Salcedo Drives In Four, Bethancout Stays Hot, and Cordier Dominates To Highlight Tuesday's Atlanta Braves Minor League Action

Edward Salcedo drove in 4 runs and Christian Bethancourt rapped out 2 doubles, while Erik Cordier tossed 7 shutout innings and Adam Milligan clubbed out his 9th homer of the year.

Gwinnett Braves 4, Toldedo Mud Hens 1

• Jose Constanza CF 4-5, 3B, HR (1), 2 RBI, .328 AVG
• Shawn Bowman 3B 2-4, .258 AVG
• Erik Cordier 7 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 1 BB, 5 K, W (1), 1.62 ERA
• Jairo Asencio 1.1 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 0 BB, 3 K, SV (7), 1.80 ERA

Erik Cordier's career has been defined more by the innings he hasn't pitched than the ones he has, but hopefully he's in the process of turning that trend around. The 25 year old had a fantastic start tonight, shutting out the Mud Hens over 7 innings while picking up 5 strikeouts. In 3 starts for Gwinnett he has a 1.62 ERA and a 0.84 WHIP. He's a member of Atlanta's 40 man roster, and he can push his fastbll into the mid 90s with easy, so he could find himself in the Majors at some point this year, either working as a spot starter or out of the bullpen. Jose Constanza ad a 4 hit day, including his first homer of the season. It was his first AAA homer, in over 600 plate appearances, and just his 6th career homer, in almost 3,000 career plate appearances. Still, the Braves aren't expecting an pop from him and his .366 OBP and 12 steals this year have been a boon to the G-Braves offense.

Todd Redmond takes the mound Wednesday.

Mississippi Braves 4, Montgomery Biscuits 7

• Marcus Lemon 2B-RF 2-3, 2 3B, E (3), .234 AVG
• Antoan Richardson LF 4-4, 2B, 3 RBI, .366 AVG
• JJ Hoover 2 IP, 6 R, 4 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 1 K, 3.07 ERA
• Rowdy Hardy 2 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 BB, 2 K, 1.93 ERA
• Billy Bullock 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K, 6.45 ERA

JJ Hoover had his worst AA start of the year, lasting just 2 innings and giving up 6 runs, 4 earned. Aside from his poor showing in 2 AAA starts, Hoover had been consistent al year, so tonight was likely just an off night, which happens to everyone now and then. Billy Bullock tossed a perfect inning, a nice comeback after allowing 4 runs in 1.2 innings his last time out. He's had stretches of dominance punctuated by the occasional terrible performance. Still, he's striking out 13.3 batters per 9 innings. It's rare to hit a triple, so it's even more impressive that Marcus Lemon hit 2 tonight, his first of the year. With Willie Cabrera's demotion from AAA and Myke Jones' return from injury and suspension, Antoan Richardson has seen his playing time nearly disappear, but he's made the most of the opportunities he's gotten, hitting .336 with a .493 OBP and a .848 OPS in 107 at bats.

The M-Braves will look for the series win Wednesday with Paul Clemens making the start.

Lynchburg Hillcats 8, Salem Red Sox 5

• Todd Cunningham CF 2-4, HR (3), RBI, BB, .275 AVG
• Andrelton Simmons SS 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI, .316 AVG
• Barrett Kleinknecht 2B 3-5, .292 AVG
• Adam Milligan DH 3-5, HR (9), 2 RBI, .287 AVG
• Gerry Rodriguez 1B 2-4, 2B, E (2), .296 AVG
• Braeden Schlehuber C 2-3, 2B, E (3), .266 AVG
• Zeke Spruill 5 IP, 4 ER, 10 H, 2 BB, 1 K, W (4), 4.14 ERA
• Ryan Buchter 1 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 1 BB, 3 K, SV (2), 1.23 ERA

The Hillcats pounded out 16 hits and plated 8 runs, backing Zeke Spruill, who wasn't overly effective, but was good enough to pick up his 4th win of the year. Ryan Buchter loaded the bases in the 9th, but he managed to strike out the side to pick up his 2nd save. Adam Milligan led the offense with 3 hits, including his 9th home run. He's loving June, with a .345 average and 1.061 OPS in 7 games. Todd Cunningham also homered, his 3rd of the year, extending his hitting streak to 4 games. Barrett Kleinknecht had 3 singles and showed his versatility by playing second base for the first time this year. This season he's also played 27 games at first, 24 at third, and 2 at shortstop. Andrelton Simmons had 2 hits, including a double, extending his hittng streak to 9 games.

Willie Kempf will take on Salem tomorrow.

Rome Braves 5, Kannapolis Intimidators 2

• Christian Bethancourt C 2-3, 2 2B, RBI, BB, .286 AVG
• Edward Salcedo 3B 3-4, 2B, 3B, 4 RBI, .274 AVG
• Dan Jurik 4 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 2 K, 2.08 ERA
• Matt Suschak 3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 BB, 4 K, W (2), 6.63 ERA
• Tyler Hess 2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 K, SV (5), 3.66 ERA

Edward Salcedo drove in 3 runs on a 5th inning triple and another on a 8th inning double. The 19 year old has been relatively consistent at the plate all year, but he's hot of late, with a .308 average and a 1.013 OPS in his last 10 games. Christian Bethancourt has been even hotter. After a 2 double day, the 19 year old is hitting .405 with a 1.218 OPS in his last 10 games. After putting up a 3.45 ERA and a 1.53 ERA in 15.2 innings for Lynchburg, Dan Jurik was sent to Rome to take the rotation spot opened when the team sent David Filak back to Extended Spring Training in anticipation of Danville's season starting in a few weeks. Jurik had a solid return to the SAL, allowing 2 runs in 4 innings. Matt Suschak was great in relief of him, throwing 3 scoreless while striking out 4. Tyler Hess followed with 2 perfect innings for his 5th save of the year, all of them coming in his last 9 appearances.

Rome is off tomorrow before heading home to begin a series against the Greenville Drive Thursday.

DSL Braves - Postponed

The tropics tend to get hit with a lot of stormes, leading to a ton of rainouts in the DSL season. The Braves will take on the Angels tomorrow.