(47-45) Gwinnett Braves 4 , (40-52) Charlotte Knights 5
Ozzie Albies, SS: 1-4, R, .289/.333/.445
Ronald Acuna, CF: 0-3, BB, .312/.365/.510
Kris Medlen, SP: 7 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 5.82 ERA
A.J. Minter, RP: 0.1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 K, 6.23 ERA
The Gwinnett Braves rallied late but watched it slip away in the bottom half of the ninth in a 5-4 loss to Charlotte. The Knights put three on the board in the second on RBI hits by Danny Hayes, Ronald Bueno and Yoan Moncada. Medlen settled down from there allowing six hits and three runs over seven innings to go along with a walk and seven strike outs.
The Braves finally put their first run of the evening on the board in the seventh. Rio Ruiz worked a two-out walk and advanced to third on a single by Dustin Peterson. Ruiz then came home on a wild pitch by Reynaldo Lopez to cut Charlotte’s lead to 3-1.
Gwinnett rallied in the ninth as Ozzie Albies led off the inning with a single and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Albies advanced to third on a line out by Ronald Acuna and later scored on a single by Danny Santana to make it 3-2. Santana then moved up to second on a wild pitch and scored on a double by Ruiz to tie the game. Micah Johnson then brought Ruiz home with a single of his own to put Gwinnett in front 4-3.
However, the Braves bullpen couldn’t hold it. Enrique Burgos recorded the first out of the ninth on a groundout and was then replaced by A.J. Minter. Rob Brantley greeted Minter with a double. Minter came back to strike out Hayes but pinch hitter Rhymer Liriano followed with a double to tie the game at 4-4. Tyler Ladendorf then walked it off with a double of his own to score Liriano.
Danny Santana went 2-for-4 in another rehab start. Burgos pitched 1 1⁄3 hitless innings before giving way to Minter in the ninth.
Next Game: 7/17 vs (57-37) Lehigh Valley @ 7:05 p.m. ET
Probable Starters
LHV: Tom Eshelman (7-2, 1.96 ERA)
GWN: Lucas Sims (6-4, 3.98 ERA)
(40-53) Mississippi Braves 3, (52-42) Pensacola Blue Wahoos 4
Austin Riley, 3B: 1-4, R, 2 K, .249/.307/.399
Tyler Neslony, LF: 2-4, RBI, .304/.370/.435
Luiz Gohara, SP: 5.2 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 4 K, 1 BB, 2.93 ERA
Jacob Webb, RP: 1.2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 1 K, 2 BB, 3.86 ERA
Luiz Gohara was impressive but the Mississippi Braves couldn’t protect a ninth inning lead in a 4-3 loss to Pensacola.
The Braves struck first in the fourth inning when Tyler Nesloney doubled home Austin Riley to put Mississippi in front 1-0. Travis Demeritte followed with a sacrifice fly to score Joey Meneses to give Luiz Gohara a two-run cushion.
Gohara cruised through the first five innings but ran into trouble in the sixth. Blake Trahan got the rally started with a single and advanced to third on a double by Nick Senzel. Gohara then retired Gavin LaValley on a line out but then surrendered a two-out double to Gabriel Guerrero that scored Trahan and Senzel to tie the game. After a walk Alberti Chavez, Gohara was replaced by Danny Reynolds who got Shed Long to foul out to end the threat.
Mississippi retook the lead in the seventh as Connor Lien scored on a wild pitch with the bases loaded and two outs to put the Braves back in front 3-2.
Jacob Webb retired Pensacola in order in the eighth but wasn’t able to close things out in the ninth. Josh VanMeter got things started with a one-out single to right. He advanced to second after a walk to Joe Hudson. Tyler Goeddel followed with a single to center that scored VanMeter to tie the game. After a walk to Trahan that loaded the bases, Webb was replaced by Devan Watts who allowed a walk-off single to Senzel to give Pensacola a 4-3 win.
Next Game: 7/17 vs (52-42) Pensacola @ 7:35 p.m. ET
Probable Starters
MIS: Kolby Allard (5-7, 2.98 ERA)
PNS: Jose Lopez (3-1, 3.43 ERA)
(34-54) Florida Fire Frogs 4, (51-40) Tampa Yankees 6
Ray Patrick-Didder, CF: 2-3, 2 R, 2B, .214/.327/.316
Alay Lago, 2B: 3-4, .292/.336/.402
Alex Jackson, C: 1-3, HR, 3 RBI, R, .276/.341/.524
Enderson Franco, SP: 5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 4 K, 3 BB, 4.94 ERA
The Fire Frogs jumped out to an early lead but a bad seventh inning sent them to another loss.
Florida got on the board in the second when Matt Gonzalez plated Carlos Castro to bring home the Fire Frogs first run. They added another in the third as Alay Lago scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Alex Jackson.
Tampa cut Florida’s lead in half in the fourth when Alexander Palma to Enderson Franco deep to make the score 2-1. That was the only run Franco would allow on the afternoon allowing just three hits and pitching around three walks over five innings of work.
Josh Graham retired Tampa in order in the sixth but things unraveled quickly for him in the seventh. Palma led off the inning with a single but Graham struck out the next two batters. He however would not record another out. Angel Aguilar tied the game with a single. The Yankees took the lead one batter later on an RBI hit by Jeff Hendrix. Tampa would score three more times in the seventh and Florida trailed 6-2 by the time the dust cleared.
Jackson hit his 14th home run in the eighth inning to cut the deficit to 6-4 but the Fire Frogs went down in order in the ninth.
Next Game: 7/17 vs (51-40) Tampa @ 7 p.m. ET
Probable Starters
FLO: Oriel Caicedo (0-0, 6.75 ERA)
TAM: Erik Swanson (1-2, 3.73 ERA)
(46-44) Rome Braves 8, (40-51) Delmarva Shorebirds 3
Cristian Pache, CF: 3-5, 3 R, SB, .288/.347/.359
Lucas Herbert, C: 3-4, 3 RBI, 2B, .272/.323/.418
Randy Ventura, DH: 2-5, 2 R, .297/.342/.333
Rome gave an early lead to Bryse Wilson and never looked back in an 8-3 win over the Shorebirds.
Lucas Herbert had a big day at the plate and got things started in the first inning with a double that scored Cristian Pache to put Rome on top 1-0. Herbert struck again in the second with an opposite field single that scored Randy Ventura. Kevin Josephina followed with a sacrifice fly to score Pache to put the Braves up 3-0.
Rome tacked two more on in the fourth on a double by Isranel Wilson. The Braves would score two more in the seventh and once more in the eighth to pull away for the victory.
Wilson allowed just four hits and one run over five innings. He struck out six and walked just one.
Next Game: 7/17 vs (40-51) Delmarva @ 7:05 p.m. ET
Probable Starters
ROM: Jeremy Walker (3-9, 5.18 ERA)
DEL: TBA
(11-13) Danville Braves 6, (16-8) Bluefield Blue Jays 7
Drew Waters, CF: 2-5, R, 2B, 3 K, .352/.444/.574
Kevin Maitan, SS: 1-4, RBI, 3 K, .308/.341/.385
Leudys Baez, RF: 3-4, 2 RBI, .281/.359/.491
In what seemed to be the theme of the day with the Braves minor league affiliates, Danville jumped out to an early lead but couldn’t hold it in a 7-6 loss to Bluefield. Sunday’s game was significant in that it was debut of Kevin Maitan and Drew Waters in a Danville uniform. Both players were promoted from the Gulf Coast League on Saturday.
After Bluefield scored a run in the first, Waters doubled in his first at bat and then advanced to third on a groundout by Derian Cruz. After a pair of walks to load the bases, Maitan singled to left to score Waters and tie the game. Leudys Baez followed with a two-run single to stake Danville to an early 3-1 lead.
Bluefield tied things up in the third on a two-run single by Kevin Smith. The Braves answered back in the fifth with three runs of their own. Bradley Keller doubled home Wilson Contreras to make the score 4-3. Griffin Benson followed with a two-run single that plated Keller and Drew Lugbauer to put Danville up 6-3.
However, the Braves bullpen couldn’t hold the lead as Bluefield scored four times in the sixth to go back up 7-6.
Jacob Belinda started and allowed two hits and one run for Danville. He struck out two and didn’t walk anyone. Keith Weisenberg came on in the third and was tagged for three hits and two runs to go along with two walks. Raymar Navarro allowed five hits, four runs (two earned) in two innings of relief.
Next Game: 7/17 vs (16-8) Bluefield @ 7 p.m. ET
Probable Starters
BLU: TBA
DAN: Dilmer Mejia (0-1, 5.02 ERA)