1-3) won its first game of AFL play with a 6-3 victory over Peoria. A's first base prospect Matt Olson, who hit 37 home runs this season for Single-A Stockton, slammed two homers and had two RBIs, finishing with three runs.
Renda played second base and again went 0-for-4, and is still searching for his first AFL hit. Derek Self and Matt Grace each pitched and pick up holds, tossing a combined 1 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing only one hit, no walks and striking out two.
This is good news for the Nationals prospects who had a rough outing in the first game. It is nice to see Self and Grace gain some confidence in their second games and get some guys out.
The league is dark on Sundays. Mesa returns to the diamond Monday night at 9:35 p.m. Eastern time at Scottsdale (3-2). The Solar Sox will be looking for their first road win of the AFL season.