I got a chance to see the Frederick Keys take on the Wilmington Blue Rocks last night and check out a few prospects in the process. I took some notes while watching (and, for the first time in ages, scoring) the game, figuring y'all would like to hear how Machado & Co. are doing.

The game was dominated by pitching -- only three hits for Wilmington and five for the Keys. Oliver Drake pitched a complete game shutout, striking out six and walking one. He got lots of groundouts and only threw one or two obvious mistake pitches -- he got a little wild every now and then, but usually missed high or low out of the zone rather than leaving meatballs over the plate. He also saved a breaking ball for the second time through the order, and it was really fooling the Blue Rocks hitters, often freezing them.

For the offense, unfortunately, there wasn't as much to talk about this time. The Wilmington starter seemed pretty solid, having a good enough changeup (I think) to fool Keys batters regularly. A few balls were hit fairly hard, but right at fielders; I have four Keys lineouts (or "fliner" outs) on my scorecard. The two Keys runs were scored about as differently as they could've been -- one was smallball in the second, as LF Kipp Schutz got an infield hit, went to second on a throwing error, got to third on an Adam Donachie (DHing) sac fly, and scored on an infield hit by C Brian Ward. The other was a homer to right-center by 3B Dale Mollenhauer in the eighth, providing some nice insurance for Drake before the ninth.

Machado didn't get on base tonight, flying out, popping out, and striking out in his three PAs. I don't recall much about his at-bats, suggesting he was being fairly aggressive at the plate. However, he contributed tremendously with his glove, showing off a strong arm and solid range. He made a very good backhanded play in the fifth, and then a brilliant one in the sixth, falling down as he made the throw to first, but still getting the out. Schoop made a good play up the middle in the seventh, and he laid off a couple of close pitches before chopping a grounder through the left side in the first.

Overall, a 2-0 Keys win that was well-played all around by the home team. More offense would've been fun, but both starters pitched very well.