Gwinnett and Mississippi dominated offensively while Augusta utilized an excellent performance on the mound from Didier Fuentes as three of the four Atlanta farm teams came away with a win on Wednesday.
(38-45) Gwinnett Stripers 21, (42-40) St. Paul Saints 6
- Eli White, CF: 6-7, 2 HR, 2 2B, 7 RBI, 3 R
- Yuli Gurriel, 1B: 3-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI, 5 R, 3 BB
- Chadwick Tromp, C: 2-7, HR, 3 RBI, 2 R
- Darius Vines, 6 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, BB, 3 K
They say hitting is contagious, and no one believed that phrase to be true more than Gwinnett on Wednesday night as the Stripers tallied 21 runs on 24 hits to rout St. Paul in the win.
The Stripers wasted no time, plating two runs in the first inning. After Chadwick Tromp singled with two outs, Yuli Gurriel brought him home via a two-run homer over the left field wall to make it a 2-0 game. In the top of the second, Gwinnett scored twice once again. Luke Waddell and Alejo Lopez laced back-to-back singles before Andrew Velazquez scored him on a sac fly to extend the lead. Then, J.P. Martinez got in on the action, doubling into center field to plate Lopez to make it 4-0.
After both squads went scoreless in the third inning, the Stripers got back to scoring in the top of the fourth. Luis Liberato singled and subsequently stole second base. Then, Andrew Velazquez doubled him home to make it a 5-1 game.
The Stripers really broke things open in the next frame. Gurriel ledoff with a double and Eli White followed that up with a single. Luke Waddell then doubled Gurriel home as Lopez then singled home White to make it 7-2. To follow that up, Liberato and Velazquez notched back-to-back singles to extend the lead to 9-2 before Martinez scored Liberato to put the Stripers into double digit territory.
Things went from good to great for the Stripers from that point forward. In the seventh frame, Gwinnett scored four times, led by a three-run homer off the bat of Chadwick Tromp. In the eighth, White decided to get in on the home run fun, launching a three-run shot of his own to make it a commanding 17-6 lead.
While White had a pretty solid game to this point — with a pair of doubles and a three-run homer to his credit — the ninth would be the crown jewel on the day as his grand slam in the frame would extend the Stripers lead to 21-6.
Darius Vines got the start on the mound and tossed six innings of three-run ball while scattering eight hits and striking out three.
(36-41) Mississippi Braves 8, (35-41) Biloxi Shuckers 1
- Tyler Tolve, DH: 3-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI, 3 R
- Bryson Horne, 1B: 1-4, 2 RBI, BB
- Lucas Braun, SP: 6 IP, 4 H, 2 BB, 5 K
While Mississippi didn’t quite have the offensive night that their Triple-A counterparts did, it was still a very solid outing by the Braves as they beat Biloxi by an 8-1 final.
Lucas Braun led the way, turning in yet another excellent performance at Double-A. On the night, Braun went six strong innings, scattering four hits and only walking a pair while striking out five.
As for the offense for both sides, the first six frames were rather dull as neither team could manage to cross the plate. That changed in the top of the seventh, as the Braves finally scored.
Yolbert Sanchez and Tyler Tolve knocked back-to-back singles to lead off the frame before both moved up a base as Sebastian Rivero reached on an error to load the bases. Then, Bryson Horne and Brandon Parker drew back-to-back walks to put the Braves up 2-0. After Cade Bunnell struck out, Cody Milligan drew another bases-loaded walk to extend the lead to 3-0. Mississippi tacked on an additional run in the top of the eighth, as Horne singled home Tolve — who doubled earlier in the inning — to make it 4-0.
In the top of the ninth, Cade Bunnell kicked things off with a double and later advanced to third on a wild pitch. After Bunnell scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-0, Tolve later launched a three-run homer to extend the Mississippi lead to a dominating 8-0.
While Biloxi got one of those runs back in the bottom of the ninth, the Braves held on to get the win.
(41-35) Rome Emperors 0, (43-34) Bowling Green Hot Rods 6
- Sabin Ceballos, 3B: 1-5
- AJ Smith-Shawver, SP: 2 IP, H, ER, 4 K
The bad news for Rome on Wednesday, is that the Emperors were shutout in a loss. The good news for Braves fans everywhere, is that AJ Smith-Shawver made his first rehab start for the Emperors in the game.
While he only would pitch two innings on the night, Smith-Shawver allowed one run while striking out four. While Smith-Shawver exited the game with a 1-0 lead, things soon went from bad to worse for Rome shortly thereafter.
Bowling Green tagged Sam Strickland, Jhancarlos Lara and Ryan Bourassa for five total runs to extend their lead to 6-0 on the night. Meanwhile, at the plate, while the Emperors tallied nine hits compared to Bowling Green’s 11, Rome was shutout in the 6-0 loss on the night.
(33-44) Augusta GreenJackets 4, (42-35) Columbia Fireflies 0
- Kade Kern, CF: 3-3, 3B, 2 R
- Jeremy Celedonio, DH: 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI
- Joe Olsavsky, 1B: 1-4, RBI
- Didier Fuentes, SP: 6 IP, 4 H, 9 K
Augusta rallied around a superb start from Didier Fuentes to come away with a shutout victory over Columbia on Wednesday.
Across six innings, Fuentes scattered just four hits while striking out nine batters. With his incredible outing, Fuentes has lowered his ERA on the season to 2.26. While Fuentes was doing his thing, the GreenJackets provided him with some early run support.
In the top of the first inning, Cam Magee laced a one-out double before moving up to third on a Kade Kern single. A passed ball then allowed Magee to cross the plate, giving Augusta a 1-0 lead.
In the top of the fourth, the GreenJackets tacked on an additional run. Kern ledoff with a single and proceeded to steal second base. After Kern moved up to third on a groundout, Joe Olsavsky brought him home on a single to make it a 2-0 game.
The game might as well have been dubbed the “Kade Kern Game” as the centerfielder once again came through in the top of the sixth. Following a Magee strikeout, Kern tripled before Jeremy Celedonio doubled to score him to extend the lead to 3-0.
The final run of the game came in the top of the eighth frame. Luis Sanchez singled and then stole second base before Kern was hit by a pitch to put a pair of runners on. Celedonio then singled to score Sanchez to make it 4-0.
Juan Sanchez came on in relief of Fuentes to toss a three inning-save, closing off the win for Augusta.
