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The Atlanta Braves minor league affiliates did enough to pick up two wins in their three games yesterday. Two of their three starters turned in gems, while some top prospects had strong showings.

(12-10) Pensacola Blue Wahoos 5, (7-15) Mississippi Braves 3 F/10

• Nacho Alvarez 2-5, 1 R, 1 2B, 2 K
• Drake Baldwin 0-5, 4 K
• Luis De Avila, SP, 6 ⅓ IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K

The Braves offense was ugly hitting just .162 as a team with 15 strikeouts in 37 at bats. With runners in scoring position they went 2 for 14 and left 10 men on. Despite all of those struggles, Mississippi had an opportunity to walk it off in the bottom of the ninth. With a tied game and one out the Braves had the bases loaded but a strikeout by Cody Milligan and flyout from Alvarez ended the threat. Drake Baldwin’s recent struggles continued as he has now struck out eight times in his last three games.

After struggling in three of his first four starts, De Avila did more than enough to earn the victory last night. Unfortunately, walks continued to be a problem for him as he has allowed two or more batters to reach via a free pass in all five starts this season. Trey Riley picked up his third loss of the season allowing three runs, two earned, in the 10th inning.

(8-13) Hickory Crawdads 1, (11-9) Rome Emperors 3

• Ethan Workinger 2-3, 1 RBI, 1 3B
• Ambioris Tavarez 2-3, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 2B
• Lucas Braun, SP, 6 ⅔ IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 7 K

Sabin Ceballos, Workinger and Tavarez all turned in multi hit efforts against the Crawdads. The other six Emperor hitters picked up just one hit in 22 at bats. Tavarez striking out again means he has struck out in all but one game this season, 16 of 17 games. Emporter hitters let a lot go to waste, going just 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position while leaving eight runners on base.

Lucas Braun’s season has been up and down. He has two outings of five plus innings where he’s allowed two or fewer earned. In his other two outings he’s allowed 10 runs, 9 earned, across 6 ⅔ innings. Last night was one of his gems. To show how dominant his stuff was, all seven of Braun’s strikeouts came via the swing. After Braun, Samuel Strickland and Shay Schanaman combined to throw the final 2 ⅓ innings without allowing a run, walk or hit.

(8-13) Charleston RiverDogs 5, (11-11) Augusta GreenJackets 9 F/7

• Jace Grady 3-4, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 2 R
• Kade Kern 2-3, 1 R, 1 K
• Cade Kuehler, SP, 4 ⅔ IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 4 K

The GreenJackets offense was about as top heavy as it gets. Kern and Grady combined for five of the team’s seven hits and four of the eight RBI’s. All hitters not named Kern or Grady went 2 for 17 with six strikeouts. The supporting did their part to get on base though, walking a combined six times with Will Verdung and Jacob Godman each picking up a pair. Diego Benintez saw his early season struggles continue with his 1 for 4 day bringing his average up to .158. He struck out once which brought his season total up to 33.

Cade Kuehler started the season strong with back to back zero earned run outings. Since then he has had two consecutive poor starts, now allowing seven earned across his last 10 ⅔ frames. Control was a problem for him yesterday as he walked three batters, the same number he had in his first three starts combined. The six hits he allowed was also the most he has given up in a start this season.