(54-59) Gwinnett Stripers 9, (51-62) Buffalo Bisons 5
Austin Riley, 3B: 0-5, .267/.342/.385
Alex Jackson, C: 2-5, HR, 3 RBI, .245/.364/.604
Bryse Wilson, SP: 6.2 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 7.50 ERA
The Gwinnett offense had some late inning fireworks to pull off a comeback win against the Bisons. Gwinnett got off to a hot start in the first inning when Luis Marte singled and stole second base, setting up Dustin Peterson to bring in the first run of the game. The offense went cold over the next 4 innings against Bisons starter Matt Tracy, but when they got into the bullpen the game quickly opened up. Dustin Peterson got the rally started with an infield single and then hits from Carlos Franco and Alex Jackson scored Peterson and had the Stripers threatening a bigger inning. 2 more singles followed to give Gwinnett a lead at 4-3, and then a single from Luis Marte scored the fourth run of the inning to make it 5-3 for the Stripers. Buffalo got one back in the bottom of the sixth, but Alex Jackson had the big hit of the game in the 7th with a 2 run home run, his 8th of the season. Over his last 17 games Jackson has hit 3 home runs and recorded 11 extra base hits, a span during which he’s hitting .265/.387/.653. The Stripers added one more run in the 7th and another in the 9th to give them a 9-5 win. Austin Riley was the one player on the Stripers offense that struggled as he set a career high with 5 strikeouts.
Bryse Wilson struggled with the home run ball again, but limited the damage enough to get through 6 2⁄3 innings and get a win. Wilson kept the ball on the ground for a majority of the game, and got the first 3 batters of the game to ground out. A double and a single in the second inning led to the first run against him in the second inning, and then a leadoff triple in the third and a 2 run home run put Gwinnett in a 3-1 hole. Wilson settled down to only allowed one hit in the fourth and fifth innings, but a mistake against Vladdy Jr. led the 6th inning off with a home run. Wilson finished out his sixth inning by striking out the last two batters he faced. Wilson came out in the 7th and retire both men he faced on ground outs before being pulled from the game. Wilson has allowed 5 home runs in 12 innings at the Triple-A level after allowing 11 in his previous 267 1⁄3 career innings. Fernando Salas came in to finish the 7th but then struggled in the 8th allowed hits to each of the first three batters. Jacob Webb was brought in with one out and got a double play from the first batter he faced to end the final threat for Buffalo who had brought the tying run to the plate. Webb then pitched a perfect ninth with a strikeout to get his 7th save in a Stripers uniform.
Next Game: 8/10 vs (49-67) Syracuse Chiefs @ 7:05 PM ET
Probable Starters
GWN: Touki Toussaint (2-0, 2.01 ERA)
SYR: TBD
(53-63) Mississippi Braves 16, (46-68) Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 8
Cristian Pache, CF: 2-6, 2B, .287/.313/.428
Travis Demeritte, LF: 3-4, 2 HR, 2 BB, 4 RBI, .214/.310/.403
Enderson Franco, SP: 5.2 IP, 10 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 3.89 ERA
Mississippi put up a 6 run 8th inning and 9 runs over the last three innings to take a 16-8 win over Jacksonville. Cristian Pache and Alejandro Salazar led off the game with singles and then Tyler Neslony gave the Braves an early lead with a 3 run home run. Jacksonville got two back in the bottom of the 1st, and Mississippi came up with their response in the top of the third. Travis Demeritte singled to start a rally with two outs, and then a single and a walk loaded the bases for Luis Valenzuela, who doubled to score two runs and make it 5-2 Braves. The Braves got one more in the 5th thanks to Travis Demeritte’s 13th home run of the season, making the score 6-4. The Shrimps finally took their first lead in the bottom of the 6th, but Mississippi had an immediate response in the 7th. Travis Demeritte hit his second home run of the game, this time a 3-run shot, to score Salazar and Neslony and make it 9-7 Braves. In the 8th inning the Braves got doubles from Pache, Neslony and Tyler Marlette to score 2 quick runs, then a bases loaded triple from Luis Valenzuela broke the game open to give the Braves a 14-8 lead. Ray-Patrick Didder brought in the 6th runs of the inning and 15th of the game on a sacrifice fly. The Braves had one more run in them in the ninth with a single from Carlos Martinez scoring Demeritte.
Enderson Franco struggled on the mound over the entirety of his start, allowing 10 hits and 7 earned runs in 5 2⁄3 innings. Franco’s command was poorer than normal, and he walked 5 guys and gave up 2 home runs. Josh Graham was brought in to finish up the 6th inning in which Franco had given up 3 runs, and stranded two runners by striking out the only batter he faced in the inning. Graham allowed a home run in the 7th inning for his only hit of the game, and struck out two of the other three batters he faced in the inning to give him 3 K’s in 1 1⁄3 innings. Thomas Burrows was strong in his 2 innings of work, allowing only one hit and one walk while striking out 3 batters.
Next Game: 8/10 vs (46-68) Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp @ 7:05 PM ET
Probable Starters
MIS: TBD
JAX: Robert Dugger (4-5, 5.15 ERA)
(44-65) Florida Fire Frogs 3, (55-59) Fort Myers Miracle 4
Drew Waters, CF: 0-5, .206/.250/.294
William Contreras, C: 1-3, RBI, .381/.440/.476
Tucker Davidson, SP: 5 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, 4.66 ERA
The Fire Frogs took a late lead over the Miracle, but lost that in the ninth and then lost in extra innings. Florida had fallen behind 2-0 after 5 innings with the opposing starting pitcher holding them to just 3 hits and a walk, but they finally got to him in the 6th inning. Riley Delgado led off the inning with a double and Jared James followed with a single, putting 2 runners on with none out. A sacrifice fly from William Contreras scored Delgado to give Florida their first run, and Garrison Schwartz tripled with two outs to tie the game at 2. Kevin Josephina led off the 7th inning with a double and then came in to score on a sacrifice bunt and a wild pitch to give the Fire Frogs a 3-2 lead. Florida couldn’t hold onto that lead in the top of the 9th, and in the bottom of the ninth left Kurt Hoekstra at third base with one out thanks to two strikeouts, blowing a prime chance to walk it off. Fort Myers got one in the 10th inning, putting the ball in Florida’s court. Drew Waters led off the inning with a hard hit line drive, but it went right to Royce Lewis for the first out. A fly out from Jared James and ground out from Braxton Davidson ended the game with Florida losing 4-3.
Tucker Davidson had some struggled in the early stages of the game, but overall settled into one of his finest starts of what has been a very tough season. Davidson allowed a run in the first inning thanks to two singles and a stolen base, and in the second had to work around two more hits to keep the game at 1-0. After getting two strikeouts to open the third inning Davidson allowed a single and then an RBI double to Alex Kiriloff before going the next 2 1⁄3 without allowing another hit. Davidson struck out 4 batters over that final 2 1⁄3 while walking 2 and not allowing a run. The 8 strikeouts tie a season and career high for Davidson. Brandon White pitched 2 scoreless innings of relief but didn’t get any strikeouts while allowing 2 hits and a walk. The ball then turned over to Sean McLaughlin in the 8th inning, who worked around a 2 out double to pitch a scoreless frame. McLaughlin was brought out for the 9th inning and couldn’t hold on to the game, allowing a leadoff single that scored on a 2 out triple that tied the game. McLaughlin was brought out again in the 10th and hit the only batter he faced before departing. Chase Johnson-Mullins was able to get a double play out of the first batter he faced, but then walked two batters and threw a wild pitch that scored the go ahead run before getting the ground ball that ended the inning.
Next Game: 8/10 vs (55-59) Fort Myers Miracle @ 6:31 PM ET
Probable Starters
FLO: Jeremy Walkers (3-10, 4.42 ERA)
FTM: Andro Cutura (3-6, 4.44 ERA)
(61-53) Rome Braves 5, (57-55) Delmarva Shorebirds 0
Justin Dean, CF: 1-3, 3B, BB, .316/.427/.560
Greyson Jenista, RF: 2-4, .333/.377/.453
Keith Weisenberg, SP: 5.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 3.20 ERA
The Braves pitching staff combined for a shutout to lead Rome to a 5-0 win. After Keith Weisenberg had thrown three no hit innings the Braves took advantage of two of Delmarva’s three errors in the bottom of the third inning. Marcos Almonte reached on a fielding error with one out, and then a single and a walk loaded the bases for AJ Graffanino. Graffanino came through with an RBI single to give Rome the lead, and then after a force out at home two more runs scored on a throwing error by the catcher to make it 3-0. The Braves added another run in the 5th inning when Justin Dean tripled and then scored on another RBI hit from Graffanino. The Braves got their 5th run in the eighth inning with Brendan Venter doubling to score Greyson Jenista. Justin Dean has been one of the most impressive performers of the Braves draftees, hitting .343/.472/.539 with 23 walks and 22 strikeouts since July 4.
Keith Weisenberg put up an impressive start for the Braves, and through three inning hadn’t allowed a hit. Jean Carlos Encarnacion finally broke up that no hitter with a 2 out single in the fourth, but Weisenberg got his 5th strikeout of the game to end the inning. Weisenberg allowed a leadoff double in the 5th inning and an infield hit, but worked around both with a couple of strikeouts and stranded the bases loaded. Weisenberg allowed another leadoff double in the fourth, and after a fly out was pulled for Troy Bacon. Bacon finished off that inning with a pop out and a fly out, and then over his next 2 scoreless innings struck out 4 batter and walked none. Bacon has a 1.23 ERA in 7 1⁄3 innings since his demotion that shouldn’t have happened. Zach Daniels finished off the day with a perfect ninth with no strikeouts.
Next Game: 8/10 vs (58-53) West Virginia Power 7:00 PM ET
Probable Starters
ROM: TBD
WV: Oddy Nunez (0-1, 1.50 ERA)
(27-21) Danville Braves 8, (25-23) Kingsport Mets 2
CJ Alexander, 3B: 1-3, 2 BB, .354/.439/.488
Brett Langhorne, SS: 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI, .296/.401/.370
Matt Hartman, SP: 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 0.00 ERA
The Braves took advantage of 3 errors to score 6 unearned runs and take an 8-2 win over Kingsport. After a scoreless first for both sides Justin Smith led off the scoring with a home run to center field, his third of the season. The in the third an error by third baseman Mark Vientos allowed Nick Shumpert to reach base, an Brett Langhorne brought him in to scre with a double. Leading 2-0 the Braves made two quick outs in the 5th inning, but a double from Greg Cullen and a walk to CJ Alexander had the Braves in a position to add more. Henry Quintero struck out, but the Mets catcher sailed the throw to first allowing Cullen to score and the inning to continue. A single from Ricardo Rodriguez scored two more runs, and Nicholas Vizcaino put the cherry on top with a 2 run home run to put the game well out of reach at 7-0. Nick Shumpert doubled with two outs in the 7th inning and then scored the 8th run of the game on Brett Langhorne’s second RBI hit of the day.
The Braves league-leading pitching staff was once again stellar, with undrafted free agent Matt Hartman putting up another scoreless start. Hartman went three inning, allowed 2 hits and a walk while striking out 2 batters. Nolan Kingham followed with 3 scoreless innings, allowing 2 hits and no walks while striking out 1 batter. Ryan Shetter was fantastic in the 7th and 8th innings, striking out 2 batters and not allowing a walk, but got into major trouble when he tried to finish the game in the 9th. He walked the leadoff batter, then gave up two hits and another walk before departing with a run in and the bases loaded. Bradley Welsh was brought in and got a double play from the first batter he faced, allowing a run to score but essentially ending the threat from Kingsport. Welsh got the next batter to pop out, ending the game.