(49-64) Charlotte Knights 9, (50-62) Gwinnett Braves 4

Box Score

• Rio Ruiz, 3B: 0-4, BB, RBI, R, .266/.350/.370
• Emilio Bonifacio, LF: 2-3, R, RBI, .265/.319/.315

The game started off promising with Gwinnett taking a 2-0 lead in the first thanks to a Sean Kazmar RBI single, and a George Kottaras RBI single. Kanekoa Texeira made the lead stick through 3 but it all came undone in the the 4th when he allowed a back-to-back homers with the 1st homer being of the grand slam variety. It was all downhill from there as the Knights tacked on 4 more runs (1 earned) in a shellacking of the suddenly reeling Gwinnett Braves. Things got so bad that catcher Blake Lalli came on to pitch the final inning giving up 1 hit (solo HR).

Ronnier Mustelier continued his strong season with another multi-hit game (2-for-3, 2BB). George Kottaras had a multi-hit game (2-for-4), and Emilio Bonifacio went 2-for-3 with a walk. Mel Rojas Jr. had a tough night going 0-for-5 and has begun to slump (0-for-10) a little after a sensational start to his Gwinnett Braves career and Rio Ruiz went 0-for-4.

Of note starting for Charlotte was former Atlanta Braves great Kameron Loe. Loe made 9 appearances for the 2013 Braves, last time the Braves won their division(!!), before things kind of fell apart from him. He was suspended for PEDs, and released from the club.

Next Game: 8/5 @ Durham Bulls @ 7:05 PM ET
GWI: GWI
DUR: Faria

(57-51) Mississippi Braves 10, (60-49) Pensacola Blue Wahoos 2

Box Score

• Ozzie Albies, 2B: 0-6, BB, .332/.411/.456
• Dansby Swanson, SS: 3-5 RBI, 2BB, R, .261/.334/.410
• Dustin Peterson, LF: 1-7 2R, RBI, .292/.351/.439
• Sean Newcomb, SP: 1-3, 2B; 6.2IP 3H 1ER 2BB 10K, 4.26 ERA
• A.J. Minter, RP: 1.1IP 1H 0R 0BB 2K, 0.82 ERA
• Caleb Dirks, RP: 1.0IP 2H 1ER 2BB 1K, 1.10 ERA

Sean Newcomb was brilliant tonight accumulating his highest strikeout total ever in his pro career. Unfortunately for us the Pensacola broadcast has no radar gun, or a view that allows us to see what’s being thrown so I have little to go on for this recap. That said with 10 strikeouts over 6.2 innings and just 3 hits it’s safe to assume he had a lot working. With the game on the line and runners on base in the 7th A.J. Minter was brought in and of course immediately ended the threat with a strikeout. Minter went on to strikeout 2 over 1.1 innings.

After Minter, came Dirks who allowed his second run in a Mississippi jersey yielding 2 walks and 2 hits, to tie the game at 2 and allowed this game to go into extra innings. Evan Phillips worked 2 scoreless innings, allowing 1 hit while striking out 3 and allowing just 1 walk to get us to the 12 inning. David Peterson kept Mississippi in the game by throwing 2 scoreless innings before Mississippi’s big 14th inning.

The 14th started with a Johan Camargo single, Gaylor then walked, and Albies was intentionally walked (after a wild pitch allowed the runners to move up) to load the bases with just 1 out (pitcher David Peterson struck out). Connor Lien stepped to plate and picked up a walk to put Mississippi up 3-2. Dansby Swanson reached on a questionable fielding error by the third baseman allowing three runs to score after the left fielder deposited a throw into the stands to make the game 6-2. Dustin Peterson followed that up with single to left that scored Dansby Swanson to extend the lead to 7-2, Carlos Franco walked, Joseph Odom singled to load the bases and Johan Camargo singled in another run to extend the lead to 8-2. A groundout by Stephen Gaylor scores 2 as another throw goes wild allowing Franco and Odom to score and extend the lead to 10-2.

Swanson reached base 6 times on 3 hits, and 2 errors and one very weird reached on error decision. Albies went 0-for-6 with a walk, Dustin Peterson went 1-for-7, and Stephen Gaylor went 0-for-6 with 5 strikeouts.

Swanson also did this

@bravesreddit

Next Game: 8/5 vs Mobile Bay Bears @ 7:00 PM CT
MOB: Johnson, C
MIS: Povse

(44-67) Carolina Mudcats 4, (60-51) Myrtle Beach Pelicans 6

Box Score

• Travis Demeritte, 2B: 2-4 2B, 2RBI, .192/.250/.346
• Braxton Davidson, RF: 1-3 BB, .229/.343/.387

The Mudcats trailed for a majority of the game after yielding 4 runs in the bottom of the 1st, and while they attempted to come back in the 8th it simply wasn’t enough to escape the hole they put themselves in. Travis Dermeritte lead the Mudcats offense with a pair of RBI, along with his third extra base-hit in a Mudcats uniform. When he’s made contact, he makes hard contact and puts a ton of backspin on his hits - this one was another one that was just short of being gone. Demeritte’s double scored Edgerton and Moss to cut the lead to 5-4, unfortunately that was as close as the Mudcats could get.

Ryan Clark picked up his 11th loss of the season (1-11), after yielding 4 runs in the 1st. He settled down after it pitching 5 more innings of 0 run baseball, but had a final line of 6.0IP 10H 4ER 1BB 3K. Raymar Navarro pitched the final two frames and yielded 2 runs on 3 hits with 1 walk.

Demeritte double

@bravesreddit

Next Game: 8/5 @ Myrtle Beach Pelicans @ 7:05 PM ET
CAR: Franco
MB: Martinez

(39-55) Rome Braves 4, (42-53) Columbia Fireflies 3

Box Score

• Austin Riley, 3B: 1-4, 2B, R, .261/.313/.426
• Jonathan Morales, C: 3-5 2B, R, .256/.307/.343
• Patrick Weigel, SP: 5.2IP, 5H, 2R, 3BB, 5K

On a day Rome needed a win in the worst possible way, they picked one up in game 1 of the double header in a continuation from a game earlier in the season. It came out today that Leudys Baez suffered a horrific knee injury and will miss the remainder of the year and reliever Dalton Geekie is set to get get Tommy John surgery - both injuries occurring in a 17-2 loss. Patrick Weigel picked up his 6th win of the season by pitching 5.2 innings of solid baseball. He was replaced by Jon Kennedy who yielded 1 unearned run, over 2.1 innings of 2 hit baseball where he walked 2 and struck out 3. Devan Watts picked up his second save in Rome needing just 7 pitches to pick up 2 strikeouts in a perfect 9th inning. Watts increased his K rate to an impressive 11.8K/9 and has a pleasant surprise after being chosen in the 17th round of this years MLB draft.

Rome got on board in the second inning after Morales lead off the inning with his 16th double of the season. Tyler Neslony reached on a fielders choice to put runners on 1st and 2nd and both scored on a Carlos Castro double to left. The third run was scored in the 3rd when Austin Riley started it off by doubling to left. Justin Ellison singled to put runners on 1st and 3rd, and Morales singled in Austin from 3rd which also allowed Ellison to advance to 3rd. Tyler Neslony then hit a sacrifice fly to score Ellison.

Didder got on base 4 times going 2-for-3 with 2 walks while also picking up his 26th stolen base of the year. Jonathan Morales went 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI, and Carlos Castro went 2-for-4 with a double and 2 RBI.

(50-60) Columbia Fireflies 2, (48-61) Rome Braves 1

Box Score

• Austin Riley, 3B: 0-2, .261/.313/.426
• Lucas Herbert, C: 1-3, HR, R, RBI, .190/.238/.296
• Matt Custred 2.2IP 1H 0R 2BB 2K

The Fireflies bounced back to take game 2 in a well pitched game by the bullpen. Matt Custred, Adam McCreery, and Grayson Jones combined to give up just 3 hits (1 total) over 7 innings to keep Rome in the game. The 2 runs were off of Adam McCreery, both unearned. An errant throw by Austin Riley (22nd on the season) allowed the 2 runs to score.

Despite scoring just 1 run there were some highlights from the Rome Braves offense. First and foremost Luke Dykstra picked up a non-single hit when he doubled in the 1st inning en route to a multi-hit game. Lucas Herbert hit his 6th homer of the season in the 3rd inning to put Rome up early, before folding later in the game. And finally, Didder went 1-for-3 and picked up his 30th stolenbase of the season.

Next Game: vs Columbia Fireflies @ 7:00 PM ET
COL: Shaw
ROM: Simmons

(20-19) Danville Braves 0, (20-19) Bluefield Blue Jays 2 F-7

Box Score

• Brett Cumberland, C: 0-3, 2K, .223/.319/.388
• Derian Cruz, SS: 0-3, K, .167/.167/.167
• Cristian Pache, CF: 0-2, BB, K, .500/.545/.500

(20-20) Danville Braves 3, (21-19) Bluefield Blue Jays 5 F-7

Box Score

• Marcus Mooney, SS: 2-4
• Brett Cumberland, C: 0-2, BB, R, .223/.319/.388
• Jacob Webb, RP: 1.0IP 0H 0R 2BB 3K

Next Game: 8/5 Bluefield Blue Jays @ 7:05 PM ET
DAN: Hellinger
BLU: Espada

(24-11) GCL Phillies 1, (15-21) GCL Braves 6

Box Score

• Randy Ventura, CF: 2-3 3B, 2R, 2RBI, BB, .295/.358/.341
• Alex Aquino, 3B: 2-4, RBI, .278/.326/.380
• Wes Parsons, SP: 1.0IP 2H 0R 0BB 2K