(14-22) Gwinnett Stripers 4, (17-19) Columbus Clippers 5 F/10
Austin Riley, 3B: 2-3, 2 BB, RBI, .375/.444/.688
Wes Parsons, SP: 6 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, 4.50 ERA
Austin Riley had another big day at the plate but it wasn’t enough for the Stripers to take this one and they fell in extra innings. Danny Santana, who has been hot at the plate with a 7 game hitting streak and a .986 OPS in May, doubled with one out in the first inning. Riley knocked him in with a base hit up the middle, giving Gwinnett the lead. Columbus quickly took that back and more, and Gwinnett’s bats were quiet until the 8th inning. Down 4-1, Phil Gosselin led the inning off with a walk, but the next two Stripers struck out and it seemed they would come away empty again. Santana kept things going with a single and Riley walked to load the bases for Carlos Franco, who cleared them with a 3 run double that tied the game up. The Stripers couldn’t come up with a run in their half of the 10th inning despite loading the bases with one out.
Wes Parsons made his first start in Triple-A this season, and things got off to a rocky start after the offense gave him the lead early. Parsons allowed a walk and a hit in the bottom of the 1st inning, setting the stage for a 2 run double that erased the Stripers lead and gave it to the Clippers. Parsons allowed a solo home run in the second inning to make it 3-1, before settling in on the mound and holding the Clippers at bay for the rest of his start. Parsons didn’t allow another hit in the game, with the only two batters reaching on a walk and a hit by pitch in the 4th inning, and following the home run struck out 6 batters over 4 2⁄3 innings. Jason Hursh came on in relief of Parsons in the 7th inning and got two quick outs, but a throwing error by Rio Ruiz and a 2-out single gave Columbus their 4th run of the game. Miguel Socolovich gave Gwinnett two scoreless innings of relief, setting the stage for Josh Ravin in the 10th inning. Ravin did not last long, and on a sacrifice bunt attempt by the first batter of the 10th inning Ravin threw off balance to first base and sailed it wide right, allowing the runner on second to come in to score the winning run.
Next Game: 5/16 @ (17-19) Columbus Clippers @ 6:35 PM ET
Probable Starters
GWN: Lucas Sims (2-1, 2.12 ERA)
COL: Adam Plutko (2-0, 2.12 ERA)
(17-22) Mississippi Braves 10, (21-17) Jackson Generals 7
Jonathan Morales, 1B: 3-4, 2 2B, 3B, 4 RBI, .250/.326/.363
Alex Jackson, C: 2-4, 2B, HBP, .202/.309/.298
Travis Demeritte, LF: 2-4, RBI, .230/.341/.372
Andres Santiago, SP: 5.2 IP, 10 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 3.95 ERA
Mississippi tied their season’s best output in runs, led by three extra base hits from Jonathan Morales, and it was enough to take down a strong Generals offense. With Travis Demeritte and Alex Jackson on base in the second inning Morales got the scoring started in the game with a double that scored both. Michael Reed added another when he doubled to lead off the third and came around to score on a couple of ground outs, and Mississippi had an early 3-0 lead. Morales drove in the fourth run of the game on an RBI triple, and then scored on Daniel Lockhart’s triple immediately after. Lockhart came in to score on a wild pitch, giving Mississippi a three run fourth inning and a 6-0 lead. Jackson’s league-best offense wasn’t done fighting and cut the lead in half in the bottom of the fourth, but Mississippi came right back with three consecutive singles from Tyler Neslony, Alay Lago, and Demeritte to score a run. Morales then doubled to score Demeritte for his fourth RBI of the game and Mississippi’s 8th run. The Braves scored another run in the 6th off of a Luis Valenzuela single, and then added their 10th and final run off of General’s pitcher Gabe Speier, who you may remember as the other piece in the Swanson/Inciarte trade with the Diamondbacks.
Andres Santiago got off to a solid start against the Generals with three scoreless innings, but couldn’t hold back their offense long and gave up 3 runs in the fourth inning and two more before finishing the sixth inning. In total Santiago allowed a season-high 10 hits in the game. Chad Sobotka made his Mississippi debut to finish off the sixth inning, and only faced one batter in the game getting him to fly out. Corbin Clouse pitched two scoreless innings in relief, his third outing scoreless in a row. Clouse has been dominant in relief this season with a 32.9% K rate and a 2.11 FIP. Josh Graham was brought in to finish out the game, but allowed 2 hits and 2 unearned runs and was pulled in favor of Jacob Webb. Webb walked the first batter he faced but struck out the next to earn the save and give Mississippi a win.
Next Game: 5/16 @ (21-17) Jackson Generals @ 1:05 PM ET
Probable Starters
MIS: Enderson Franco (1-3, 5.04 ERA)
JXN: Jon Duplantier (2-1, 2.79 ERA)
(14-23) Florida Fire Frogs 3, (16-19) St. Lucie Mets 4 Game 1
Cristian Pache, CF: 1-3, 2B, .293/.310/.421
Brett Cumberland, C: 0-2, BB, .229/.350/.390
Kyle Muller, SP: 4.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 6 K, 6.23 ERA
(15-23) Florida Fire Frogs 4, (16-20) St. Lucie Mets 2 Game 2
Cristian Pache, CF: 1-3, BB, .294/.315/.420
Brett Cumberland, C: 1-3, RBI, .231/.350/.388
Jeremy Walker, SP: 6 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 0 K, 4.84 ERA
Florida couldn’t hold on to a late lead in the first half of their double header, but bounced back in game two to split the day with the Mets. Both teams traded zeroes and were hitless through two innings, but Kyle Muller started to struggle with his command in the third inning for the Fire Frogs. Muller allowed a one out walk and a base hit before walking two more batters with two outs to force in a run. Muller got a strike out to end the inning and limit the damage to one, and outside of that inning only allowed one run in the game. Florida came back with a run in the bottom of the fourth inning when Alejandro Salazar led off with a game-tying inside-the-park home run. Muller allowed a walk and a single in the 5th inning, but got a strikeout for the second out of the inning before being pulled for Thomas Burrows. Burrows allowed a go ahead single before getting the final out of the inning, and St. Lucie went into the 6th with a one run lead. In the sixth Cristian Pache came up with a one out double, then Brett Cumberland and Jared James walked to load the bases for Garrison Schwartz. Schwartz singled to score both Pache and Cumberland, giving Florida their first lead in the game at 3-2. Burrows allowed a one out double and a two out walk in the seventh inning before being pulled for Sean McLaughlin, and the first man reached on an error by Ray-Patrick Didder that tied the game. The next batter singled into right field, scoring the go ahead and eventual winning run as Florida couldn’t come up with anything in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Florida drew the first blood in game two, with Kevin Josephina reaching on a fielding error with one out, stealing second base, and coming in to score on Brett Cumberland’s base hit. A leadoff double for the Mets came around to score off of Jeremy Walker in the second inning, tying things up, but Florida came right back with a response in the bottom of the inning. Ray-Patrick Didder led off the inning with a single and a stolen base, then came in to score on a single by Marcus Mooney. Mooney then came in to score on a single from Kevin Josephina, which stretched Florida’s lead to 3-1. Jeremy Walker allowed another run in the 3rd inning before pitching 3 more scoreless frames, but he didn’t record a strikeout in the game and has struggled to produce swings-and-misses all season. Walker has walked as many batters as he has struck out (16) and only has 4.1 K/9, a 10% K rate, and a 5.38 FIP on the season. Jon Kennedy pitched a scoreless 7th inning to close out the win for Florida.
Next Game: 5/16 vs (16-20) St. Lucie Mets @ 6:31 PM ET
Probable Starters
FLO: TBD
STL: Josh Prevost (2-1, 5.81 ERA)
(23-15) Rome Braves 4, (13-22) Hickory Crawdads 3
Isranel Wilson, CF: 2-4, RBI, BB, SB, .194/.290/.324
Jean Carlos Encarnacion, 3B: 1-4, HR, RBI, .278/.311/.389
Alan Rangel, SP: 5 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 5.90 ERA
Jean Carlos Encarnacion extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a home run that was key to Rome’s 1-0 victory. With Rome down 2-0 early in the game, Encarnacion reached base on an error with one out in the second inning. Drew Lugbauer followed that with a walk, and Justin Smith brought in Encarnacion with a single for Rome’s first run. With two outs, Izzy Wilson came through with a single to tie the game at two. Hickory tied the game back up in the bottom of the second, but Encarnacion came through to lead off the fourth with that home run and tie the game at three runs each. Both sides went quietly until the ninth inning, when Luis Mejia singled with two outs to get it started for Rome. Wilson drew a walk to advance Mejia into scoring position, and Riley Delgado came through with a go ahead RBI single that would give Rome the win.
Alan Rangel gave up three hits before recording an out in the game, and in total gave up five hits in the first inning but was able to strand the bases loaded and only allow 2 runs. Rangel then allowed the first two batters to double in the second inning to score the third run before shutting them down for the remainder of the game. Rangel retired 5 in a row following those doubles, then got into some more trouble by allowing a couple of hits and a walk in the fourth inning but worked around it without allowing a run. Tanner Allison pitched a scoreless inning in relief of Rangel, his second consecutive scoreless outing since allowing 10 runs in an inning a week ago. Walter Borkovich pitched two scoreless innings for Rome, and Kelvin Rodriguez closed the game out with a scoreless ninth.
Next Game: 5/17 @ (14-22) Asheville Tourists 7:00 PM ET
Probable Starters
ROM: TBD
ASH: Antonio Santos (0-4, 4.99 ERA)