Gwinnett Braves 7, Buffalo Bisons 1
- Ronald Acuna, RF: 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI, run, .355/.417/.618
- Carlos Franco, DH: 1-5, HR, 3 RBI, .245/.325/.375
- Manny Barreda, SP: 7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 2.53 ERA
Manny Barreda was excellent over seven innings for Gwinnett and the offense broke this game open early as the Braves routed Buffalo by the score of 7-1. After his first start with the organization being, well, not particularly great, the Braves are starting to look smart for giving Barreda a chance after snatching out of the Mexican League. He hasn’t shown swing and miss type stuff, but he has been keeping the ball down and given Gwinnett quality innings, especially over his last three starts where he has combined to give up just three earned runs. Evan Phillips and Enrique Burgos came on in relief and threw a combined two scoreless innings to secure the win for Gwinnett.
On offense, oh look....another great game for Ronald Acuna. After going 3-5 in this game with a double and a pair of RBIs, Acuna now has 49 multi-hit games this season and brought his OPS for the entire season up to .920 despite being 19 and being promoted twice along the way. How does he do it? In short, pitchers can’t beat him in the strike zone (at least not very often) and nearly everything he hits is hard hit. A good combination indeed. The biggest offensive blow came in the third inning where Carlos Franco blasted a three-run homer, his eighth for Gwinnett and 19th on the season, to break the game open. Rio Ruiz reached base four times including two hits and is batting .353 over his last ten games.
Mississippi Braves 3, Pensacola Blue Wahoos 2
- Austin Riley, 3B: 1-3, RBI, BB, .287/.336/.450
- Travis Demeritte, 2B: 2-4, 2B, RBI, .222/.301/.398
- Wes Parsons, SP: 7 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 2.76 ERA
Wes Parsons was dominant for Mississippi and some timely hitting including a walk-off single by Dylan Moore got Mississippi a win over Pensacola by the score of 3-2. Parsons is very quietly putting together a really good season for Mississippi. Formerly a top 30 prospect for the Braves that was plucked from obscurity in order to join pro ball in the first place, injuries derailed what looked like a promising minor league run for Parsons over the last couple of seasons. This year, however, Parsons has been a savior for Mississippi with him coming up big when Gohara, Fried, Withrow, and others missed time. He has held Double-A batters to a .214 batting average against him and he has struck out 85 batters in 88 innings for Mississippi this season. Mauricio Cabrera continues to struggle to throw strikes (nearly a 50/50 split in terms of strikes and balls for the entire season....hat tip to Garrett Spain for unearthing that little gem).
On offense, Austin Riley reached base twice and has now hit in six straight games in addition to driving in a run for Mississippi as well. Travis Demeritte extended his own hitting streak to eight games with a multi-hit outing and is starting to look like the guy who started the year on fire. The hero this evening was Dylan Moore who, after Mississippi looked like they were going to not capitalize on a prime opportunity to steal this game in the bottom of the ninth, recorded his second hit to drive in Joey Meneses and give Mississippi a walk-off win.
Florida Fire Frogs 8, Jupiter Hammerheads 6
- Brett Cumberland, DH: 3-3, 2 2B, 1 3B, 3 RBI, HBP, run, .276/.376/.385
- Alay Lago, 2B: 3-5, 2B, 3 runs, RBI, .301/.341/.407
- Enderson Franco, SP: 5 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
The Fire Frogs put up eight runs by the end of the fourth inning and after some struggles from the bullpen let Jupiter back in the game, Chase Johnson-Mullins came in and slammed the door shut as Florida won 8-6. Enderson Franco has turned into sort of a perfect org pitcher as he has traveled to multiple levels in the system and give his teams good if not great innings. After Brandon White and Junior Rincon gave up four runs to let Jupiter back in the game, Johnson-Mullins continued his recent run of dominance since returning from injury to secure the save. Opposing batters have hit just .226 against Chase his season and he has struck out 45 batters in 41 innings in 2017.
On offense, Brett Cumberland went wild with three extra-base hits and the obligatory hit by pitch while driving in three runs. His propensity that has been chronicled here at Talking Chop previously will lead to him being a streaky hitter, but when he is hot he can do a ton of damage. He has also been hit by 38 pitches this season which is frankly both impressive and terrifying. Alay Lago had a three hit game of his own while Carlos Castro, Tanner Murphy, and Stephen Gaylor all had multi-hit games for Florida as the offense was clicking on all cylinders.
Rome Braves 11, Columbia Fireflies 6 - F/16
- Leudys Baez, RF: 3-7, HR, 4 RBI, BB, 2 runs, .278/.321/.456
- Kurt Hoekstra, 1B/P: 1-6, HR, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 2 runs, .260/.321/.358 ; 2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 3.00 ERA
- Alan Rangel, SP: 2 IP, 1 H, 2 R (1 ER), 1 BB, 0 K, 4.31 ERA
Dear Rome Braves, I have begun to notice on nights where I have recaps to write, you have shown a propensity to like to play long extra inning games. My family misses me, so if you could stop doing that...I would take it as a kindness. Love and kisses, Eric.
With that out of the way, Rome played yet another marathon game and on this day, they were victorious thanks to some solid two-way play from Kurt Hoekstra and an offensive explosion in extra innings as Rome wins by the score of 11-6. Alan Rangel had to leave this game after the second inning due to an undisclosed injury, which really turned into an issue as the Rome bullpen had to end up throwing 14 innings in this game. Two those innings were thrown by position player Kurt Hoekstra who, in his second pitching appearance on the season, gave up one earned run and got his first win as a pitcher as a pro.
On offense, the aforementioned Hoekstra had a homer and drove in two runs as well. The biggest hit for Rome came off the bat of Leudys Baez in the top of the 16th as he, with two outs, hit a grand slam to break the game wide open for Rome. Rome got multi-hit games from Baez, Isranel Wilson, Marcus Mooney, Kevin Josephina, and Jordan Rodgers. Lucas Herbert did draw a walk but was otherwise held hitless. He is batting .158 over his last ten games.
Danville Braves 4, Princeton Rays 5 - F/14
- Kevin Maitan, SS: 1-3, 2B, BB, run, .207/.263/.293
- Jean Carlos Encarnacion, 3B: 2-5, HR, RBI, BB, .300/.333/.367
- Bruce Zimmerman, SP: 3 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 2.84 ERA
Oh look, another crazy long extra-inning game in the minors. Sadly, this one did not result in a win as Danville went down by the score of 5-4 in 14 innings. Keep an eye on Bruce Zimmerman for Danville. After his hitless, scoreless outing, the 5th round pick for the Braves from the 2017 draft has not given up more than two earned runs in any of his appearances as a pro and has 21 strikeouts in 19 innings this season. On offense, Jean Carlos Encarnacion’s stock as a prospect has risen in a hurry this season. He hit his first home run for Danville (third on the season) in the 10th inning and has shown flashes of all five tools in his limited time in rookie ball so far. Derian Cruz had a pair of hits, but also recorded his 20th error for Danville and 36th error overall in 2017.