Gwinnett Stripers 5, Pawtucket Red Sox 4
- Austin Riley, LF: 1-3, 2 BB, HR, 2 RBI, 1.077 OPS
- Andres Blanco, SS: 3-4, RBI, BB, R, .898 OPS
- Alex Jackson, C: 2-4, HR, RBI, .944 OPS
- Kolby Allard, SP: 6 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 4.00 ERA
Austin Riley continued to be one of the hottest hitters on planet Earth to help back a strong outing from Kolby Allard in Gwinnett’s 5-4 walk-off win over Pawtucket. While Kolby hasn’t lit the world on fire this season so far, he has been consistently decent and on Saturday he put together one of his best starts of the season in going six innings while allowing two runs and just one walk while striking out seven batters. Kolby has given up three earned runs or less in six of his seven starts at Triple-A this year. Jesse Biddle came on in relief and gave up a pair of runs in just over an inning of work including a solo homer. Shane Carle and Jason Creasy would pitch the remaining 1 2⁄3 innings in a scoreless fashion which gave Gwinnett a chance to win.
So, uh, Austin Riley has been insane of late but you are all well aware of that at this point. Starting in left field again, Austin homered AGAIN to give him 14 on the season and he was also kind of responsible for the winning run crossing the plate on a play that saw him pop out in foul territory which let Ryan LaMarre score the winning run. Just in the month of May, Riley has nine home runs and 19 RBIs while walking as much as he has struck out (eight times each) and has posted an insane 1.619 OPS in 11 games. In short, he has been unbelievable. Alex Jackson connected for his fifth homer of the season as well which is more impressive when you consider he has only played in 13 games this season in the minors. AJax has quietly posted a .944 OPS in Triple-A which is a marked improvement over what we had seen from him in previous seasons. Andres Blanco and Jack Lopez both had multi-hit games for the Stripers as well.
Probable 5/12 Starter: Andres Santiago
Mississippi Braves 3, Montgomery Biscuits 4
- Drew Waters, CF: 2-5, 2B, .909 OPS
- Tyler Neslony, RF: 2-4, .684 OPS
- Alejandro Salazar, 2B: 2-4, RBI, .601 OPS
- Patrick Weigel, SP: 3.1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 1.72 ERA
Mississippi’s pitching faltered late as Montgomery came from behind to beat the Braves 4-3. While one would like to see Patrick Weigel going deeper into games, the Braves have chosen a very cautious path with Weigel coming back from Tommy John surgery and it is hard to argue with the results. After his scoreless outing yesterday, Weigel brought his ERA down to 1.72 on the season while striking out 16 batters in 15 2⁄3 innings of work. Jeremy Walker, who has been handcuffed to Weigel’s starts this season, was good as well until the seventh inning which saw Montgomery plate four runs including a couple of unearned runs due to some pretty suspect defensive play from Walker and others.
On offense, Cristian Pache had the night off again as he is dealing with a sore back, but his contemporary Drew Waters held things down in his absence with another multi-hit game out of the leadoff spot. Waters continues to be among the league leaders (if not the outright leader) in the Southern League in hits, batting average, OBP, and OPS. Tyler Neslony and Alejandro Salazar had multi-hit games as well for Mississippi, but the team going 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position proved to be too much of a hurdle after Montgomery rallied late in the game.
Probable 5/12 Starter: Joey Wentz
Florida Fire Frogs 2, Jupiter Hammerheads 3 - F/11
- Riley Unroe, SS: 0-3, 2 BB, R, .826 OPS
- Riley Delgado, 3B: 1-4, BB, RBI, .716 OPS
- Hayden Deal, SP: 6.2 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 7 K, 1.30 ERA
Hayden Deal was excellent again, but the Fire Frogs couldn’t quite finish Jupiter in regulation and ultimately fell by the score of 3-2 in extra innings. Featuring a fastball that generally lives in the low 90’s while flashing a tick above that and a cutter that has been devastating against righties, Hayden Deal continued his excellent start to the season. He has given up two earned runs in a start just once this season with the rest being ones and zeroes and he is among the Florida State League leaders in several pitching categories. This game went to extras where an unearned run in the 10th prevented the Fire Frogs from escaping with a victory followed by Jupiter scoring the winning run on an RBI single off of Troy Bacon in the bottom of the 11th.
There wasn’t much going on on the offensive side of the ball as the Fire Frogs failed to muster a single extra-base hit in the game. Florida had their chances thanks mostly to drawing six walks in the game, but only went 1-8 with runner’s in scoring position.
Probable 5/12 Starter: OFF
Rome Braves 2, Columbia Fireflies 6 - F/6
- Greg Cullen, 2B: 1-3, 2B, R, .715 OPS
- Trey Harris, RF: 1-2, RBI, BB, 1.047 OPS
- Trey Riley, SP: 3 IP, 3 H, 5 ER, 5 BB, 2 K, 5.97 ERA
It was a tough night for Trey Riley and the Rome Braves as they were defeated by Columbia by the score of 6-2. There were really high hopes for Trey Riley as a prospect coming into this season as he was considered to be one of the best JuCo prospects from last year’s draft with an intriguing arsenal on the mound. However, command issues and the inability to consistently miss bats has plagued him to start his career in full season ball. In his first seven starts, he has walked 20 batters in 31 2⁄3 innings of work and opposing hitters are hitting .299 against him which is....not a good combination. Jake Higginbotham came in and threw three innings of relief before they had to call the game early due to some lousy weather.
Offensively, there just was not much going on as Rome had just three hits on the evening, although two of which were of the extra-base variety from Greg Cullen and Andrew Moritz. Trey Harris reached base a pair of times and drove in a run as he continued to be Rome’s most consistent offensive weapon. He currently sits in second in the entire South Atlantic League in OPS with 1.047 on the season.
Probable 5/12 Starter: Odalvi Javier