(7-6) Rochester Redwings 0, (9-5) Gwinnett Braves 3

Box Score

• Ozzie Albies, SS: 1-for-4, SB(6), .286/.309/.444
• Rio Ruiz, 3B: 2-for-4, R, .241/.290/.310
• Lucas Sims, SP: 7.0IP 3H 0R 0BB 5K, 2.70 ERA

Lucas Sims rebounded from his shortest start of the season by working 7 quality innings and earning the win for the Gwinnett Braves. He’s limited the walks a lot more this season - seen by his BB% of less than 3, and it definitely helped him last night by allowing him to go 7 innings. Unfortunately I didn’t see anything particularly flashy about him yesterday, though his mechanics were on point, and his curveball rotated particularly tight. It was the same Lucas with his fastball however, which appeared to be rather flat - perhaps it was the camera angle. That said, he still gave up just a mere three hits, none of which were particularly hard hit, and threw a lot of strikes. Rhiner Cruz, Sam Freeman, and Jason Motte combined to give up just one single the rest of the way. That was Motte’s 4th appearance since the 11th, and he’s given up just a pair of singles, and walked once. He could find his way back in the majors sooner than later.

Ozzie Albies extended his hit streak to 12 games, failing to get on base just one game this season. He also picked up his 6th stolen base of the season and is a perfect 6-for-6 on the season. Gwinnett went up 1-0 in the fifth following a single by Emerson Landoni, and Ozzie Albies reaching on an error by the first baseman. Landoni came around to score on a Mel Rojas Jr single. They added their final two runs in the 8th via fielders choice by Lane Adas scoring Matt Tuiasosopo, and a single by Blake Lalli scoring Rio Ruiz.

Yesterday was Rio’s second straight multi-hit game and has raised his batting average from .200 to .241. Despite the early struggles with the bat he’s still looked good in the field and, especially if platooned, could provide some much needed relief for a struggling on the field and in the box Adonis Garcia. Lane Adams continued his fine work for Gwinnett - going 3-for-4 with 2 stolen bases and is now hitting .378/.383/.667 for Gwinnett.

Next Game: 4/21 at 7:05 PM vs. Pawtucket. Probable Starter - Andrew Albers

(6-8) Mobile Bay Bears 12, (7-7) Mississippi Braves 1

Box Score

• Travis Demeritte, 2B: 1-for-3, 2B, .260/.362/.440
• Dylan Moore, SS: 0-for-3, .079/.222/.184
• Max Fried, SP: 3.0IP 6H 6ER 4BB 2K, 7.59
• Akeel Morris, RP: 1.0IP 0H 0R 1BB 1K, 0.00 ERA

This was a game to forget for Mississippi and there isn’t much to talk about. Max Fried doesn’t look like he’s 100% healthy and appears to be plagued by that back injury a bit. He has much better command than what was on show last night and he missed high throughout his appearance. This is going to be a game where they throw away the game film because it really did seem like some kind of injury was plaguing him. Evan Phillips came in relief for Max and was not good - yielding 5 runs while walking 3 in his 1 inning of relief. After a strong 2016 campaign, Phillips has had an awful 2017 giving up (14) runs in his last 4 appearances and now has a 25.20 ERA, and 3.40 WHIP. Opponents are now hitting .520 against him and a demotion seems likely.

Mississippi’s lone threat was in the 9th inning when Travis Demeritte doubled to lead things off, took 3rd on a wild pitch and scored on a Carlos Franco double.

Next Game: 4/21 at 8 PM vs. Mobile. Probable Starter - Mike Soroka

(6-9) Florida Firefrogs 3, (6-9) Fort Myers Miracle 8

Box Score

• Ronald Acuna, RF: 2-for-5, 3B, SB .229/.275/.396
• Austin Riley, 3B: 0-for-4, .233/.303/.367
• Alex Jackson, DH: 1-for-4 HR, .304/.328/.607
• Touki Toussaint, SP: 5.0IP 7H 7ER 1BB 3K, 7.20 ERA

The game started off promising with Ronald Acuna getting on base, stealing 2nd (his 7th stolen base), moving over to 3rd via an Austin Riley pop up to the first baseman, but was stranded at 3rd after Alex Jackson popped up as well. They then quickly fell behind when Touki gave up 3 straight extra base-hits (triple, double, double) allowing the Miracle to score 2 in the 2nd. Florida fired back when Alex Jackson hit his Braves MiLB and Florida State League leading 5th HR of the season. Things quickly unraveled in the 6th as Touki Toussaint had 5 straight batters reach off of him (2B, HBP, 1B, 1B, 2B) where ultimately 5 runs were scored off of him and McLaughlin. That’s now back-to-back tough starts for Touki where he’s given up a combined 12 earned runs, though he still has only walked 3 batters over 3 starts.

Jonathan Morales went 3-for-4 with a double and is now hitting .304/.360/.391. Carlos Castro continues to hit - going 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI. The first baseman is now hitting .380/.436/.420.

Next Game: 4/21 at 6:15 PM. Probable Starter - Luiz Gohara

(10-5) Rome Braves 6, (9-6) Greenville Drive 1

Box Score

• Derian Cruz, SS: 0-for-5 R, RBI, .191/.250/.277
• Cristian Pache, CF: 3-for-5, R, RBI, SB(3) .260/.288/.300
• Juan Yepez, 3B: 0-for-4 RBI, .321/.339/.500
• Brett Cumberland, DH: 1-for-2 2R, HR, 2RBI, .171/.341/.343
• Lucas Herbert, C: 0-for-4, .143/.167/.229
• Joey Wentz, SP: 5.0IP 4H 1ER 1BB 3K, 3.86 ERA

Wentz has found his groove in Rome with back-to-back starts at least 5 innings and yielding just 1 run. Against a good Drive team, he needed just 76 pitches to make it through 5 innings while giving up just one extra base-hit (2B). Jon Kennedy pitched 2 scoreless innings and now has 5 scoreless outings to start his 2017 campaign (0.00 ERA, 1BB, 9K, 0.50 WHIP).

Rome was actually down 1-0 into the 5th inning when Marcus Mooney lead off with a single. He was then moved up by Randy Ventura, and made his way to 3rd following an Anfernee Seymour single. Mooney scored when Derian Cruz reached on an error by the pitcher. Cristian Pache then singled and scored Seymour to put Rome ahead 2-1, and Juan Yepez hit a sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 3-1 in the 5th. Rome extended their lead in the 6th inning after Anfernee Seymour, again, hit a bases loaded single that scored Brett Cumberland. Rome then tacked on the final two runs via a Brett Cumberland 2R HR that scored Cristian Pache. Brett Cumberland has now reached base in 7 of his last 8 games in which his batting average has risen from .077 to .171. The 21 year old C/DH seems to be dealing with a timing issue, though his timing was just fine today, as he’s struggled a lot with fastballs.

Next Game: 4/21 at 7:05 PM @ Greenville. Probable Starter - Ryan Lawlor