Gwinnett Braves 6, Buffalo Bisons 2

Box Score

• Rafael Ortega, CF: 3-5, 2B, 2 HR, 2 RBI, .950 OPS
• Adam Duvall, LF: 1-5, HR, RBI, .979 OPS
• Travis Demeritte, RF: 2-4, 2B, .912 OPS
• Ben Rowen, SP: 3.1 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 1.11 ERA

The hit parade in Gwinnett continued on despite the promotion of Austin Riley as they combined to hit four homers in Gwinnett’s 6-2 win over Buffalo. The fun started in the third inning with Rafael Ortega hitting his eigth homer of the season to put Gwinnett up 1-0. After giving up a pair of runs in the fourth, Luis Marte got on the board with his own two run homer, that drove in Ryan LaMarre, to give the Stripers the lead once again at 3-2 - a lead that they would not give up. In the seventh inning Ryan LaMarre hit a homer of his own, his third on the season, to put Gwinnett to extend the Gwinnett lead to 4-2. Adam Duvall then got in on the show and hit his twelfth long ball of the season to make it 5-2 and finally Rafael Ortega, who got the show started, capped off the night with his second jack of the game to push the lead to 6-2. Not to be forgotten was Travis Demeritte who, while failing to leave the park, went 2-for-4 with a double and is hitting .298 on the season with a .912 OPS. The Gwinnett offense now has five players with an OPS over .900, with Ryan LaMarre just missing that cutoff with an .840 OPS on his own. The promotion of Austin Riley swung Duvall to left field and had Demeritte over to right continuing to show his defensive versatility and now with his bat playing lights out - he’s showcasing himself for a spot on that big league team as well.

Ben Rowen got the start and continued his strong start with Gwinnett allowing two earned runs over three innings. Rowen now has a 1.11 ERA, 0.74 WHIP, and .186 batting average against since being assigned to Gwinnett. Following Rowen was Shane Carle who provided 2.2 innings of one hit ball to continue his dominance of minor league players. Grant Dayton came into the game in the seventh, walked one, but got out of the inning without facing any real danger. The final two innings were covered by Jose Rafael De Paula who struck out two and gave up one hit over the games last innings to pick up his fourth save of the season.

Mississippi Braves 4, Montgomery Biscuits 3

Box Score

• Drew Waters, LF: 2-5, R, 2 OF assists, .888 OPS
• Cristian Pache, CF: 0-4, BB, 2 R, .815 OPS
• Tyler Neslony, RF: 2-5, R, .765 OPS
• Kyle Muller, SP: 6.2 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 2.27 ERA

Kyle Muller continued to right the ship - going 6.2 innings while giving up just one earned run and striking out six. That was Muller’s fourth straight outing where he gave up two or fewer runs but more importantly he walked just two. Muller is still walking people at a 6.3 BB/9 rate but now has back-to-back games with two walks. Connor Johnstone came into the game and breezed through his first two innings before running into trouble in the 10th inning when he gave up a pair of runs allowing Montgomery to get back into the game at 4-3 before Josh Graham ultimately came into the game to close the door and preserve the win for Mississippi.

Offensively, Mississippi was held in check for most of the day scoring just one run in the games first nine innings - which was scored via errant pick off attempt by the catcher which allowed Cristian Pache to score to put Mississippi up 1-0. They then went up 2-1 after a Ryan Casteel bases loaded walk scored Drew Waters to put Mississippi up 2-1. Connor Lien followed up with a walk of his own to extend to lead to 3-1, and Jonathan Morales reached on a fielding error of his own to push the game to 4-1 before finally winning 4-3.

Florida Fire Frogs 6, St. Lucie Mets 5 - Game One

Box Score

• Riley Unroe, SS: 2-4, RBI, BB, R, .835 OPS
• William Contreras, C: 1-4, 2 RBI, BB, .732 OPS
• Nolan Kingham, SP: 4 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 3.72 ERA

Not only did Florida play TWO games without a rain out, they won BOTH of them starting with a 6-5 win in game one. Nolan Kingham wasn’t the sharpest, giving up five earned runs over his four innings of work but Troy Bacon and Sean McLaughlin had his back - combining for five innings of scoreless baseball to keep Florida in the game. Troy Bacon, in particular, was dynamic as he pitched four innings and struck out five.

While the Mets did all of their offense in one inning, Florida was spread out throughout the second half of the game. William Contreras got Florida on the scoreboard with a two run single in the fifth inning to bring the deficit to 5-2. Riley Unroe’s single in the sixth inning drove in Kevin Josephina to bring the game to 5-3. Riley Delgado grounded out, scoring Garrison Schwartz, to reduce the lead to just 5-4. Drew Lugbauer tripled the following inning, scoring Jefrey Ramos, completing the comeback and essentially reseting the game. Kevin Josephina capped off the fun with a walk off single in the ninth inning to give Florida the game one win.

Florida Fire Frogs 5, St. Lucie Mets 4 - Game Two

Box Score

• Riley Delgado, 2B: 2-3, BB, R, .717 OPS
• Greyson Jenista, RF: 1-3, 3B, 2 RBI, BB, R, .669 OPS
• Matt Withrow, SP: 3.1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 0.93 ERA

Matt Withrow kept his fun going striking out five over his 3.1 innings of work. Withrow now has a 0.93 ERA, 0.93 WHIP, 11.2 K/9, and 2.8 BB/9. Withrow is off to a fantastic start after battling with injuries all of 2018 and it is just so great to see him going. Lukas Young came in, in relief and struggled giving up three runs in his 2.2 innings of work. It was Young’s first appearance for Florida after a much deserved promotion from Rome. Former utility player Kurt Hoekstra continued his impressive switch to pitcher picking up his first save for Florida. It wasn’t an easy one though, as he walked a pair and gave up a hit, but ultimately escaped any damage to preserve the win.

Offensively, Kevin Josephina got Florida on the board with an RBI single in the fourth to tie the game at 1-1. Brett Langhorne later grounded out in that inning and drove in Rusber Estrada to put Florida up 2-1. After a crazy game tying steal of home by the Mets in the top half of the fifth, Florida immediately responded with a pair of runs in the bottom half - highlighted by a two-run triple by Greyson Jenista, and an RBI double by Kevin Josephina to extend the lead to 5-2 - the final run they would score as a team.

Rome Braves 5, Asheville Tourists 1

Box Score

• Andrew Moritz, RF: 2-4, R, .574 OPS
• Trey Harris, LF: 2-4, 2B, RBI, 1.047 OPS
• Logan Brown, C: 2-4, RBI, R, .754 OPS
• Griffin Benson, 1B: 2-3, 2B, BB, RBI, R, .701 OPS
• Jose Olague, SP: 8 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 3.20 ERA

Rome capped off the perfect night for the Braves organization with a 5-1 win of their own. Jose Olague was absolutely fantastic - needing just 92 pitches for eight masterful innings of work. Jose allowed just one extra-base hit, a double, in those eight frames while striking out three and walking just one. Jake Higginbotham ran into more trouble in his one frame of work than Olague did during those eight frames - walking one, and giving up a pair of hits along with a run, before closing out the game and preserving the win for Rome.

The Rome offense was held in check until the fourth inning when they broke out for four runs. Logan Brown got the party started with a single that scored Andrew Moritz to put Rome up 1-0. Griffin Benson doubled and scored two, including Andrew Moritz, to extend the lead to 3-0. Brendan Venter’s soft single to right then scored Griffin Benson - to push the lead to 4-0. The final run for Rome came from none other than Trey Harris, whose single scored Justin Dean to score Rome’s final run of the game.