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Gwinnett Stripers 5, Columbus Clippers 7 - F/10
- Ronald Acuna Jr, LF: 1-4, BB
- Carlos Franco, 1B: 2-4, RBI, BB, .260/.314/.447
- Sean Kazmar, SS: 2-5, RBI, run, .218/.252/.279
- Max Fried, SP: 6 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 8 K, 4.29 ERA
Max Fried was electric yet again for Gwinnett, but an unusual implosion from the bullpen led to a 7-5 loss for Gwinnett. Now that Fried hasn’t had to bounce back and forth between Gwinnett’s rotation and Atlanta’s bullpen, he has been doing great work down in Gwinnett. He has thrown at least six innings in his last three starts and has 23 strikeouts in 19 innings in that span. He needs to cut down on the walks a bit, but overall there is a lot to like about what Fried is doing. The game went to extra innings and sadly ended poorly as Jacob Webb had an uncharacteristically poor appearance that saw him give up four runs (three earned) with three walks. Those were the first walks he had issued in Triple-A (his sixth appearance) and he has struck out 43 batters in 30 innings while holding opposing batters to a .178 batting average against him in the minors this season.
Ronald Acuna Jr. made another rehab appearance and had a hit and a walk in five plate appearances. Carlos Franco and Sean Kazmar each had multi-hit games for Gwinnett while Tyler Smith had the only extra-base hit on the day for the Braves. The offensive attack was a balanced one with only Chris Stewart failing to reach base for Gwinnett. Dustin Peterson drew a walk as he tries to get on track after what has been a tough and injury-marred first half of the season for him.
Mississippi Braves 17, Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 1
- Travis Demeritte, LF: 2-3, 2B, 4 RBI, 2 BB, .228/.335/.379
- Alay Lago, 2B: 4-6, RBI, 2 runs, .260/.280/.341
- Touki Toussaint, SP: 5 IP, 5 H, 1 R (0 ER), 2 BB, 4 K, 3.19 ERA; 2-3, 2B, RBI, 2 runs, .391/.417/.522)
Touki Toussaint continued to terrorize opposing teams on both sides of the ball as Mississippi annihilated Jacksonville by the score of 17-1. On the mound, Touki was excellent yet again as he did not give up an earned run in five innings of work. His changeup was a particularly good pitch for him in the game and if continues to throw it well, he won’t be in Mississippi for much longer. He currently leads the Southern League in strikeouts and is 8th in the league among qualified starters in ERA. He also went 2-3 with a double and an RBI at the plate. Touki currently sports a .938 OPS on the season....no, that is not a typo. Sean McLaughlin threw three scoreless innings of relief with a pair of strikeouts before Tyler Pike closed the game out for Mississippi with a scoreless inning of his own.
On offense, basically everything went right as Mississippi broke the game open with an 11 -run fifth inning. Only Sean McLaughlin, a reliever, failed to record a hit in the game among players that got at least one plate appearance with six players having multi-hit games. Travis Demeritte, Alex Jackson, Brandon Downes, and Luis Martes all drove in multiple runs for the team. Jackson, in particular, has looked much better at the plate. While his .638 OPS in the first half has not been good, he is batting .306 over his last 10 games.
Florida Fire Frogs 1, Daytona Tortugas 6
- Cristian Pache, CF: 1-4, .276/.300/.410
- Ray-Patrick Didder, SS: 1-3, RBI, BB, SB, .206/.308/.289
- Tucker Davidson, SP: 5 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 4.59 ERA
Tucker Davidson put together another strong start for Florida, but the offense failed to show up as the Fire Frogs fell to Daytona 6-1. After a really rough start to the season, Tucker has gotten back to doing his thing as this was his 7th straight start where he has given up two earned runs or less. Justin Kelly and Mauricio Cabrera combined to give up four runs (three earned) in three innings of relief before Josh Graham finished the game out with a scoreless inning with a pair of strikeouts.
On offense, the best performance came from our old friend Ray-Patrick Didder who reached base twice and stole his 17th base of the season. The batting average hasn’t been there for Didder in high-A, but he still draws walks a good clip and his speed shows up in games. Cristian Pache recorded a hit in the game, but beyond that there is not much to celebrate as the team as a whole managed to scatter just six singles in the game.
Rome Braves 7, Greenville Drive 5
- Riley Delgado, SS: 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 runs, .316/.366/.399
- Isranel Wilson, RF: 1-2, HR, 3 RBI, BB, 2 runs, .232/.326/.389
- Bruce Zimmermann, SP: 7 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 2.76 ERA
Bruce Zimmermann pitched deep into yet another ballgame and a Riley Delgado two-run double in the bottom of the 8th allowed Rome to snatch a 7-5 win over Greenville. Zimmermann’s outing on Sunday was his fourth straight start where he has thrown seven innings. Zimm has been absolutely dominant down in Rome and we are eager to see him against some older, more advanced competition which will hopefully happen soon. Cutter Dyals gave up a pair of runs in his relief appearance which made the game a bit more interesting than it needed to be, but the offense came through helped to bail him out a bit.
While Riley Delgado had the big hit late in the game to secure the win, Isranel Wilson was the MVP of this game with 3 RBIs including his sixth home run of the season. While far from a finished product, Izzy continues to show more and more glimpses of a slew of tools that makes him one of the more interesting position player prospects in the Braves farm system. Drew Waters is in a bit of a mini-slump with just three hits in his last six games, but there isn’t anything that appears to be overly concerning.
Danville Braves 3, Princeton Rays 4
- Greyson Jenista, LF: 0-5, 3 K
- Ricardo Rodriguez, C: 3-4, HR, 2 RBI
- Dilmer Mejia, SP: 5.1 IP, 6 H, 3 R (1 ER), 1 BB, 4 K
Ricardo Rodriguez had a strong game at the plate, but Princeton was able to walk off in the bottom of the ninth as Danville fell by the score of 4-3. Ricardo has started his season off strongly with six hits in his first three games and he connected for his first home run of the season on Sunday. Greyson Jenista, the Braves’ second round pick in 2018, had a tough game in going 0-5 with three strikeouts. Nick Shumpert had a hit and an RBI in the game, although he also had a pair of errors in the field as well. Dilmer Mejia pitched into the sixth inning and Connor Simmons had a relief appearance that he would prefer to forget as he failed to record an out as he gave up three hits including the game-winner.