Gwinnett Stripers 3, Columbus Clippers 7
- Rafael Ortega, CF: 1-4, HR, 2 RBI, .925 OPS
- Alex Jackson, C: 1-3, HR, RBI, .889 OPS
- Kolby Allard, SP: 5.2 IP, 10 H, 7 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 4.17 ERA
Kolby Allard had his worst outing since May and the Gwinnett offense couldn’t keep up as the Stripers fell to Columbus by the score of 7-3. Allard had been one of the few pitchers in Triple-A that had done well at limiting the long ball this season, but Columbus managed to touch him up for three dingers on Saturday. It was only the second time this season that he had given up multiple home runs in a start. Have to chalk this one up to just not being Allard’s night as he had been quite good of late.
On the offensive side of the ball, both Rafael Ortega and Alex Jackson went deep, but beyond that the offense was sparse as Gwinnett only managed four hits off of Columbus’ Danny Salazar and co. AJax’s homer was his 23rd of the season as he continues to make his presence known as a very interesting piece once rosters expand in September given Tyler Flowers’ struggles at the plate of late. Travis Demeritte reached base twice with a pair of walks and his Triple-A OPS now sits at .958 on the season which is....not what we would have predicted this season, but comes as a very pleasant surprise.
Mississippi Braves 4, Mobile BayBears 13
- Cristian Pache, CF: 1-4, RBI, .825 OPS
- Greyson Jenista, RF: 2-3, RBI, BB, R, .679 OPS
- Ray-Patrick Didder, SS: 2-4, 2B, SB, .627 OPS
- William Contreras, C: 1-4, RBI, .626 OPS
- Joey Wentz, SP: 3.2 IP, 9 H, 7 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 4.72 ERA
Joey Wentz fell back to earth a bit after his stretch of domination as the BayBears routed Mississippi by the score of 13-4. In his previous five starts, Wentz had been lights out as he had pitched late into games, striking out guys at a career-high clip, and really showcasing his high quality secondaries and command. However, he wasn’t fooling Mobile on Saturday where the top three hitters of Brandon Marsh, Jo Adell, and Jahmai Jones caused havoc and gave Mississippi fits all night long.
Offensively, Ray-Patrick Didder and Greyson Jenista continued their recent run of success as each had multi-hit games for the Braves. Jenista has been particularly good in the month of July as his OPS sits at .887 in 22 games this month. That is certainly good news given how much he had struggles for the rest of the season. William Contreras had a hit and an RBI of his own and is now hitting .382 over his last 10 games. And yes, both Drew Waters and Cristian Pache played in this game and each recorded hits.
Florida Fire Frogs 2, Daytona Tortugas 1
- Riley Delgado, SS: 2-4, .662 OPS
- Logan Brown, C: 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI, .524 OPS
- Nolan Kingham, SP: 8.2 IP, 7 H, 1 R (0 ER), 0 BB, 9 K, 4.42 ERA
Nolan Kingham completely shut down Daytona and the offense backed him up just enough to secure a 2-1 walk-off win for the Fire Frogs. In four of Kingham’s last eight starts, he has pitched eight innings or more as he continues to establish himself as a pitching prospect to be reckoned with in the Braves’ farm system. The only real blemish on his ledger from Saturday was an unearned run on a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning, but beyond that he was tremendous.
There wasn’t much going on on offense for Florida as only Riley Delgado and Logan Brown had multi-hit games and only one of the team’s seven hits went for extra bases. However, that one was a big one as Logan Brown doubled in the bottom of the ninth to score Jefrey Ramos and Drew Lugbauer to secure a walk-off, come from behind win for the Fire Frogs. CJ Alexander continues to struggle mightily at the plate as he has just three hits in his last 10 games. It looks like 2019 may be just a completely lost season for him.
Rome Braves 8, West Virginia Power 6
- Braden Shewmake, SS: 2-4, 2B, BB, RBI, 3 R, .853 OPS
- Shea Langeliers, C: 3-5, 2B, 4 RBI, .656 OPS
- Greg Cullen, 2B: 2-3, 2B, HBP, .801 OPS
- William Woods, SP: 3 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 3.81 ERA
The Rome offense, thanks to some big time production from the Braves’ 2019 first round picks, got to work this one as the Braves held off the Power to win 8-6. William Woods made his first start of the season and gave up a run in three innings of work. Ryan Shetter followed him up with a very similar outing of his own, but things got away from Luis Mora as he gave up four runs in less than an inning of work with most of the damage coming from a three-run bomb off the bat of Jake Anchia. That four run outburst brought West Virginia within two runs of Rome, but that is as close as they would get as Jose Montilla closed the door with 2.1 scoreless innings of relief.
As for the offense, well Braden Shewmake and Shea Langeliers did some heavy lifting as the two combined to go 5-9 with five RBIs. Langeliers has been particularly impressive lately as he has 10 hits in his last seven games and has shown some of the strong defensive acumen that was his calling card in college. Greg Cullen reached base three times on Saturday and Jose Bermudez had a two-run single that capped a five run 5th inning that put the game away.
Danville Braves 7, Bluefield Blue Jays 3
- Bryce Ball, 1B: 1-3, HR, BB, RBI, 2 R, 1.095 OPS
- Charles Reyes, LF: 1-3, 2 RBI, BB, .728 OPS
- Mitch Stallings, SP: 3.2 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 2.70 ERA
Danville got yet another homer from Bryce Ball as they rolled to victory over Bluefield by the score of 7-3. Ball has been a tremendous find for the Braves as a 24th round pick as he currently leads the Appalachian League in home runs and is second in the league with a 1.095 OPS. The bottom of the order did work for Danville as Michael Mateja, Cody Birdsong, and Victor De Hoyos each had multi-hit games for the Braves. Mitch Stallings continued his strong work down in Danville with seven strikeouts in less than four innings of work.
GCL Braves 4, GCL Rays 19
- Michael Harris, CF: 2-4, RBI, .969 OPS
- Mason Berne, 1B: 2-4, HR, 2 RBI, .706 OPS
- Joey Estes, SP: 1.1 IP, 2 H, 5 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, 13.50 ERA
We won’t linger here long as Joey Estes and the GCL Braves got torched by the GCL Rays by the score of 19-4. Joey Estes didn’t get much help from his defense or from the bullpen who came to relieve him, but the overall line is still a tad ugly. The tldr version: the GCL Braves had four pitchers give up multiple earned runs in this one and that is....not great. Michael Harris had a multi-hit game in the leadoff spot and is batting .400 over his last 10 games. Mahki Backstrom had a hit in his only at-bat of the game as he was pulled early from the game. It is currently unclear as to the reason why that happened.