It’s a great night for pitching as all four teams boast a powerful arm on the mound. Gwinnett had Kyle Wright on the mound as he looks to continue some recent good work - his last start saw him go six innings and gave up just two earned runs on four hits. Victor Vodnik gets the ball for the Mississippi Braves who looks to rebound after a rough pair of starts that have seen him last just a total of two innings where he has given up seven earned runs. Meanwhile over in Rome A.J. Puckett looks to continue his strong 2021 that has seen him accumulate a 3.23 ERA in 13 games so far. A.J.’s last start was on July 15th where he went seven innings of two-hit baseball where he gave up zero runs. And finally, Joey Estes looks to continue his strong 2021 campaign where he has a 2.98 ERA in 13 starts.
Let’s see how they all finished up below!
(38-35) Gwinnett Stripers 1, (36-37) Memphis Redbirds 0
- Kyle Wright, SP: 8.0 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 3.69 ERA
- AJ Minter, RP: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, 0.00 ERA
- Travis Demeritte, RF: 1-for-4, HR (12), RBI, R, 1.150 OPS
- William Contreras, C: 1-for-4, 1.253 OPS
- Johan Camargo, 3B: 1-for-4, .913 OPS
It was a beautifully pitched game for both teams as Kyle Wright, and AJ Minter along with Jack Flaherty, and five members of Redbirds pitching staff, gave up just one run. Making a rehab assignment, Jack lasted just two innings before being removed due to injury but the rest of his staff had his back - but unfortunately for him Kyle Wright was just better that night as he navigated himself through eighth scoreless innings of work.
A statement outing from Kyle Wright. Memphis came in on a 15 game winning streak. Kyle Wright is shutting them down
— Atlanta Braves Farm System Updates (@BravesMILB) July 28, 2021
8 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K pic.twitter.com/7aj3450ctj
He had some help along the way including some stellar work by the defense highlighted by this fantastic throw by Drew Waters.
Drew Waters with the howitzer pic.twitter.com/2gkEnWnW83
— Atlanta Braves Farm System Updates (@BravesMILB) July 28, 2021
The lone run of the game came from Travis Demeritte that unloaded on this MASSIVE blast in the fourth inning.
Travis Demeritte just hit his 12th home run in his 37th game. He got every bit of this one. Oh my word.
— Atlanta Braves Farm System Updates (@BravesMILB) July 28, 2021
He has a home run in three straight and six home runs in 10 games since returning from the IL pic.twitter.com/W1t6NFhUgW
The rest of the team combined for seven hits while striking out 12 times but the damage was done and Gwinnett picked up the fantastic 1-0 win.
(41-32) Mississippi Braves 9, (37-36) Pensacola Blue Wahoos 3
- Justin Dean, CF: 1-for-5, HR, R, RBI, .732 OPS
- Braden Shewmake, SS: 2-for-5, HR, 2 R, RBI, .672 OPS
- Shea Langeliers, C: 2-for-5, 2 HR, 2 RBI, 2 R, .845 OPS
- Wendell Rijo, 2B: 1-for-3, HR, 2 BB, 2 R, RBI, .780 OPS
- Victor Vodnik, SP: 3.2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 5.01 ERA
At one point Mississippi was trailing this game 1-0 into the 6th inning but that did not last. Victor Vodnik and Matt Withrow combined for 6 innings of one earned run baseball (Vodnik). Then, the game entered the sixth inning and the game completely changed. Mississippi hit a pair of two-run homers in the top of the sixth, one by Drew Lugbauer (10), and one by Greyson Jenista (10), to give Mississippi the 4-1 lead.
After a scoreless bottom of the sixth the bats came back to bop in the top half of the seventh for another four runs thanks to homers by Justin Dean, Braden Shewmake, Shea Langeliers, and Wendell Rijo, including back to back homers by Braden Shewmake and Shea Langeliers, - for their sixth homer in two innings and to give Mississippi the 8-1 lead.
MOOOONSHOT for Braden Shewmake for Mississippi's second home run of the inning and fourth of the game pic.twitter.com/FansNS80CP
— Atlanta Braves Farm System Updates (@BravesMILB) July 28, 2021
It's a home run derby for Mississippi. Shea Langeliers makes it back to back jacks. That is his 16th home run of the season pic.twitter.com/iIsmTm3r3u
— Atlanta Braves Farm System Updates (@BravesMILB) July 28, 2021
After a brief pause in the action thanks to a scoreless eighth inning, including a scoreless eighth for Indigo Diaz who also struck out two, Shea Langeliers once again went deep for his 17th homerun of the season and the seventh homer of the night for Mississippi.
SHEA LANGELIERS DOES IT AGAIN. That's his THIRD multi home run game of the season, all against Pensacola. He has 17 home runs now. pic.twitter.com/PupjmS0GnL
— Atlanta Braves Farm System Updates (@BravesMILB) July 28, 2021
Brandon White came in and worked a rocky ninth inning but preserved the lead and gave Mississippi the win.
(34-39) Rome Braves 4, (30-40) Asheville Tourists 5
- Michael Harris II, RF: 1-for-3, BB, .755 OPS
- Cody Milligan, 2B: 2-for-5, .708 OPS
- Jesse Franklin V, CF: 2-for-3, 2 BB, R, RBI, HR, .904 OPS
- Brett Langhorne, 1B: 2-for-4, 3 RBI, R, HR, .636 OPS
- A.J. Puckett, SP: 3.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 3.33 ERA
Rome’s slide continued with another close loss, this time to the Asheville Tourists. A.J. Puckett was on the mound and lasted just three innings while needing 55 pitches to navigate those innings. All of the damage against him came in the first inning which was aided by a fielding error by Kevin Josephina that led to two unearned runs. Asheville went on to add another run in the fifth inning off of Merrick Crouse, who was working his second inning of the game to extend the lead to 4-0.
The game shifted in the sixth inning when Rome came roaring back scoring four runs - which got started by none other than Jesse Franklin V hitting his 18th homer of the season.
⬇️6️⃣ Ladies and gentlemen, he’s done it again.@JJessefranklin8 smacks one to the visiting bullpen to make it a three-run game. That’s homer #18!
— Rome Braves (@TheRomeBraves) July 28, 2021
Rome 1 | Asheville 4 pic.twitter.com/8oA2N0VU4W
Mere hitters later, Brett Langhorne connected on his third homer of the season - this one being a game tying three run homerun to level the score at 4-4.
Four-spot in the sixth, just like we drew it up.@LrettBanghorne, with the PIMP JOB OF THE CENTURY, sends one to Home Run Hill to knot it up.
— Rome Braves (@TheRomeBraves) July 28, 2021
Rome 4 | Asheville 4 pic.twitter.com/dDSamP8GEv
The game would be tied for one more inning before Kasey Kalich came into the game in the eighth inning and gave up a pair of hits, a walk, and one earned run, while striking out two, in his inning of work to then give the lead right back to the Tourists. Unfortunately, the Rome offense couldn’t get anything together the final two innings of the game and ultimately fell 5-4.
(33-40) Myrtle Beach Pelicans 3, (32-41) Augusta Greenjackets 5
- Vaughn Grissom, 3B: 2-for-3, HR, 2B, R, RBI, .798 OPS
- Willie Carter, RF: 1-for-3, BB, SB, .811 OPS
- Cam Shepherd, 2B: 1-for-3, 3 RBI, R, .520 OPS
- Joey Estes, SP: 4.0 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 2.81 ERA
- James Acuna, RP: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 3.21 ERA
Joey Estes was once again overpowering for Low-A hitters showing off his three pitch arsenal and toying with hitters. When he wasn’t inducing weak contact, he was racking up the strikeouts with six over his four innings of work and is now rocking a 11.4 K/9. He’s becoming more confident with his changeup which is giving him a bit of an out pitch when he’s facing lefties. He left with a 2-0 lead after a two-run first by Augusta including a solo homerun by Vaughn Grissom - who also doubled in his next at bat.
Vaughn Grissom with his 3rd homer of the season. .787 OPS on the season now. You all will love his ranking in the midseason @TalkingChop top 30 pic.twitter.com/pp8cjFcvp0
— Gaurav (@gvedak) July 27, 2021
Augusta would hold onto the lead, thanks to some great pitching by Miguel Pena who pitched 1.1 scoreless innings. In the top of the seventh inning Mytle Beach finally broke through with three runs in the top of the seventh inning off of Benjamin Dum to take the lead 3-2.
Augusta fired right back in the bottom half of that same inning when Cam Shepherd scored Braulio Vasquez on a sacrifice fly to tie the game. James Acuna came into the game for Augusta and pitched a perfect 1.1 innings to give Augusta a chance to walk and they did not disappoint thanks to Cam Shepherd’s first professional homerun.
First professional homerun by Cam Shepherd (@_CamShepherd) is a 2R walk off homer for the @GreenJackets pic.twitter.com/noYXJtz7eW
— Gaurav (@gvedak) July 28, 2021