(35-29) Gwinnett Stripers 2, Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs 3
- Travis Demeritte, RF: 1-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI, .940 OPS
- Adam Duvall, LF: 1-for-3, .961 OPS
- Alex Jackson, C: 1-for-2, R, .827 OPS
- Kolby Allard, SP: 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K
The Stripers were winning a majority of the game before falling late to the Iron Pigs after a walk off double scoring former Atlanta Brave, Lane Adams. The Stripers lead 1-0 through six innings behind a pretty solid start by Kolby Allard. Talking Chop’s very own Matt Powers was in attendance and had quite the praise for Allard last night.
I’m going to go ahead and say it now. Kolby Allard has new life as a prospect. This is not the guy many were starting to write off. The velocity has been there. There’s some life at times. He throws strikes, has a breaking ball, and knows how to pitch
— Matt Powers (@MattPowers31) June 12, 2019
Allard only really ran into real trouble in the seventh inning when he worked himself into some trouble with runners on first and third base with zero outs. He managed to work around a majority of the trouble - giving up just one earned run in the inning. Allard’s line on the season is solid as always - showcasing a 3 BB/9, but the strikeout rate is down to 6.8 K/9.
Shane Carle came into the game in the eighth inning and was greeted rather rudely as Jack Lopez reached on an error, Alex Jackson had a passed ball that allowed Lopez to reach second, Jan Hernandez walked, and then Andrew Romine doubled to score a run and tie the game at two a piece with zero outs. Carle managed to strike out a pair of hitters before eventually getting a groundout to limit the damage to just one. Unfortunately that late string of success didn’t last long as Stripers were walked off on after Ali Castillo singled in Lane Adams to end the game.
Offensively, there was not much happening last night with the only real action coming in the fifth when Travis Demeritte doubled in Alex Jackson and Jack Lopez to put the Stripers up 2-0. Only four Stripers recorded a hit with Demeritte having the lone extra-base hit. This is now a rather lengthy amount of good play for Travis - hitting a surprising .284 on the season and OPSing .940 while displaying his incredible versatility. Travis could be a very attractive player in a trade proposal, or bolster an already very strong bench for Atlanta.
(25-38) Mobile Bay Bears 5, (30-34) Mississippi Braves 3
- Cristian Pache, CF: 1-for-5, 2B, R, .835 OPS
- Drew Waters, LF: 1-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI, .880 OPS
- William Contreras, C: 1-for-4, R, .349 OPS
- Joey Wentz, SP: 5.0 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 5.37 ERA
Joey Wentz was actually cruising through the first three innings before he really ran into trouble, but when he did, it got the best of him. After navigating through the first three innings with relative ease, Wentz ran into trouble in the fourth when he allowed a two run homerun to put the Bay Bears up 2-0 in the fourth inning. Mississippi responded well in the bottom half of the inning scoring a run themselves courtesy of a Ryan Casteel single that scored Tyler Neslony. The fun times didn’t last long as Wentz allowed his second homer of the game, a three run homer, in the top half of the fifth to extend the lead for Mobile to 5-1. Once again, the Mississippi offense responded immediately thanks to Drew Waters hitting his twenty first double of the season that scored William Contreras and Cristian Pache (what a sexy sentence) to close the gap to 5-3, but unfortunately that was all the offense could muster in the loss.
The aggressive promotion of William Contreras has not faired well so far as the young catcher is hitting just .111 since the promotion and has a .349 OPS in seven games. He did go 1-for-4 and score one of the runs for the Mississippi offense. Greyson Jenista hasn’t faired much better since his promotion, going 0-for-2 with a pair of walks, and has a .345 OPS through six games himself. On a more positive note - the Drew Waters Express continued on last night as he went 1-for-4 with his twenty first double of the season, and has an .880 OPS - the highest of his career since his stint in the GCL. Drew has now reached base in 19 straight games that he has started and has an 1.042 OPS during that span as well.
(41-24) Dunedin Blue Jays 4, (25-41) Florida Fire Frogs 0
- Trey Harris, LF: 3-for-4, .909 OPS
- Drew Lugabuer, 1B: 1-for-4, .480 OPS
- Isranel Wilson, RF: .612 OPS
- Philip Pfeifer, SP: 5.1 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 9 K, 4.35 ERA
The Fire Frogs collected six hits over the course of the game with half of them being from one player - the recently promoted Trey Harris who went 3-for-4 and now has a .909 OPS since his promotion. All the guy does is hit and he is pretty much the best at it on this team. The Fire Frog offense now has four players with a sub .600 OPS, with Drew Lugbauer and Rusber Estrada both being sub .500. This team is not good in pretty much any aspect and it shows in their record - now 16 games under .500 on the season. Philip Pfeifer had a very confusing game as he lasted just five innings but gave up four runs while striking out nine and walking four. Again, all over the place. Walter Borkovich came in for Philip and went 1.2 scoreless innings while giving up a pair of hits and striking out a pair. Former infielder Kurt Hoekstra continued his resurgence as a pitcher as he worked the final two innings of the game and worked around a pair of hits, and a pair of walks while keeping them scoreless.
I wish there was more to write about this game, but this roster is pretty rough at the moment and the game itself was pretty rough. With William Contreras now in Mississippi there is not much talent on this roster, and with Izzy Wilson struggling they are a pretty tough team to watch.
(35-31) Charleston Riverdogs 2, (28-37) Rome Braves 3
- Jeremy Fernandez, RF: 1-for-4, RBI, .600 OPS
- Andrew Moritz, LF: 0-for-4, .549 OPS
- Derian Cruz, DH: 0-for-3, BB, R, .609 OPS
- Jose Olague, SP: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0BB, 8K, 3.33 ERA
Like Florida, this teams roster is pretty rough but that didn’t stop Rome from picking up the win behind Jose Olague’s absolutely dynamite start. Olague lasted six innings, gave up just a pair of extra-base hits, while striking out eight and walking none. The twenty-one year old is enjoying a solid state side debut season, not too flashy but very consistent however was very good last night. Ryan Shetter came into the game, blew the save, but picked up the win while pitching the final three innings of the game.
Rome got the offense started early in the second when Jose Bermudez singled in Ariel Montesino to put Rome up 1-0. After allowing the Riverdogs to tie it up in the fourth inning, Derian Cruz decided to take things into his own hands in the fourth inning as he reached base via walk, stole second, then stole third while forcing a throwing error and scored to go up 2-1. The Riverdogs evened things up the following inning in the top of the seventh, but Jeremy Fernandez put Rome back up 3-2 when he singled in familiar face Jose Bermudez to push the lead back up to 3-2 - enough for Rome to pick up the win.