Atlanta Braves Minor League Recap: Austin Riley Mashes Grand Slam

(22-16) Gwinnett Stripers 11, (14-20) Buffalo Bisons 3

Box Score

• Austin Riley, 3B: 1-4, HR, BB, 4 RBI, .299/.377/.681
• Alex Jackson, C: 0-3, BB, .255/.339/.600
• Travis Demeritte, RF: 1-5, RBI, .291/.383/.518
• Kyle Wright, SP: 6 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 7.23 ERA

In perhaps his last game in Gwinnett, Austin Riley kept his tremendous play up with a grand slam in the Stripers 11-3 rout of Buffalo. The Gwinnett offense had a tough road getting going against Bisons’s starter Andrew Sopko, and through five innings they were being shut out and trailed 2-0. An error led off the sixth inning for Gwinnett and that seemed to be the spark they needed to get the runs pouring as they broke through with a double from Andres Blanco to make it 2-1. Another error and a bases loaded ground out from Pedro Florimon tied the game up. The seventh inning was the key for Gwinnett as they batted around in the inning and took a commanding lead they would not relinquish. The Stripers loaded the bases in the inning with no outs before a passed ball gave them their first lead in the game. A walk to Andres Blanco followed, bringing Austin Riley to the plate with the bases loaded. You know what happens next, as he crushed an 0-1 slider over the left field fence for a grand slam to give Gwinnett a 7-2 lead. Gwinnett put up four more runs in the inning and that 11-2 lead was more than enough for them to take home a win.

Photo by John Phillips/Getty Images for Insight TV

Kyle Wright spun arguably his best start of the season in the Stripers’s win, pitching six innings on just 73 pitches and allowing two runs. Wright was lights out in the early portions of his start, retiring the first nine batters he faced and striking out four of them. A single led off the fourth inning, but Wright came back to set down the next three batters to complete four scoreless innings. Trouble brewed for Gwinnett after Wright got two outs in the fifth inning, as a single and a triple broke the scoreless tie and gave Wright his first earned run. After Wright issued his first walk and then a well-timed double steal on the first pitch to the final batter brought in the second run. Wright ran through the sixth inning with a couple of ground outs before issuing a walk, which Alex Jackson then snuffed out on a stolen base attempt to end the inning and Wright’s start. Thomas Burrows had a mediocre outing on the mound, striking out two batters in 1 ²⁄₃ innings of relief but allowing four hits and a run. AJ Minter closed out the game with two strikeouts and no walks or runs over 1 ¹⁄₃ innings.

Next Game: 5/15 vs (14-20) Buffalo Bisons @ 6:05 PM ET

Probable Starters

GWN: Touki Toussaint (1-1, 7.11 ERA)

BUF: Jacob Waguespack (2-4, 5.60 ERA)

(17-20) Mississippi Braves 1, (25-13) Montgomery Biscuits 3

Box Score

• Drew Waters, LF: 1-3, 2B, BB, .333/.371/.520
• Cristian Pache, CF: 0-4, HR, .289/.343/.492
• Ian Anderson, SP: 3 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 6 BB, 6 K, 4.05 ERA

Ian Anderson’s command problems on the mound and Mississippi’s inability to string together a hits led to a 3-1 loss despite out hitting the Biscuits 9-3. Mississippi put up seven base runners through the first seven innings of the game, but didn’t get any of them past first base and never really threatened to pull even with a Biscuits team that jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning. A lead off double in the 8th inning from Drew Waters gave them a breath of life, and Tyler Neslony came through with a double of his own to finally give the Braves a breakthrough on the board. That brought the tying run to the plate with one out in the inning, but Mississippi couldn’t do anything with the opportunity and stranded a leadoff single in the ninth inning to fall 3-1.

Ian Anderson had some positive things to take out of his start against Montgomery, but his struggles to throw strikes ultimately proved costly as he walked six batters over three plus innings of work. Anderson walked the first two batters of the game, one on five pitches and the next on four, before a single and another walk made it 1-0 with the bases loaded and still no outs. Anderson retired the next three batters, two with strikeouts, but allowed another run in and put Mississippi behind early 2-0. Those two strikeouts to end the inning were part of a streak of Anderson retiring eight consecutive batters and five of those on strikeouts. Montgomery put up a base hit and drew another four pitch walk with two outs in the third before Anderson was able to clean up the inning with a line out from Brendan McKay. Anderson loaded the bases in the fourth inning, two of those walks, and didn’t record an out before being pulled from the game. Claudio Custodio came in and retired the side, but an inherited runner charged to Anderson scored for the third run of the game. Custodio was fantastic in the game, pitching four hitless innings of relief before turning the game over to Josh Graham. Graham struck out a batter in a perfect eighth inning, needing only ten pitching to retire the side.

Next Game: 5/15 vs (25-13) Montgomery Biscuits @ 7:35 PM ET

Probable Starters

MIS: Kyle Muller (1-1, 2.45 ERA)

MTG: Kenny Rosenberg (3-0, 1.74 ERA)

(14-22) Florida Fire Frogs, (18-16) St. Lucie Mets PPD

(17-21) Rome Braves 5, (14-23) Asheville Tourists 1

Box Score

• Trey Harris, RF: 1-4, RBI, .380/.460/.581
• Justin Dean, CF: 2-4, 2B, .255/.356/.343
• Gabriel Noguera, SP: 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 4.26 ERA

A three run third inning and a strong start from Gabriel Noguera keyed the Braves in a 5-1 win over the Tourists. Justin Dean quickly got Rome on the board in the bottom of the first inning when he doubled to lead off the inning, advanced on a ground out and then scored on a wild pitch. Asheville came back to tie the game up in the third inning but Rome immediately had their answer ready. Dean was once again a spark for the offense, leading off the inning with a base hit into center field. A hit from Andrew Moritz pushed Dean into scoring position and Greg Cullen came through with the go ahead hit in the inning. Trey Harris then singled in another run, and a base hit from Logan Brown loaded the bases with still no outs in the inning. Griffin Benson grounded out to make it 4-1, but the Braves couldn’t do any more damage in the inning and took that lead into the fourth inning. Rome tacked on an insurance run in the sixth inning thanks to doubles from Griffin Benson and Ricardo Rodriguez.

Gabriel Noguera put up a fine start on the mound for Rome, leading a strong pitching performance for the Braves as a whole. Noguera retired the first seven batters he faced in the game, before getting into a bit of trouble with a couple of base hits in the third inning and allowing a run to score on a double steal. Noguera then finished off the game exactly as he had started it, setting down nine of the final ten batters in his outing to finish six complete on 73 pitches. Luis Mora came in to relieve Noguera, and for the first time in three years he pitched multiple innings without allowing a walk. Mora pitched two perfect innings in total and struck out two batters. Tanner Lawson closed out the game with a scoreless ninth and two strikeouts.

Next Game: 5/15 vs (14-23) Asheville Tourists @ 10:30 AM ET

Probable Starters

ROM: Jose Olague (3-3, 4.02 ERA)

ASH: Colten Schmidt (0-1, 3.00 ERA)