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(38-51) Mississippi Braves 3, (42-45) Birmingham Barons 1
- Travis Demeritte, LF: 1-4, HR, RBI, .216/.314/.388
- Alex Jackson, C: 1-4, .210/.289/.346
- Bruce Zimmermann, SP: 6.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, 1.45 ERA
The Braves used the home run ball to take down the Barons, and Bruce Zimmermann was stellar on the mound. The Barons took and early lead but the Braves immediately got it back in the top of the next inning when Alay Lago doubled and was brought in on a Brandon Downes triple that made it 1-1. The score stayed locked there until the fourth inning when Tyler Marlette hit his 8th home run of the season to give the Braves a lead their pitching staff would not relinquish. Travis Demeritte’s 9th inning solo home run provided a little bit of insurance, making the score 3-1.
Bruce Zimmermann allowed a home run on the first pitch he threw in the game, but that was all the Barons managed to muster as Zimm made another strong start. Zimmermann retired 8 straight batters following the home run, before allowing another hit to the guy who took him deep in the first inning. Zimmermann continued to mow down the Barons lineup before walking two consecutive batters in the 7th inning and departing from his start. Corbin Clouse finished out the seventh inning and then struck out two batters in a hitless, scoreless eighth inning to bring his ERA down to 2.19 on the season and his FIP to 2.42. Chad Sobotka pitched a perfect ninth, striking out two batters and registering his 4th save of the season.
Next Game: 7/11 vs (42-45) Birmingham Barons @ 8:05 PM ET
Probable Starters
MIS: Enderson Franco (3-6, 3.64 ERA)
BIR: Dylan Cease (1-0, 3.24 ERA)
(38-47) Florida Fire Frogs 7, (48-37) Daytona Tortugas 8
- Cristian Pache, CF: 2-5, 3B, HR, 2 RBI, .280/.305/.436
- Brett Cumberland, C: 1-5, HR, .234/.362/.407
- Isranel Wilson, CF: 2-3, BB, .286/.359/.343
- Jon Kennedy, SP: 5 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, 1.93 ERA
Cristian Pache was the star of the show for Florida, but a bullpen disaster ended the good feelings and handed Florida a crushing loss. Pache led off the game with a home run, his 7th overall this season and third lead off home run (second in a week). After the Tortugas tied it back up Braxton Davidson broke the tie in the third inning, doubling to score the freshly promoted Riley Delgado for a 2-1 lead. A single from Marcus Mooney in the 4th scored Izzy Wilson, and Pache then tripled to make it 4-1 Fire Frogs. In his last 12 games Wilson has struck out just 8 times in 51 PA (15.7%) and has taken well to High A with a K rate just a hair over 20% after his first nine games. Wilson singled in the 6th inning and came around to score, and in the seventh inning Brett Cumberland hit his 10th home run of the season to make it 6-2 Fire Frogs. Another run came in to make it 7-2 in the 8th inning, and things seemed to be going well for the Fire Frogs but they ended up blowing the lead and then going down 1-2-3 in the ninth inning.
Jon Kennedy looked very good for the Fire Frogs in a spot start, going 5 innings for the first time in his career with the Braves and striking out a season high 6 batters. Over his last 15 innings Kennedy has allowed only one earned run with 16 strikeouts to 4 walks. As a result of the Fire Frogs four errors in the game, Kennedy did allow 2 unearned runs but finished the start with a 4-2 lead. Justin Kelly pitched two scoreless inning for Florida, striking out 3 batters and walking none to send the game to the 8th inning with a 7-2 lead for the Fire Frogs. Mauricio Cabrera was brought in for the 8th inning, and in 17 pitches managed to have a complete implosion that keyed a Florida loss. Cabrera walked two batters, allowed a single, and then allowed two wild pitches that led to a run, then allowed a 3 run home run to make the 7-6 before being pulled without recording an out. Brandon White was not much better, allowing 3 hits, a walk, and two runs (one earned) before retiring the side with Florida trailing by a run.
Next Game: 7/11 vs (48-37) Daytona Tortugas @ 7:05 PM ET
Probable Starters
FLO: Jeremy Walker (2-8, 4.37 ERA)
DBT: TBD
(11-9) Danville Braves 10, (4-17) Burlington Royals 5
- Brett Langhorne, 3B: 1-4, 2 2B, BB, .244/.407/.333
- Greg Cullen, 2B: 3-5, 2B, 3B, .310/.394/.397
- Dilmer Mejia, SP: 6 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 2.40 ERA
Danville got a big first inning rally with two outs, and never trailed in the game as they took a 10-5 win. The Braves loaded the bases with two outs in the inning, bringing up star reliever Carlos Baerga Jr. who doubled to score two runs and give Danville an early lead. Two more hits from Zack Soria and Nicholas Vizcaino made it 4-0 in favor of the Braves. Consecutive doubles by Greg Cullen and Brett Langhorne scored a 5th run in the second inning, and from there the Braves cruised. A triple from Cullen led to another run in the fourth inning, and then after the Royals got the game within three runs a Justin Dean RBI single gave the Braves a little extra insurance. 3 more runs came in on 3 hits in the 8th inning, with Baerga Jr. recording another RBI and Greg Cullen notching his third hit of the day.
Dilmer Mejia finished 6 innings and he pitch to a lot of contact, not recording a walk or a strikeout in the game. Mejia allowed 8 hits in the game, but Burlington was never able to string together a big inning off of him settling for individual runs in three consecutive innings. Luis Gamez was brought in for the 7th inning and pitched a perfect frame, also not walking or striking out a batter. Connor Simmons broke that streak very quickly in the 8th inning though, walking the first batter he faced and then striking out the third batter. Simmons allowed 2 runs in the 8th inning to bring the game within two runs, but worked out of it with the lead in hand. Simmons then worked a perfect ninth inning with a strikeout. Danville’s rotation is the best in the Appalachian League by ERA at 2.76 (Burlington’s is third worst at 6.11) and they’ve given up the fewest number of home runs.
Next Game: 7/11 vs (4-17) Daytona Tortugas 7:00 PM ET
Probable Starters
DAN: TBD
BUR: Bryar Johnson (1-1, 10.38 ERA)
(4-6) GCL Braves 5, (6-4) GCL Blue Jays 7 F/12
- Jeremy Fernandez, CF: 1-5, HR, 2 RBI, .343/.378/.629
- Mitch Stallings, RP: 3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 0.00 ERA
(8-10) GCL Braves 0, (9-9) GCL Blue Jays 11 Game 2
- Jonathan Morales, C: 1-4, .248/.333/.368
- Miguel Jerez, SP: 5 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 2.37 ERA
In a resumption of a game suspended in the 8th inning on June 30 (link to prior recap), we picked things up in the bottom of the inning with the score knotted at four runs each. A single, a walk, and a wild pitch had 2 runners in scoring position for Christian Zamora, but he could not bring either run home as he struck out to end the inning. Both teams went quietly in the 9th inning, and it headed to extra innings. Mitch Stallings shut down the Blue Jays in the top of the 10th inning but the Braves couldn’t capitalize and get the win because after an intentional walk Darling Florentino grounded into a 5-4-3 triple play to end the inning. In the top of the 11th inning Stallings didn’t allow a hit, but the runner that started out the inning scored from second base on a 3-4 ground out to give the Blue Jays a lead. Stallings finished 3 innings with only one unearned run allowed. In the bottom of the 11th Logan Brown brought Florentino in to score on a base hit, but with two runners on base Christian Zamora grounded into an inning ending double play that stifled a threat for the Braves. Miguel Pena was brought in for relief of Stallings and struggled, allowing consecutive doubles to lead off the inning and score two runs. The Braves once again came up empty in their half of the 12th inning and took a 7-5 loss.
Miguel Jerez started game two on the day, officially giving him the start in two games played on the same day (even though the starts were 2 weeks apart), and our rubber-armed champion fired 3 innings. A single in the first scored a run of of Jerez, then he retired the next 11 batters he faced to send it to the 5th inning 1-0. Unfortunately, the offense for the Braves had no response, managing only 3 hits and one walk in the game and never really threatening to score. The 5th was a bit of a struggle for Jerez, who allowed 3 more hits to score 2 runs and extend the Blue Jays lead to 3-0. Jerez was replaced by Alex Aquino, who struggled with his command allowing 2 walks and allowed a home run over 2 innings. For the 8th inning Alex Camacho was brought in, and after recording the first out of the inning he allowed 4 consecutive hits and a walk before being pulled from the game. Luis Ovando replaced Camacho and allowed 2 more doubles, making the score 11-0 before he retired the final batter of the inning by strike out.