(7-13) Gwinnett Stripers 0, (10-10) Durham Bulls 2
Rio Ruiz, 1B: 0-4, .224/.289/.329
Jose Bautista, 3B: 0-3, .143/.280/.143
Dustin Peterson, RF: 0-4, .274/.329/.438
Kolby Allard, SP: 6.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 2.57 ERA
It was just one of those days for the Gwinnett offense as they had nothing going from the beginning and managed to commit more errors (3) than they had hits (2). As a unit they put the ball in play quite a bit and only struck out three times in the game but nothing found holes and they grounded out 17 times. Gwinnett’s biggest threat came in the the third inning when Ezequiel Carrera led off with a single and a stolen base, bringing up Bautista, Ruiz, and Peterson with no outs and a runner in scoring position. All 3 grounded out in order and in their 12 plate appearances, the trio totaled 9 ground outs, a walk, and a strikeout. Jose Bautista also made his first error of the season. Gwinnett has lost all three games since Ronald Acuna was promoted to Gwinnett.
Kolby Allard was the star of the show for Gwinnett and put together his strongest performance of the season, and he’s seemingly gotten better with each of his four starts to date. Allard truly scattered the 5 baserunners he did allow, never allowing more than one inning or letting Durham get a serious scoring threat going and held top prospect Willy Adames to 0-2 with a walk. Allard has had some serious platoon splits this season, which haven’t shown up in the past but still may be worth keeping an eye on. Right handed batters have hit .275 off of Allard, which is right in line with his career norms, while left handers have only hit .077. Evan Phillips came in to finish off the 7th inning after Allard allowed a double before exiting the game, struck out the first two batters he faced and then struck out two more in a perfect 8th inning. With Philip Pfeifer on to pitch, things got hairy in the 9th when he allowed a walk and a single to the first two batters. After a poor bunt attempt and a wild pitch put both in scoring position with one out, an error by Rob Brantly allowed a run to score, and then a two out single allowed two more to score to make that final score of 3-0.
Next Game: 4/29 vs (10-10) Durham Bulls @ 1:05 PM ET
Probable Starters
GWN: Mike Soroka (2-0, 1.99 ERA)
DUR: Ryan Weber (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
(10-13) Mississippi Braves 4, (16-6) Jackson Generals 3
Austin Riley, 3B: 0-4, .310/.363/.619
Alex Jackson, C: 1-3, HBP, RBI, .205/.345/.318
Travis Demeritte, LF: 1-4, 2B, 2 RBI, .197/.300/.361
Touki Toussaint, SP: 7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, 4.44 ERA
Down a run in the fourth inning, the Mississippi offense decided to start going to work and Tyler Neslony got things rolling with a single. After Alex Jackson was hit by a pitch, Travis Demeritte came to bat and roped a double that scored both runs to give Mississippi the lead. Mississippi added to that lead in the 5th inning by way of an error that allowed Alay Lago to score, and then Alex Jackson knocked in Neslony with a base hit before getting thrown out at second trying to take an extra base. Austin Riley was quiet at the plate and has been for the past week or so, hitting .148/207/.333 with 9 strikeouts in 29 plate appearances. At the same time Neslony has been rolling at the plate with hits in 8 of his last nine and multi hit games in 4 of his last 5. He’s hitting .424/457/.455 in that span and has his batting average up to .345 on the season, though that .433 BABIP and .050 ISO aren’t exactly what you look for especially from a corner outfielder. Alex Jackson’s hit was his first since April 15, although he did have a 5 day span within that time in which he didn’t play a game and he drew 5 walks in the 6 games he went without a hit. In fact, despite his struggles with the bat Jackson has gotten on base quite well, drawing 7 walks and 3 hit by pitch this season. His walk rate has seen a surprising and sharp jump since his promotion to AA, and his strikeouts have remained constant but his isolated power has also decreased.
Touki Toussaint was on fire for seven innings today, doing everything one could ask of a pitcher. Over seven innings Toussaint struck out seven men, didn’t walk any, forced 9 ground ball outs, allowed only 3 hits, and left only having thrown 87 pitches. 63 of those were strikes, which is an efficiency Touki just hasn’t shown all that often in the past and is a great bounce back after walking 5 in his previous start. So much is said about Toussaint’s talent and his ceiling, and this is what you’re looking at. If it all comes together for Touki this is the type of start he could make routine. Toussaint leads the system in strikeouts, and by a wide margin with 33 on the season to the nearest competitors 24, although that Mike Soroka who is scheduled to pitch today will make up some ground. Toussaint leads the Southern League in strikeouts and is second in all of Double-A, one behind the overall leader. Josh Graham came on for a two inning save and got into trouble in the ninth inning by allowing two runs, and had to be bailed out by Jacob Webb who threw two pitches in getting the save.
Next Game: 4/29 vs (16-6) Jackson Generals @ 2:00 PM ET
Probable Starters
MIS: Wes Parsons (0-1, 1.59 ERA)
JXN: TBD
(7-16) Florida Fire Frogs 2, (11-12) Lakeland Flying Tigers 5
Cristian Pache, CF: 1-4, .301/.309/.419
Anfernee Seymour, RF: 1-3, 2B, BB, RBI, .191/.250/.279
Brett Cumberland, C: 2-3, 2B,, BB, .270/.357/.486
Tucker Davidson, SP: 3.2 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 3 K, 9.17 ERA
It was another rough day at the plate for the Fire Frogs, who managed only 6 hits in the game. Newly promoted Shean Michel walked in his first High-A at bat in the third inning, starting a rally Florida’s first run of the game. After a wild pitch got Michel over to second base, Anfernee Seymour hit a ground rule double that scored Michel and gave Florida a 1-0 lead. In the 5th inning, now trailing 5-1, Seymour got things started with a 2 out walk, and then got to third base on a single from Christian Pache. A wild pitch scored Seymour, but that was all Florida would get in the game and they could never draw a threat to Lakeland’s lead. Brett Cumberland has started another one of his streaks, with 3 multi hit games in his last 5, a span during which he is hitting .412/.524/.706.
Tucker Davidson has really struggled this season and did so once again on Saturday with 5 runs allowed. Davidson was okay early on, and with some help of the defense hadn’t allowed a run through three innings. He struggled with a couple of walks and 4 hits, and wasn’t able to get the benefit of Daz Cameron’s baserunning mistakes(Davidson picked him off and Michel caught him trying to stretch a single) to save him. Davidson allowed 2 hits to open the inning, then walked a man to load the bases before a single that brought in Lakeland’s first run of the game. Davidson got a strikeout for the first out, but then walked Cameron to force in a run before a ground out and a double allowed three more runs to score before Davidson was pulled. Davidson’s trouble with walks (18 in 17 2⁄3 innings) is really inexplicable for a guy who in his previous two seasons since being drafted only walked 34 batters in 133 1⁄3 innings. It’s a major concern for Davidson, and after such an incredible first full season is a pretty significant disappointment for a player who was supposed to be on the verge of a major breakout. Jon Kennedy finished off the inning for Davidson with a strikeout, then pitched two more and finished with 6 strikeouts and no walks in 2 1⁄3 scoreless innings. Since being signed from Australia two years ago Kennedy has been fantastic at limiting walks (15 allowed in 126 2⁄3 innings), but has seen a massive increase in strikeouts this season and has looked absolutely dominant in April. He was a legitimate middle relief prospect before, and if the strikeouts are real then he really becomes a very interesting pitcher to watch develop alongside a strong crop of left handed relievers in the system (Minter, Biddle, Clouse, Burrows, Johnson-Mullins, McCreery).
Next Game: 4/29 @ (11-12) Lakeland Flying Tigers 1:00 PM ET
Probable Starters
FLO: Joey Wentz (0-1, 1.96 ERA)
LK: Alex Faedo (0-2, 2.74 ERA)
(13-9) Rome Braves 0, (7-16) Hagerstown Suns 4
Derian Cruz, 2B: 2-4, .216/.275/.338
Drew Lugbauer, C: 2-3, BB, .200/.291/.343
Huascar Ynoa, SP: 3.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 3 K, 8.76 ERA
Freddy Tarnok RP: 2 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 0.00 ERA
Rome put up multiple threats in the game, but couldn’t come up with the timely hits to put anything on the board. It started early as Derian Cruz singled to open the game, but was caught attempting to steal second base just before RIley Delgado singled. Delgado also doubled in the sixth inning, but was stranded there. With one out in the 7th inning two straight Braves walked, but Izzy Wilson was called out on strikes (and subsequently ejected) and Jose Bermudez struck out swinging stranding both runners. Riley Delgado has been on fire of late, hitting .419/.447/.628 over his last 11 games and has only struck out 4 times this season. Delgado doesn’t really have a tool that makes him a legitimate prospect and doesn’t walk a ton, but doesn’t strike out much, plays a decent shortstop, and has the versatility that could make him a decent utility bench bat in the future. It’s a narrow profile, but he should be able to move through the system reasonably quickly.
Huascar Ynoa had a tough go of things again, and it started out quickly as he walked the first batter he faced and two in the first inning. Ynoa got into serious trouble in the 2nd inning with a leadoff walk and a double to put runners at second and third, but got a pop out, a sacrifice fly, and a strikeout to end the inning with minimal damage done. Ynoa got through a clean third and had retired 7 straight batters before a home run for his second run allowed in the game. Ynoa got another strikeout for the second out but walked the final batter he faced before being pulled. After Hayden Deal pitched 1 1⁄3 scoreless innings, Rome brought in Freddy Tarnok. Tarnok set down the side in order in the 6th, but walked the first batter he faced in the seventh. He came back from that to strike out the next two batters and seemed like he was going to get out of the inning, but an error for Bermudez led to a run scoring. The next batter singled to score another unearned run off of Tarnok before he got a flyout to end the inning. Tarnok didn’t allow an earned run in 11 innings in April, although he did allow six unearned and literally every time I’ve watched him pitch the defense has done something boneheaded so I feel for the kid. Tarnok has had his struggles with walks (7 in 11 innings) but has been difficult to hit with 14 strikeouts and a .154 BAA.
Next Game: 4/29 @ (7-16) Hagerstown Suns 2:05 PM ET
Probable Starters
ROM: Alan Rangel (0-0, 6.00 ERA)
HAG: Carlos Acevedo (0-1, 9.82 ERA)