Friday night saw some good and some not so good in terms of results, but with top prospects Ronald Acuña Jr. and Mike Soroka making their 2018 debuts there was plenty worth watching including a huge night for Jasseel De La Cruz.
Gwinnett Stripers 3, Norfolk Tides 1
- Ronald Acuña Jr., LF: 0-4
- Mike Soroka, SP: 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K
- Jesse Biddle, RP: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, Save
The season debut of Ronald Acuña Jr. went much quieter than many hoped, as the top prospect in the game today went 0-4 with a strikeout. To be fair the entire lineup was quiet, as there were a pair of singles and three doubles as the only hits in the ballgame, but that was enough damage to score three runs and win thanks to a great pitching performance. The doubles came from Rio Ruiz, Jaff Decker, and Rob Brantly, while Dustin Peterson stole a base.
The star of the day was easily Mike Soroka, as he went five shutout innings in his Triple A debut. Soroka gave up three hits and a walk while striking out five, and easily could have done more as he left with his pitch count at 60(42 strikes) on the night. Instead the Stripers decided to be cautious with their prized pitching prospect’s arm early in the season, letting the bullpen finish off this close game. After solid innings from both Philip Pfeifer and Evan Phillips, the two inning save from Jesse Biddle where he didn’t allow a single baserunner, really shut the door on the season opener.
Next Game Saturday 4/7 visiting Norfolk at 7:05 PM. Probable Starters: Gwinnett-Matt Wisler, Norfolk-David Hess
Tennessee Smokies 5, Mississippi Braves 1- Suspended in 3rd inning(rain)
- Touki Toussaint, SP: 2.2 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 3 BB, 4 K
- Alex Jackson, C: 1-1, RBI
- Michael Reed, CF: 1-1, R, SB
The final line on Touki Toussaint isn’t pretty- three hits and three walks with five runs in under three innings, but things weren’t all bad. Touki’s changeup appeared to look better than what we’ve seen in the past, and his line may not have been so rough had it not been for a lack of help from his defense. Touki’s day was cut short by the rain that ended up getting this one suspended in the third inning.
Alex Jackson was behind the plate for Touki, and had some struggles there including a passed ball. However he did single in his only at bat, and drove in the lone run. That run was scored by Michael Reed, who singled and stole second before coming home on the base hit from Jackson.
Next Game Saturday 4/7 hosting Tennessee at 7 PM, plus the remainder of suspended game. Probable Starters: Mississippi-Tyler Pike, Tennessee-Thomas Hatch
Daytona Tortugas 10, Florida Fire Frogs 1
- Lucas Herbert, C: 1-4, HR
- Cristian Pache, CF: 1-4
- Tucker Davidson, SP: 3.1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 4 K
This one is a tough game to find positives from, but that tends to happen in 10-1 losses. The one real positive was that Lucas Herbert hit his first homer of the season in the loss, while Cristian Pache followed up his two hits in the opener with another hit on Friday night. As for the rest of the offense Alejandro Salazar collected two singles, while Jared James doubled.
There was even less to talk about with the pitching, as Tucker Davidson’s first High A start was not the result he was hoping for. Davidson battled command issues here, throwing nearly as many balls as he did strikes(34 strikes to 29 balls). That resulted in three runs on four hits and two walks over his three and a third innings. Things only got tougher from there as all three of Bladimir Matos, Drew Harrington, and Mauricio Cabrera weren’t able to make it two full innings, and each allowed multiple runs.
Next Game Saturday 4/7 hosting Daytona at 4 PM. Probable Starters: Florida-Bryse Wilson, Daytona-TBD
Rome Braves 3, Hagerstown Suns 1
- Jean Carlos Encarnacion, 3B: 2-4, RBI
- Jefrey Ramos, LF: 2-4, R, 2B
- Jasseel De La Cruz, SP: 5 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K
The story here was the pitching, as promising but raw power pitcher Jasseel De La Cruz was simply dominant. JDLC went five no hit shutout innings, walking one and striking out eight. It was a great sign for the 20 year old with big stuff, as he showed flashes last year but at the same time struggled with consistency as well as the ability to hold his velocity. JDLC was followed by Freddy Tarnok, pitching in relief as the Braves try to keep his innings down this year due to a lack of innings on his arm over his career. Tarnok’s debut wasn’t lights out- a run on three walks, a hit batter, and another reaching on error- but after a pair of walks to load the bases with two outs he did manage to strike out a quality hitter in Nick Banks to get out of the inning with just one run allowed. Walter Borkovich had a pair of scoreless innings, while Brandon White kept the Suns off the board in the ninth for the save.
At the plate Jean Carlos Encarnacion followed his two hit performance in the opener with another pair of base hits. It’s hard for the talented third baseman to be off to a better debut in full season ball. Jefrey Ramos had a double in the opener on Thursday, and added another double along with a single on Friday. Outside of the pair from shortseason ball, there was only one more hit in the game- an Izzy Wilson single, though Drew Lugbauer did pick up an RBI.
Next Game Saturday 4/7 hosting Hagerstown at 6 PM. Probable Starters: Rome-Bruce Zimmermann, Hagerstown-Jackson Tetreault