Gwinnett Braves 9, Charlotte Knights 3
- Ozzie Albies, SS: 0-6, 2 K, .232/.276/.378
- Adonis Garcia, LF: 3-4, 2 RBI, 2 runs, .351/.413/.649
- Aaron Blair, SP: 3 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, 1.64 ERA
Aaron Blair's start was cut short by rain as Gwinnett ran away with this one 9-3. Blair was mostly effective in his 3 innings of work despite giving up 7 baserunners. The weather was messing with all of the pitchers and he was still able to get strikeouts and get out of jams when he needed to. Lucas Harrell made his debut for the Braves organization after spending time in the Tigers' minor league system this season and gave up 2 runs in 3.2 IP while striking out 4. Matt Marksberry and the newly re-signed Rob Wooten combined for 2.1 IP of scoreless relief to secure the win.
On offense, the bulk of the damage was done by the heart of the order (Emilio Bonifacio, Adonis Garcia, and Sean Kazmar) which went 8-14 with 5 runs and 6 RBIs. A couple players who did not contribute to the offensive output are Rio Ruiz and Ozzie Albies. Rio Ruiz has been mired in a major slump and got a much needed day off in this one. Ozzie, on the other hand, saw the momentum of his recent hot stretch take a small hit as he went 0-6 with 2 Ks in this one. He has still hit safely in 8 of his past 10 and should be fine although he clearly hasn't been as dominant at AAA as he was in AA.
Next Game: 5/22 at Charlotte @ 2:05 PM
Probable Starters: Gwinnett - Kanekoa Texeira, Charlotte - Scott Carroll
Mississippi Braves 10, Mobile BayBears 3
- Dansby Swanson, SS: 3-6, 3B, 1 RBI, 3 runs, .309/.398/.519
- Dustin Peterson, LF: 3-5, 2 RBI, 1 run, .258/.324/.428
- Carlos Franco, 3B: 2-3, 3 RBI, 1 run, 1 BB, .228/.329/.293
- Sean Newcomb, SP: 3.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R (2 ER), 6 BB, 4 K, 3.91 ERA
Mississippi used a balanced offensive attack to throttle Mobile 10-3. Sean Newcomb was simply not very good in this game. He threw 96 pitches in less than 4 innings of work while walking an astonishing 6 batters. He has really seemed to take a step back in terms of command/control this season and is going to have some work to do before any real consideration to promoting him to AAA is given. The bullpen trio of Victor Mateo, Jason Hursh, and Madison Younginer combined to throw 5.1 IP of scoreless relief with Hursh being particularly effective.
Dansby Swanson is good at baseball. After a small slump in AA, he is back to causing havoc hitting safely in 8 straight games with 4 multi-hit games during that span. Dustin Peterson is continuing to be feast or famine at the plate, but tonight was a feast night as he had 3 hits with a couple of RBIs as well. Carlos Franco has the potential to be a very interesting option at third base, but has struggled mightily this year. He has the ability to hit for some power and gets on base at a decent clip, but has been striking out at an alarming rate this season. It was good to see him with a good game with a couple of hits and 3 RBIs.
Next Game: 5/22 at Mobile @ 2:05 CST PM
Probable Starters: Mississippi - Rob Whalen, Mobile - Edgar Garcia
Carolina Mudcats - Postponed
Rain Stinks
Next Games: Doubleheader on 5/22 at Wilmington @ 1:05 PM
Probable Starters: Carolina - Max Povse, Wilmington - Derek Gordon
Augusta GreenJackets 4, Rome Braves 0
- Ray-Patrick Didder, CF: 2-4, .289/.394/.403
- Jonathan Morales, C: 0-4, .306/.335/.415
- Touki Toussaint, "SP": 6 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 5.73 ERA
The offense only managed to muster 4 singles in this one as Rome fell to Augusta 4-0. The game was actually "started" by Shae Simmons who presumably is wanting to do his rehab assignments close to Atlanta and not go out on the road. He pitched a completely clean inning. After that, it was Touki's turn and he was mostly good, going a very encouraging 6 innings while only walking one and striking out three. The top of the 6th inning did get a bit dodgy with a couple of timely hits and a wild pitch scoring a run, but in his last inning he got three batters in quick succession. Matt Custred pitched out the rest of the game and gave up a run in 2 innings of work.
On offense, no one did much of anything outside of Ray-Patrick Didder with a pair of singles out of the leadoff spot. Augusta starter Michael Connolly was excellent and Rome did not have any luck on the balls they were putting in play. Only Justin Ellison and Wigberto Nevarez got hits aside from Didder on what was a pretty disappointing day for the Rome lineup.
Next Game: 5/22 hosting Augusta @ 2:00 PM
Probable Starters: Rome - Mike Soroka, Augusta - Michael Santos