(16-12) Gwinnett Stripers 11, (14-13) Durham Bulls 3
- Austin Riley, 3B: 2-4, 2B, HR, BB, 4 RBI, .290/.350/.598
- Alex Jackson, C: 3-5, HR, 2 RBI, .231/.286/.462
- Travis Demeritte, RF: 3-5, 2 2B, 3 RBI, .300/.400/.488
- Kyle Wright, SP: 7 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 8.66 ERA
Gwinnett continued their recent strong play on this offensive end in this game, riding two home runs and 16 hits to an 11-3 win. Gwinnett was quiet through the first two innings, but managed their way on the board for the first time in the third with an Austin Riley double tying the game at one. An Alex Jackson home run led off the fourth inning, giving the Stripers a lead they would not relinquish. After adding two more runs in that fourth, Gwinnett again put up a three spot in the fifth inning with Travis Demeritte’s bases-loaded double being the big hit of the inning. Jackson knocked in his second run of the game in the sixth, scoring Austin Riley to give Gwinnett a commanding 8-1 lead. The final big smash of the game came once again from Riley yet again, who golfed a 2-2 pitch over the fence in left field for his sixth home run in his past eight games. With his two extra base hits today, Riley now has 13 extra base hits over his past 10 games, a span during which he is hitting .425/.477/1.050 with seven doubles, six home runs, 15 RBIs, and only six strikeouts.
Kyle Wright had his strongest start of the season for the Stripers, completing an efficient seven innings to put his last start behind him. The only real trouble for Wright came in the second inning when he allowed a double to the leadoff hitter who then scored two batters later on a sacrifice fly. From there, Wright shut down the Durham bats, allowing only one hit and one walk through his next four innings. Wright made mistakes in his final inning, with Gwinnett already leading 8-1, and allowed two solo home runs on his ledger. He also recorded two of his four strikeouts in the game. Wright only needed 83 pitches to get through seven, keeping the ball heavily on the ground while allowing just the one walk. The strikeouts still are not quite where they were expected to be, but it is a positive sign to see him show more control of the strike zone this time out. Jonny Venters pitched a scoreless eighth inning on just nine pitches, and Jose DePaula capped off the game by striking out the side in order in the bottom of the ninth.
Next Game: 5/4 vs (14-13) Durham Bulls @ 6:35 PM ET
Probable Starters
GWN: Sean Newcomb (2-1, 2.41 ERA)
DUR: TBD
(13-13) Mississippi Braves 4, (10-18) Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 2
- Drew Waters, CF: 4-4, RBI, .358/.398/.547
- Cristian Pache, LF: 1-4, .333/.369/.563
- Jonathan Morales, C: 1-4, .306/.380/.387
- Tucker Davidson, SP: 5.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 8 K, 0.00 ERA
Southern League batting average leader Drew Waters was on his game for Mississippi, racking up four hits in a Braves win. The Braves were quiet through the early phases of the game, with the Jacksonville pitcher having faced the minimum. Waters had two hits at this point, but had been erased off the base paths both times by a double play and then a caught stealing. Down 2-0, the sixth inning was the Braves inning, with two singles putting runners on base for Waters. Drew came through to break down the doors for Mississippi, making the game 2-1 with his third single of the game. A throwing error on an attempted pickoff of Cristian Pache (who made the second out on a force out) tied the game up at two runs. After a Tyler Neslony walk, Andy Wilkins came through with the only extra base hit for the Braves in the game. This brought in both Pache and Neslony to put the Braves up 4-2. Waters and Pache each singled in the eighth inning, and Neslony walked to load the bases, but a couple of strikeouts ended the inning and didn’t allow the Braves to tack on any insurance runs.
Tucker Davidson was fantastic once again for Mississippi, though his control problems got him into some late trouble. Davidson set down the first six batters of the game and struck out three of those. Davidson walked the first batter of the third inning, but then retired five straight before allowing another walk. Tucker started to run into trouble in the fifth inning after allowing a leadoff single and then two more walks that loaded the bases with one out. A sacrifice fly brought in a run, but Davidson limited the damage with his sixth strikeout of the game to end the inning. Tucker allowed a lead off double in the sixth, but struck out his next two batters before allowing an RBI single on his last batter of the game. Davidson threw 101 pitches over his 5 2/3 innings and of the 24 batters he faced, 12 of them either walked or struck out. Davidson has the fourth lowest ERA in the Southern League, but interestingly is the only qualified pitched in the league to not receive a decision in any of his outings. His eight strikeouts matched his career high, which he has done four other times. Mississippi’s bullpen came in to close the door on the game, with Claudio Custodio pitching 1 1/3 scoreless innings and Connor Johnstone closing out the game and earning the save with two scoreless frames.
Next Game: 5/4 vs (10-18) Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp @ 7:05 PM ET
Probable Starters
MIS: Ian Anderson (1-1, 3.52 ERA)
JAX: Jorge Guzman (1-2, 4.62 ERA)
(11-16) Florida Fire Frogs 3, (12-16) Tampa Tarpons 0
- Jefrey Ramos, LF: 1-3, HR, BB, 2 RBI, .269/.294/.442
- Riley Delgado, 2B: 2-4, .330/.369/.398
- William Contreras, C: 0-3, .304/.366/.413
- Philip Pfeifer, SP: 3.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 5 BB, 5 K, 0.00 ERA
The Fire Frogs pitching staff was lights out in this game, shutting out the Tampa lineup and only allowing three hits. Florida’s offense wasted no time getting their pitchers a lead they could work with, as Greyson Jenista drew a walk to lead off the second inning and Jefrey Ramos brought them both in with a two-run home run. Jenista sparked the offense again with a leadoff single in the sixth inning, then came in to score on Kevin Josephina’s double that made the game 3-0. For Ramos that was his second home run in his last three games for him, and he is heating up at the plate with three walks, two home runs, and only one strikeout over his past five games. Riley Delgado now has a five-game hitting streak, and he has only struck out one time over his past eight games. In that timeframe, he is 12-for-35, though he hasn’t walked and only has three extra base hits. He is third in the league in hitting and tied for the league lead with 34 hits. His strikeout rate in the lowest in the Florida State League and the sixth lowest across minor league baseball minimum 100 plate appearances.
Philip Pfeifer was effectively wild for the Fire Frogs in his start, throwing 3 1/3 scoreless innings but not at all doing so efficiently with 67 pitches and only 35 strikes. Pfeifer immediately walked the first batter of the game on four pitches, then walked the next guy (he got two strikes this time). Already in trouble, Pfeifer set the next three batters down easily and struck out the final batter of the inning. Pfeifer walked the leadoff batter in the second inning as well, but forced an infield pop up and two strikeouts to escape again. If you can guess what Pfeifer did to start the third inning you will receive one (1) internet high five from me. That’s right, he walked the leadoff hitter but got two strikeouts and a caught stealing to again escape harm. Pfeifer waited until the third batter of the fourth inning to walk the next guy, then was promptly yanked from the game. In total, Pfeifer faced 15 batters, walked five of them, and struck out another five. No other Fire Frogs pitcher walked a batter in the game, thought Brooks Wilson wasn’t exactly a control specialist only getting 13 of his 25 pitches in the strike zone. Still, he pitched 1 2/3 innings of perfect ball and struck out a batter. Matt Withrow pitched a strong game in relief, going 3 1/3 scoreless innings on 49 pitches, striking out three, walking none, and only allowing two hits. This was his first appearance in a game since September 2017. Brandon White finished out the game by getting two outs on four pitches, and Florida went home victorious.
Next Game: 5/4 vs (12-16) Tampa Tarpons @ 6:00 PM ET
Probable Starters
FLO: Freddy Tarnok (0-1, 7.20 ERA)
TAM: Frank Herman (0-1, 3.63 ERA)
(11-16) Rome Braves 6, (9-19) Lakewood Blue Claws 3
- Trey Harris, DH: 1-4, 4 RBI, 2 SB, .385/.450/.615
- Justin Dean, CF: 1-3, 2 BB, RBI, .260/.350/.350
- Gabriel Noguera, SP: 4.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 2 K, 5.63 ERA
- Dilmer Mejia, RP: 4.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 1.76 ERA
The Rome Braves completed the system sweep with a 6-3 win over the Blue Claws, and Trey Harris was once again in the middle of everything with four RBIs. The Braves immediately jumped out to the lead in the first inning with a single from Andrew Moritz, a stolen base, another single from Greg Cullen, and then Harris bringing in his first run of the game with a ground out. Lakewood got two in the bottom of the inning to take the lead, but in the third inning a couple of singles set the stage for another Trey Harris RBI ground out and the game was tied once again. Two walks led off the fifth inning, and when Greg Cullen lifted a deep fly ball to right field both baserunners were able to advance into scoring position. Harris came through with the big hit of the game, smashing a base hit up the middle to score both runners and give Rome a 4-2 lead. A couple of errors in the sixth inning led to more runs for the Braves, with a bases loaded walk to Justin Dean and a sacrifice fly by Moritz bringing in two more runs to give Rome a 6-2 lead.
Rome only needed two pitchers to finish off the Blue Claws, as both Gabriel Noguera and Dilmer Mejia were able to give the Braves solid innings. Noguera, who isn’t really much of a prospect anyways, struggled with his control, but came through with a couple of well-timed double plays to prevent much damage from occurring. It was a four pitch walk that opened the gates in the first inning, then a couple of singles and a wild pitch brought in the only two runs against Noguera on the night. Noguera continued to walk guys, five in total, and didn’t strike out many, but the balls all fell in the right spots and he was able to leave the game with a lead. Then came Dilmer Mejia who was simply dominant and showed why a few years ago he was a real prospect in the system before inconsistencies and an influx of talent buried him. Mejia struck out the first batter he faced to finished off the fifth inning and retired the first seven batters he faced. A fielding error put a runner on to lead off the ninth inning and break his streak, and two batters later he allowed his only hit of the game. A ground out brought in one run but also got Mejia’s second out of the inning, and Dilmer finished off the game with a pop fly out. Mejia has now appeared in six games this season, and has put up some staggering numbers thus far. In 15 1/3 innings of work, he has a 1.76 ERA and has struck out 16 batters and allowed only three walks. Mejia is still only 21 years old despite this being his sixth season in the Braves system, so there’s reason to believe he has time to figure out his game and be a major league baseball player if he can stay healthy and continue to progress.
Next Game: 5/4 vs (9-19) Lakewood Blue Claws @ 4:05 PM ET
Probable Starters
ROM: Jose Olague (1-3, 5.12 ERA)
LWD: Victor Santos (2-1, 3.43 ERA)
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