It wasn’t a banner night for the Braves’ farm system as their affiliates went a combine 1-3. However, we did see some good things from a surprising good Rome Braves team as well as a whole bunch of strikeouts from Kyle Muller. Lets get into the games.
Gwinnett Stripers 0, Durham Bulls 6
- Pat Valaika, 3B: 1-3, .880 OPS
- John Nogowski, 1B: 1-3, .562 OPS
- Braden Shewmake, SS: 0-4, .796 OPS
- Kyle Muller, SP: 6 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 12 K, 3.69 ERA
No need to linger too long here as while Kyle Muller did strike out 12 batters, a couple of long balls off of him combined with a total lack of offense doomed the Stripers in their 6-0 loss to Durham. Muller was dominant for the Stripers for a big chunk of his start on Saturday. The first inning was rough after a solo homer and RBI single put Gwinnett in a hole early, but he was lights out over the next three innings or so until a two-run bomb made it a 4-0 lead for the Bulls. Still, six innings with 12 strikeouts while limiting the free passes is a nothing to be ashamed up. Dylan Lee and Jesus Cruz each threw innings of relief and both of them gave up a run a piece which was less than ideal.
As for the offense, uh...there wasn’t any as Durham held Gwinnett to just two singles all evening. Yep, that was it....two singles. Braden Shewmake went 0-4 while Drew Waters had what was called a planned day off. Not even Chadwick Tromp, who had been giving us his Babe Ruth impression of late, could break through. Just a very tough game overall.
Mississippi Braves 3, Chattanooga Lookouts 7
- Michael Harris II, CF: 0-4, R, .848 OPS
- Jalen Miller, LF: 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI, R, .793 OPS
- Darius Vines, SP: 6 IP, 9 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, 4.84 ERA
Another decent start, this one by Darius Vines, was marred by the long ball as Mississippi fell to Chattanooga by the score of 7-3. Any time a starter goes six innings while striking out eight batters, one can take positives from it. That said, one issue that Vines had at times last season reared its head in this game and that is issues with keeping the ball in the yard. Vines has to really command his fastball given his lack of velocity, so when he makes mistakes in the zone....they can get hit a long way especially if batters can write off certain pitches. Vines gave up three solo shots on Saturday and he was frankly lucky that they were just solo shots. AJ Puckett came in in relief and, um, was not good. He failed to finish one inning while giving up three runs on four hits. He has yet to have an appearance this season where he didn’t give up an earned run.
On offense, it was a quiet night from Mississippi’s lineup until the top of the 8th where Jalen Miller hit a two-run double and scored a bit later on a wild pitch, but those were all the runs that Mississippi scored. Michael Harris DID reach base on an error in that inning and later scored, which was good news. Riley Delgado did manager to have a two hit night along with Miller, but beyond that...it was a forgettable night on offense.
Rome Braves 7, Winston-Salem Dash 1
- Vaughn Grissom, SS: 2-4, 2B, BB, 2 R, .865 OPS
- Justyn-Henry Malloy, DH: 5-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI, 2 R, .924 OPS
- Cody Milligan, 2B: 3-4, 2B, BB, 2 R, .879 OPS
- Dylan Dodd, SP: 7 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 5.20 ERA
Rome’s offense backed up a strong start from Dylan Dodd in a big way as the Braves ran away with this one by the score of 7-1. Dylan Dodd has had a lot of trouble going multiple times through a lineup this year despite his impressive arsenal available to him. Fortunately, he put his best start of the season together on Saturday with seven scoreless innings while walking none and striking out five. Justin Yeager and Austin Smith were the relievers of choice this evening and while Smith lost the shutout in the top of the 9th, overall it was a solid effort from the bullpen again.
On offense, Justyn-Henry Malloy has been going wild of late as he now has a 10 game hitting streak and has hit safely in 18 of his past 20 games. His 5-5 night with a pair of doubles raised his average all the way to .327 and his season OPS is up to .924 which seems pretty good. Vaughn Grissom stayed hot as well with his fourth multi-hit game in his past five games. One question mark about Grissom has been whether his power will consistently play in games, so it has been nice to see him with three extra-base hits over the last couple of days. Cody Milligan was excellent setting the table at the top of the order on Saturday as he reached base four times and scored a pair of runs.
Augusta GreenJackets 3, Columbia Fireflies 5
- Geraldo Quintero, 3B: 2-4, HR, 2 RBI, .777 OPS
- Brandol Mezquita, CF: 1-4, 2B, .900 OPS
- Luis Vargas, SP: 5.1 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 3.20 ERA
Augusta’s bullpen faltered as Columbia was able to snag a 5-3 victory on Saturday evening. Luis Vargas got the start for Augusta and he was quite good in pitching into the sixth inning while giving up just one earned run. Vargas made his first start towards the end of April and since then, he has made four starts and three of them were very good (we won’t talk about the start on 5/3...must be a glitch in the Matrix). Unfortunately, a bunch of walks by Kris Anglin (along with an error and a wild pitch) in the seventh inning allowed Columbia to score a couple runs and take the lead. Then, some wild pitches and another error scored a couple more runs in the top of the 9th off Darling Florentino (who has now been converted to a pitcher) to seal the win.
While Augusta did manage to keep the game close, the offense struggled mightily most of the night. Geraldo Quintero continued his pattern of raking on nights where I recap as he had a pair of hits including a homer as well as a pair of RBI. Brandol Mezquita had a double to keep his May OPS north of 1.000. He is definitely a name to keep an eye on going forward. While his development has taken some time to get going, it looks like he has figured some things out and he can flat out hit.
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