Gwinnett Stripers 5, Charlotte Knights 6

Box Score

Michael Reed, DH: 2-4, 2B, HR, RBI, BB, 2 runs, .368/.483/.600

Dustin Peterson, RF: 3-5, HR, 2 RBI, .251/.309/.394

Lucas Sims, SP: 4.2 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 2.64 ERA

Gwinnett fell behind early, came back, but ultimately fell to the Knights despite good games from Michael Reed and Dustin Peterson. Reed hit his fifth homer of the season, collected his seventh double of the season and is absolutely crushing the International League to the tune of a 1.083 OPS. The fourth inning mini rally began because of the Reed double - he later came in to score after a Rio Ruiz single. Gwinnett went on to add on two more runs to trail the Knights 4-3, added another run in the fifth to tie the game thanks to Reed’s homerun. Dustin Peterson added a homer in the sixth inning to tie things back up at 5-5 but a solo homerun given up by Elian Leyva was too much for the Gwinnett Braves to overcome and they ultimately fell 6-5. Gwinnett stranded 12 on base, and as a team hit 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

Lucas Sims returned to Gwinnett and struggled lasting just 4.2 innings while giving up eight hits and five earned runs. Of those eight hits - seven were extra base-hits. Rex Brothers and Jacob Webb combined to finish off the rest of the game to the tune of 1.1IP 1H 0R 3BB 1K.

The game took three hours and fifteen minutes so Rob Manfred has decided to shorten games to five innings to prevent it from ever happening again.

Mississippi Braves 5, Pensacola Blue Wahoos 10

Box Score

Luis Marte, SS: 2-4, 2B, HR, 2 RBI, 2 runs, .323/.363/.448

Carlos Martinez, C: 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI, .211/.231/.342

Bryse Wilson, SP: 3 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 6.25 ERA

Bryse Wilson struggled immediately giving up a pair of runs in the games first two innings a piece and Pensacola never looked back in this drubbing of the Braves. Bryse would only last three innings and was relieved by Tyler Pike who had one of his better outings of the year - walking just one over two innings. Pike’s ERA is now down to 0.73, and the batting average against is just .103 but his crazy walk rate (11.7) has his WHIP all the way towards 1.62. With Mississippi actually leading 5-4 Sean McLaughlin had one of his worst outings of his career - lasting just 0.1 innings while giving up three earned runs on five hits. The Braves then trailed 7-5, and never had a chance. Philip Pfeifer worked a perfect 1.2 innings where he struck out three, but Adam McCreery capped off the game giving up three runs, two earned, in his one inning of work to extend the lead to 10-5 and ultimately give the Braves the loss.

Only five batters registered hits last night with Luis Marte and Carlos Martinez being the long multi-hit games. The top six hitters went a combined 3-for-22, the team stranged nine on base, and went 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position - however they did score five runs and the bullpen ultimately faltered.

Florida Fire Frogs 3, Dunedin Blue Jays 4

Box Score

Cristian Pache, CF: 2-4, 2B, run, .274/.297/.406

Jordan Rodgers, 2B: 2-4, 2B, run, .224/.267/.322

Kyle Muller, SP: 6 IP, 9 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 3.10 ERA

Florida fell once again despite a solid start from Kyle muller who went six and gave up just two earned runs. He left the game with a 3-2 and Troy Bacon preserved that lead in the seventh working one inning. Jon Kennedy was given the final six outs of the game and struggled in that final inning that saw him blow the save, his second of the season, and picking up the loss. Muller has been solid this season, and has exhibited the velocity that we saw his first season of his career.

Cristian Pache, Ray-Patrick Didder, and Jordan Rodgers all had multi-hit games in the loss. Braxton Davidson also picked up his 12th double of the season and has been seeing the ball a lot better the last three weeks. How this team has actually won games is beyond me because there are multiple players with sub .600 OPS’s. It’s not an offensively gifted team and when the likes of Pache, and Davidson don’t have big games the team struggles to put hits together to score runs. Florida stranded six on base and went 2-for-13 as a team with runners in scoring position.

Rome Braves 3, Charleston RiverDogs 11

Box Score

Drew Waters, CF: 2-5, 2B, RBI, run, .300/.348/.532

Jean Carlos Encarnacion, 3B: 2-4, 2 2B, RBI, .301/.327/.459

Jasseel De La Cruz, SP: 4 IP, 8 H, 6 R (5 ER), 2 BB, 4 K, 3.35 ERA

Rome has hit a bit of a rough patch recently that’s seen their offense struggle, and their pitching staff hit a wall. Luckily they won the first half so they are already guaranteed a spot in the playoffs, but they are struggling for wins right now. Jasseel De La Cruz gave up five earned runs over four innings, Walter Borkovich gave up two earned runs (three runs) over two innings, and Tyler Watson gave up a pair of runs in his two innings of work as well. Overall the pitching staff gave up 16 hits, 11 runs and allowed CHarleston to go 6-for-17 with runners in scoring position to amass 11 runs.

Drew Waters had yet another multi-hit game, which included his 22nd double, and is now hitting .300/.348/.532. If you read Eric’s article about the logjam of talent that is happening right now you could make a case that Drew deserves to be in Florida right now but there simply aren’t any roster spots to promote him. Jean Carlos Encarnacion continued to hit, racking up a pair of doubles, and is now hitting .301/.327/.459 on the season as well. Austin Bush went 3-for-5 and while he’s looked overmatched at times in Rome he’s beginning to settle into a bit of a groove with a four game hitting streak.

Danville Braves 11, Elizabethton Twins 2

Box Score

Greyson Jenista, RF: 0-2, 3 BB, 2 runs, .219/.324/.531

Rusber Estrada, C: 3-5, 3 RBI, .231/.231/.231

Ricardo Sanchez, SP: 6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K

GCL Braves 7, GCL Yankees West 11

Box Score

CJ Alexander, 3B: 3-5, HR, 3 RBI, .433/.528/.667

Charles Reyes, LF: 2-3, 2B, BB, run, .412/444/.471

Filyer Sanchez, SP: 3.1 IP, 8 H, 8 ER, 4 BB, 1 K