Gwinnett Stripers 2, Charlotte Knights 0
- Alex Jackson, DH: 2-3, 2 2B, 2 runs, .200/.295/.419
- Austin Riley, 3B: 0-4, K, .279/.344/.463
- Jeremy Walker, SP: 8 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K
Alex Jackson had a pair of extra-base hits and Jeremy Walker was dominant in his Triple-A debut as Gwinnett took down Charlotte by the score of 2-0. With most of Gwinnett’s rotation getting promoted to the big leagues when rosters expanded, the Braves went outside of the box a little bit by promoting Walker from high-A all the way to Gwinnett to finish out the season. He responded with one of his best starts of the year with eight shutout innings. Chad Sobotka got the call to close out the game and he threw a scoreless 9th inning while striking out a pair of batters.
The Gwinnett offense was largely quiet with the exceptions of Xavier Avery. Jackson, who has had a poor season in the minors this year, hit a pair of doubles and was driven in twice by Avery to account for Gwinnett’s two scores in the game. Sean Kazmar had a pair of hits in the game as well, but the rest of Gwinnett’s lineup only accounted for two singles. Austin Riley cooled off momentarily as he was held hitless for the second straight game.
Florida Fire Frogs 5, Charlotte Stone Crabs 2
- Drew Waters, CF: 1-4, 3B, .268/.316/.374
- William Contreras, C: 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI, .253/.300/.337
- Filyer Sanchez, SP: 6.2 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 4.34 ERA
The Fire Frogs struggled to get anything going offensively through the first half of the game, but broke out in the final three frames to take down the Stone Crabs by the score of 5-2. Filyer Sanchez pitched into the seventh inning while giving up just a pair of earned runs before Daysbel Hernandez closed the game out with 2.1 innings of scoreless relief.
On offense, the Fire Frogs got homers from both Braxton Davidson as well as Jordan Rodgers. Rodgers has been strong defensively, but has struggled at the plate in his second season of pro ball. Braxton is Braxton and while he has hit a career-high 20 home runs in 2018, he also has posted a career-low OPS despite all of those dingers and has struck out an astonishing 213 times in 121 games in high-A despite this being his third season in high-A. William Contreras added a big game at the plate with a couple of hits including a double while driving in a pair of runs himself.
Rome Braves 2, Asheville Tourists 1
- Jefrey Ramos, LF: 1-4, HR, RBI, .245/.291/.419
- Trey Harris, RF: 1-3, BB, .288/.356/.400
- Walter Borkovich, SP: 6 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 1.83 ERA
Rome continued to get strong work out of the rotation from Walter Borkovich as Rome took down Asheville by the score of 2-1. Signed out of Michigan State University as an undrafted free agent last year, Borkovich had worked primarily as a reliever this season before making a recent switch to starting where he has been largely excellent as he has given up just three earned runs in 38 innings (6 starts) as a starter. He doesn’t miss a ton of bats, but he is hard to square up and is a guy to keep an eye on going forward. Hayden Deal and Troy Bacon closed out the game for Rome with three innings of scoreless relief while striking out a combined five batters along the way.
The Rome offense struggled for most of the game with a Brendan Venter sac fly being the only offense that showed up on the scoreboard through the first eight innings. That changed in the top of the ninth inning as Jefrey Ramos connected for his 16th home run of the season to put Rome in front for good. Ramos has finished the season very strong with home runs in three of his past four games and he has batted .310 over his last 10 games.