The Atlanta Braves had one of their top offensive pieces return on Tuesday, with David McCabe playing designated hitter for the first time since undergoing Tommy John surgery this offseason
(54-48) Nashville Sounds 8, (48-55) Gwinnett Stripers 3
- Drake Baldwin, C: 1-for-4, .286/.427/.460
- Yuli Gurriel, 1B: 0-for-4, RBI, .282/.365/.458
- Sandy David León, RP: 1IP 1H 2R 1ER, 4.50 ERA
- Domingo Gonzalez, RP: 1IP 1H 0R 0BB 1K, 6.75 ERA
- Hayden Harris, RP: 1.1IP 1H 0R 3BB 0K, 5.00 ERA
This game was all Nashville from nearly the very start. With Bryce Elder up on the big league team it was Taylor Widener taking the ball in a pure bullpen game for the Stripers. Taylor lasted two innings where he walked three and gave up four runs including a two run homer to kick things off in the top of the second. Matt Carasiti pitched an inning himself and gave up a pair of runs in the third before being replaced by Sandy León who, for whatever reason, was on the mound in a 6-0 games in the fourth inning and gave up a two run homer of his own to make the game 8-0 before even getting to the bottom of the fourth inning. Was interesting to see Sandy out there, because as most of you know, he’s a catcher and the game was still just 6-0 so the Bryce Elder picking up that spot start put Gwinnett in a very lousy situation forcing a position player to pitch but sometimes that just happens in minor league baseball.
With the game comfortably out of hand the normal relievers came out and got it done with Domingo Gonzalez working a scoreless inning, Hayden Harris contributing 1.1 scoreless innings and then finally Parker Dunshee finishing out the game – pitching 2.2 innings and giving up a run himself. Overall, just a very odd pitching day for the Stripers and pretty much everyone but Domingo struggled a bit on the mound.
Offensively, the Stripers were limited to just six total hits, all singles, while walking twice. They were held scoreless all the way until the the eighth inning when J.P. Martinez, and Eli White picked up RBI singles, and Yuli Gurriel hit a sacrifice fly to make it 9-3. Overall, just a pretty rough day for the Stripers who turn around and haven’t named a starter yet for their game today either.
(57-39) Tennessee Smokies 7, (46-50) Mississippi Braves 0
- Justin Dean, CF: 2-for-4, 2B, .243/.333/.323
- David McCabe, DH: 0-for-3, BB, .000/.250/.000
- Tyler Tolve, C: 1-for-4, 2B, .206/.259/.383
- Ian Mejia, SP: 4.2IP 7H 6ER 2BB 5K
Like the Stripers game, Mississippi went down early as Ian Mejia surrendered four runs, including giving up a pair of home runs, in a rough first inning. We’ve grown so accustomed to 0’s next to Ian’s name that seeing him struggle early in a game is something relatively new this season – that being said, with the first half he’s put together everyone is bound to have a stinker and it seemingly was Ian’s time today. After giving up four in the first, he put up 0’s in innings 2-4 giving up just a walk and a single but then the fifth came around and Ian gave up a single and walk before a fielding error allowed a pair of runs to score and extended the lead to 6-0 for the Smokies. They were able to add an additional run in the seventh inning, off of Drew Parrish, before Jonathan Hughes and Jorge Juan finished off the final two innings of this offensive struggle of a game.
Mississippi had just five players reach base, with four hits and a walk. Justin Dean had a nice day going 2-for-4 including a double but it was overall a very disjointed game for the offense. Mississippi went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position, and didn’t have two runners on base in a single inning until the bottom of the seventh when David McCabe walked to start the inning, Tyler Tolve hit a double to put two runners on but then Keshawn Organs, and Geraldo Quintero flied out to end the threat.
The most positive thing to occur on both sides of the plate was the return of David McCabe, the Braves #21 prospect according to us. McCabe, who was set to have a very critical year this year, had Tommy John surgery back in February – pushing off his season debut until last night. While we can’t expect too much from David, as he is returning from major surgery you hope to see his timing come back before the season ends to give up some confidence before heading into his age 25 season. With it seeming likely that McCabe transitions to first base, finding success with the bat, and finding it relatively quickly next year, is a near must for the 24 year old.
(50-45) Down East Wood Ducks 9, (36-58) Augusta GreenJackets 5
- Luis Guanipa, CF: 1-for-5, R, RBI, 2B, .111/.158/.139
- John Gil, SS: 0-for-4, 4K, .258/.294/.355
- Junior Garcia, RF: 0-for-1, 3 BB, R, .038/.242/.038
- Will Verdung, 1B: 1-for-2, 2 BB, R, RBI, .210/.355/.286
- Garrett Baumann, SP: 4IP 7H 5R 1ER 0BB 6K
The GreenJackets slide continued after some rough defense quickly turned the game around. Garrett Baumann had the start today for Augusta and lasted just four innings – giving up five runs, one earned, on seven hits. Garrett gave up a pair of homers to the Wood Ducks’ ninth place hitter, Marcos Torres, the second of which put the GreenJackets down 5-1. Following Baumann was pitcher Juan Sanchez but Juan had his own issues including a home run by the first batter he faced and giving up a pair of walks and a hit batter. Juan lasted two innings himself (2IP 1H 1ER 2BB 3K), before Adel Dilone took the to the mound and finished out the game (3IP 2H 3ER 1BB 5K).
Offensively, unfortunately for the GreenJackets it’s a bit rough to come back from a seven run deficit that they found themselves in. Augusta lead 1-0 after the second when Cam Magee singled in Will Verdung but then a string of 0s from innings three through seven gave the GreenJackets just two innings to try and score eight runs and did admirably with a four run eighth inning highlighted by Luis Guanipa’s first extra-base hit that scored Joe Olsavsky to make it 8-3, but ultimately there was too much ground to cover for the GreenJackets who have lost 9 in a row, and 15 of 20.
