Atlanta Braves Minor League Recap 7/30: Austin Riley continues his hot hitting, pitching strong yet again

Gwinnett Braves - Had the night off, enjoy the rest guys

(51-50) Mississippi Braves 2 vs. (56-45) Birmingham Barons 3

Box Score

• KD Kang, RF: 1-4, 1 RBI, 1 run, .294/.361/.416
• Rio Ruiz, 3B:  0-3, 1 BB, .211/.325/.262
• Steve Janas, SP: 6 IP, 9 H, 3 R (2 ER), 2 BB, 2 K, 3.55 ERA
• Jason Hursh, RP: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 5.27 ERA (2.70 ERA as reliever)

The Braves lose a tight game to Birmingham 3-2 despite another strong outing from pitcher Steve Janas. Janas, after dominating at high A Carolina, has been mostly excellent at AA as well, giving up 2 runs or less in 5 of his 6 starts. He isn't a big strikeout pitcher, but he gets a ton of groundballs and has been very effective this year.  Jason Hursh had an excellent game out of the bullpen as well, a role he has seemingly embraced, to lower his bullpen ERA down to 2.70. The offense struggle a bit on the night, getting only 3 hits, but making the most of them at least by pushing two runs across. Rio Ruiz continued his struggles (although he did have hits in the previous two games) and seems to have really stalled in his development this year. KD Kang continued his hotting hitting which has seen him raise his average 50 points or so over the past month.

(49-56) Frederick Keys 2 vs. (52-52) Carolina Mudcats 5

Box Score

• Connor Lien, CF: 2-4, 1 2B, 2 runs, .295/.350/.444
• Jacob Schrader, 1B: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 run, .255/.297/.465
• Seth Webster, SP: 6.2 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 7 K, 2.94 ERA
• Justin Jackson, RP: 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 3 K, 2.75 ERA

Backed by yet another strong outing from RHP Seth Webster, the Mudcats pulled out a victory over the Keys 5-2. Webster has been excellent for Carolina this year with a 2.75 ERA, a very impressive 63/6 K/BB ratio, and he typically pitches deep in to games. He is definitely a player to keep an eye on for a promotion to AA next year. Justin Jackson continued his turnaround after a rough start to the season in Mississippi and pitched 2.1 innings of strong relief. Connor Lien set the table well at the top of the lineup with a couple of hits while scoring twice. Dustin Peterson went 0 for 3, but did get an RBI on a sac fly. Overall, it was a very balanced offensive performance from the Mudcats, with four different players with RBIs. Jose Briceno was not one of them, as he went 0 for 4 to lower his average to .183 on the year.

(52-50) Augusta GreenJackets 5 vs. (43-59) Rome Braves 3

Box Score

• Ozhaino Albies, SS: 1-5, 2 Ks, .311/.366/.405
• Bryan De La Rosa, DH: 3-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 run, .217/.276/.354
• Zach Quintana, SP: 6 IP, 6 H, 3 R (2 ER), 2 BB, 3 K, 2.33 ERA
• Dustin Emmons, RP: 3 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 4.07 ERA

The Rome Braves continue to struggle in the second half as they fall to the GreenJackets on a late homer 5-3. Zach Quintana was excellent for Rome again, going 6 innings and giving up 2 earned runs. Quintana's last 4 appearances have all be starts and he has not given up more than 3 earned runs in any of them. Dustin Emmons had been on his way to an excellent relief outing until he gave up a 2 run homer in the top of the 9th that proved to be the game winner. Rome did outhit Augusta 11 to 7, but they were caught stealing 3 times in the game without a single success which hurt their chances at getting scoring opportunities. Bryan De La Rosa had an excellent game at the plate and has brough his average up nearly 40 points recently, although its certainly questionable as to what position he can play going forward given some of the difficulties he has had behind the plate.

(17-18) Danville Braves 4 vs. (17-19) Burlington Royals 10

Box Score

• Luke Dykstra, 2B: 2-4, 2 2B, .295/.336/.384
• Carlos Castro, 1B: 1-3, 1 3B, 1 RBI, 1 BB, .351/.380/.465
• Ryan Clark, SP: 4 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 3.75 ERA

Not exactly Danville's finest moment as they were beaten down by Burlington 10-4. Luke Dykstra and Carlos Castro continued their good work down at Danville at the plate, however Dykstra had 2 of Danville's 5 errors that made this game untenable for the pitching staff. It wasn't all unearned runs though (there were only 3), and the pitching staff as a whole struggled with control in the game as they walked 9 batters as a staff. Ben Libuda in particular struggled in his inning of work as he gave up 3 runs (two earned) and 3 walks and a hit.

(19-11) GCL Blue Jays 2 vs. (14-18) GCL Braves 10

Box Score

• Austin Riley, 3B: 2-3, HR(7), 3 RBI, 2 runs, .255/.331/.500
• Juan Yepez, 1B: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 run, .316/.412/.463
• Gilbert Suarez, SP: 4 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 3.86 ERA

The GCL Braves avenged Danville as they would thump the Blue Jays 10-2. Austin Riley continued his assault on the GCL with his seventh homer of the season, which ties him for the league lead. Hopefully he can continue his trend of cutting down on the strikeouts a bit, but right now he is hammering the ball. Juan Yepez has also had an excellent year down in rookie ball and had a very productive day at the plate. The pitching was led by Gilbert Suarez in this one and he struck out 7 batters in 4 innings of work. Hopefully soon, we will get a chance to see Kolby Allard on the mound for the GCL Braves, but so far no news on that front as to when he will make his first appearance.