If you’re a fan of good baseball I encourage you to look elsewhere. If you’re a fan of Atlanta Braves prospects you probably will enjoy this, but also hate it because it was a rough day on the farm. Two rain-cancelled games and two losses with both featuring their share of poor defense and pitching to sour the day. Fortunately Drew Waters had a strong day at the plate for Gwinnett, a much needed sign for them as they go into the final weeks of the season.
(67-51) Gwinnett Stripers 4, (63-55) Nashville Sounds 6
Box Score
- Drew Waters, RF: 2-4, 2B, BB, SB, .236/.331/.374
- Johan Camargo, 1B: 2-2, 2B, HR, 2 BB, 2 RBI, .318/.395/.530
- Cristian Pache, CF: 1-5, RBI, .273/.341/.427
- Kyle Muller, SP: 2.1 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, 3.10 ERA
- Brooks Wilson, RP: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 4.50 ERA
Kyle Muller had his first really poor start for Gwinnett since the beginning of the season and it led to them taking a third straight loss to the Sounds. The offense was lead by Drew Waters up top and Johan Camargo driving in the runs, but the rest of the team couldn’t do enough to match the six that Nashville put on the board. After the team fell behind 2-0 in the first inning they threatened to tie it back up immediately, with Waters walking and then scoring on a double from Camargo. Camargo advanced to third on a single from Ryan Goins but was unable to score. Following this Gwinnett fell further behind and went into the fifth down 5-1. The fifth was the big inning for Gwinnett and the closest they would come for the remainder of the game to getting back even. Maikel Franco led off with a pinch hit single and going right back to Waters up top he ripped a double to put both runners in scoring position. A single from Cristian Pache scored the second run of the game and brought the tying run to the plate with no outs in the inning. A sacrifice fly from Jason Kipnis scored Waters and Camargo drew a walk to put that tying run on base, but the rest of the team could not come up with a hit and the Stripers still trailed going into the late innings. Camargo tacked on a seventh inning home run to make the game 6-4 but the Stripers had no answer for the Sounds bullpen and the last eight batters of the game went down in order.
Kyle Muller’s command was not at its crispest and some key defensive mistakes did not aid him in his start. His first inning was not particularly bad as he allowed a hit but got to two outs quickly with a strikeout and a fly out. Unfortunately a two out error from the third baseman brought in a run to score and following that error he allowed another unearned run on a run scoring single. The second inning Muller struggled purely on his own with the first two batters of the inning reaching on a single and a walk. This brought up the pitcher, who in attempt to sacrifice the runners over bunted it hard back to Muller. Muller made a good play to get the runner at third on a force. The next batter bunted for a single to load the bases and a sacrifice fly brought in the only earned run allowed by Muller. He polished off the inning by picking the runner off at first base and getting the pitcher coming home during the subsequent rundown. The third was when the game truly went off the rails for Muller. Again, he started out fine with a strikeout but another error over at third base put a runner on and Muller collapsed by walking the next three batters with a run coming in on a passed ball. Muller was pulled from the game and the ball turned over to Connor Johnstone. Johnstone immediately forced a double play to escape a major jame and keep the game at 4-1. Johnstone allowed a run of his own in the fourth inning on a hit but was able to cover 2 2⁄3 to help save some bullpen arms. Jasseel De La Cruz came in out of the bullpen in the sixth and allowed a run on a couple of two out hits. The rest of the bullpen kept the game there, with Thomas Burrows, Trevor Kelley, and Brooks Wilson each tossing a scoreless inning.
Next Game: 9/19 vs (63-55) Nashville Sounds @ 1:05 PM ET
Probable Starters
GWN: Kyle Wright (8-5, 3.60 ERA)
NAS: TBD
(67-44) Mississippi Braves, (58-54) Chattanooga Lookouts CANCELLED
Next Game: 9/19 @ (58-54) Chattanooga Lookouts @ 2:15 PM ET
Probable Starters
MIS: TBD
CHA: TBD
(56-60) Rome Braves, (46-68) Hickory Crawdads CANCELLED
Next Game: 9/19 vs (46-68) Hickory Crawdads @ 2:00 PM ET
Probable Starters
ROM: TBD
HIC: Kevin Gowdy (6-6, 4.20 ERA)
Update: Nevermind
A message from the Rome Braves: pic.twitter.com/XbJv0m2Dkn
— Rome Braves (@TheRomeBraves) September 19, 2021
(53-66) Augusta GreenJackets 2, (59-60) Myrtle Beach Pelicans 12
- Cal Conley, SS: 1-2, BB, .213/.306/.309
- Justyn-Henry Malloy, 3B: 0-4, .269/.385/.429
- Tyler Tolve, C: 3-4, HR, 2 RBI, .274/.322/.429
- Rainery Rodriguez, SP: 3.1 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 7.00 ERA
- Kenny Wells, RP: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 7.21 ERA
Some days are not good days. Today was one of those days. Tyler Tolve was the only player on the GreenJackets with a pulse as he recorded three of the team’s four hits and drove in their only runs in a blowout loss. Augusta was being no-hit through three innings before Tolve broke that with a leadoff single in the fourth. Then the next six batters also made outs before Cal Conley’s hit in the sixth inning gave them a chance at the one of the greatest comebacks in the history of sports. Tolve crushed a two run home run to get the ball rolling on that comeback and make it 12-2. Then the dreams ended as Tolve was the only player to get a hit for the remainder of the game and Augusta took a pretty pitiful loss.
Fortunately for the offense they were not the worst performers of the day as the pitching staff had a little say in the game as well. Rainery Rodriguez started out fine enough and retired seven of the first eight batters he faced to bring us to one out in the third inning. Then things were not fine or okay at all. He walked the ninth place hitter on four pitches then allowed Christian Franklin’s first professional home run to put Myrtle Beach up 2-0. It gets very worse as he allowed four more hits in the inning which scored three more runs to make the game 5-0. He was brought out for the fourth inning because the third wasn’t enough suffering, and recorded one out before loading the bases on a hit and two walks and being pulled from the game. The reliever got both batters he faced out but threw a wild pitch to score the sixth run of the game. That reliever, Gabriel Rodriguez, was poor in the fifth inning and this is when the game got really out of hand. He didn’t record an out in the inning. He walked the first batter, then allowed a home run, then allowed three more hits before being pulled from a 9-0 game. Then an error led to a run and two ground ball outs brought in two more runs to score before Alec Barger was finally able to put an end to the inning with a flyout. The rest of the game the bullpen was perfectly fine. Barger allowed a couple of hits in the sixth inning but worked around it for a scoreless inning. Kenny Wells then closed out the rest of the game with two scoreless innings, allowing the GreenJackets offense an opportunity to claw back within a single digit deficit. Which they didn’t.
Next Game: 9/19 @ (59-60) Myrtle Beach Pelicans @ 4:05 PM ET
Probable Starters
AUG: TBD
MB: Porter Hodge (1-0, 3.57 ERA)