(38-31) Gwinnett Stripers 5, (27-43) Louisville Bats 3
- Travis Demeritte, RF: 1-4, BB, .283/.377/.561
- Alex Jackson, C: 0-4 .213/.310/.467
- Adam Duvall, LF: 1-5, HR, 2 RBI, .260/.344/.586
- Kolby Allard, SP: 6 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 9 K, 3.92 ERA
The Stripers took the Bats to extra innings with a game tying run in the ninth inning, then won it in extras with a walk off home run. Gwinnett struck first in the second inning by bringing in a run on a Jack Lopez double with two outs. In the third they had an opportunity to extend that lead out when a leadoff walk to Travis Demeritte and then a hit batter and fielding error loaded the bases with one out. This brought up Rafael Ortega, who came through with a base hit to push the lead out to 2-0, but Sean Kazmar was thrown out at home trying to score and Stripers could not come up with another run to push in more insurance. A flurry of six innings hits for Louisville then erased Gwinnett’s lead and out them behind by a run going into the late innings. The Stripers only managed one hit in the sixth through eighth innings while striking out seven times, and that brought them to their final at bats in the ninth still trailing by a run. Jack Lopez got the inning started with a single, and a Travis Demeritte base hit put him into scoring position with just one out. After a hit by pitch loaded the bases it was Sean Kazmar who tied the game when he lifted a sacrifice fly into center field to score Lopez. Unfortunately for the second time center fielder Jose Siri came through with an outfield assist to prevent a further Braves rally, this time gunning down Demeritte attempting to tag to third and ending the inning. The Bats went down in order in the top of the ninth inning and this brought the heart of the Stripers order up to bat in the tenth only needing one run to win it. That run came quickly, as Adam Duvall smashed his 19th home run of the season to win the game for Gwinnett.
Kolby Allard came out firing in one of his most effective outings of his season and he struck out a season high nine batters. This was the first time since August 26, 2017 that Allard struck out nine batters in a game. Allard was cruising in the early phases of the game as Louisville really couldn’t get good wood on him, and through the first five innings of his start he allowed only two hit and struck out eight batters. Rolling along merrily with a low pitch count and a two run lead the Stripers threw Allard back out there in the sixth inning, but things quickly unraveled when a leadoff double and then a single cut the lead in half. Allard got his ninth strike out of the game, but allowed two more base hits to net two more runs and he left his sixth and final inning of the game trailing 3-2. The relief core had Allard covered as they didn’t allow a hit over four innings, starting with the two pitched by Connor Johnstone. Dylan Creasy covered a perfect ninth inning with a strikeout, and then Jonathan Aro pitched in the tenth and struck out two of the three batters he faced in a perfect frame of his own.
Next Game: 6/19 vs (27-43) Louisville Bats @ 7:05 PM ET
Probable Starters
GWN: Patrick Weigel (0-0, 2.53 ERA)
LOU: TBD
(26-42) Florida Fire Frogs 4, (36-31) Daytona Tortugas 0
- Trey Harris, LF: 2-5, HR, 2 RBI, .359/.432/.487
- Drew Lugbauer, 1B: 2-4, 2B, HR, BB, RBI, .157/.223/.309
- Riley Delgado, SS: 4-4, 2B, HBP, .300/.350/.354
- Nolan Kingham, SP: 9 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 4.43 ERA
Nolan Kingham dominated the Tortugas and fired his minors-leading third shutout of the season to lead Florida in their 4-0 win. The Fire Frogs bats rolled in the early innings of this game, and they took no time in the first inning to get Kingham a lead to work with. The first of Riley Delgado’s four hits in the game opened up the offense for the Fire Frogs, and Trey Harris mashed his first High-A dinger to put Florida on the board early and give Kingham all the lead he would need. Two batters later Drew Lugbauer smashed the first pitch he saw over the center field fence to extend the lead to 3-0 and the rest is history. The Fire Frogs had a lot of opportunities to add more runs throughout the game as they netted thirteen hits, but only once did they actually capitalize to add more runs. Kevin Josephina doubled with one out in the fourth inning to set this up, and Jake Rodgers came through with a two out single to push the lead to 4-0. Florida had seven hits over the final five innings but had no luck adding to the lead though it didn’t matter in the end.
Nolan Kingham has had a rocky season for the Fire Frogs, with a handful of brilliant performances and a bunch of duds really pulling him in both directions. This outing was the former, and it was apparent early on this would be a cruise game for Kingham. Kingham only allowed one hit in the first three innings, but in the fourth the first real threat to his shutout popped up with Jonathan India’s leadoff double. A fly out pushed India to third base, but on a squibber back to Kingham he was caught trying to score and this netted Kingham the second out. Kingham walked the first batter of the fifth inning, then shut down the game and retired the final fifteen batters in a row and struck out five of those. This was Kingham’s third shutout of the season, which is incredible considering no other minor league pitcher has more than one. Kingham has three of the sixteen shutouts in minor league baseball this season, and all three of Kingham’s shutouts have been of the nine inning variety of which only four others have occurred this season. Kingham needed only 91 pitches to finish off the game, giving him at least his second Maddux of the season and likely his third as although we do not have pitch count info on the other start the Braves rarely let a High-A prospect go above 100 pitches. Only two other players in minor league baseball have recorded a Maddux this season, with reigning first overall pick Casey Mize and now-promoted former Fire Frog teammate Jasseel De La Cruz both recording theirs in no hitters.
Next Game: 6/19 vs (36-31) Daytona Tortugas @ 10:35 AM ET
Probable Starters
FLO: Philip Pfeifer (1-3, 4.35 ERA)
DBT: Mac Scelor (3-1, 3.89 ERA)
Southern League All Star Game
South Division All Stars 3, North Division All Stars 7
Cristian Pache, RF: 0-4
Drew Waters, LF: 1-3, HR
The South Division All Star team may not have been able to come out with a win, but Drew Waters hit the only home run in the all star game this season on an opposite field blast in the seventh inning. Braves pitcher Tucker Davidson has a 1.61 ERA and hasn’t given up more than three runs in an outing this season, but he decided to have a clunker today and give up five runs in two-thirds of an inning. Jason Hursh pitched a scoreless inning in the eighth, striking out two batters and walking none.