Braves Minor League recap: A nail biting win headlines the four game day

The Atlanta Braves minor league system went 1-3 on Tuesday with one of those losses as they scored just 6 combined runs in their 3 losses.

(5-5) Memphis Redbirds 4, (2-7) Gwinnett Stripers 1

• Vaughn Grissom 0-4, 3 K
• Braden Shewmake 1-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K
• Mike Soroka, SP, 4 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 5 K
• Roddery Munoz, RP, 1 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K

Offensively, the bats didn’t show up until the sixth inning when the Stripes picked up their first hit and run. Gordon Graceffo, one of the better pitching prospects in the minors, shut down the Stripers across his four innings. In the bottom of the 6th, Forest Wall led off the inning with a walk before Braden Shewmake picked up an RBI double after a Vaughn Grissom strikeout. After an out on the base paths and a Sierra single Joshua Fuentes struck out to end the inning. From there on out it was a whole lot of nothing from the Stripers who picked up 1 base runner in the final three innings compared to 4 strikeouts.

From a pitching perspective Mike Soroka was solid. He threw 45 strikes to 31 balls with seven of those strikes being swinging. He did work into immediate trouble allowing a walk and single to the first two batters he faced. He limited the damage by allowing only one to score on a fielder’s choice and striking out two in the inning. In his following three innings he allowed just three base runners and struck out and struck out 3. Grant Holmes, Roddery Munoz and Yachsel Rios, who finished the game were all able to force 1-2-3 innings in relief. The only reliever who struggled was Richard Lovelady. He allowed 3 two out runs and, in the 7th, and was unable to finish it out as Ty Tice had to come in and stop the bleeding with a strikeout. Tice was solid in the 8th as he struck out 2 and only allowed a single in the frame.

(2-2) Mississippi Braves 5, (2-2) Chattanooga Lookouts 2

• Cal Conley - 0-3, 1 BB, 1 K
• Drew Lugbauer - 0-5, 4 K
• Luis De Avila, SP, 4 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K

The Braves were able to get off to a quick start in this one pushing a run across the board in the first inning. Cody Milligan led off the game with a first pitch double and was then bunted over to third by Cal Conley, the team's 13th best prospect. Luke Waddell then knocked him in on a sac fly to left field and the inning ended on an 8-pitch strikeout by Landon Stephens. After a quiet second, the Braves did damage in the third. They started the frame with a walk, hit by pitch and then another walk, although after a Waddell infield single that knocked in a run and a Stepehen walk, the Braves struck out three straight times. They had a big 7th inning which was sparked by a leadoff Luke Waddell walk, before Cade Bunnell knocked in two with a double. After that though the Braves were unable to get another base runner.

De Avila was solid in this one striking out 5 batters over his four frames of action. He didn’t have any problems through the first three innings, but he worked into trouble in the fourth. With two outs, he walked two and allowed an RBI double before ending the frame. He was lifted in the fifth with Hayden Deal coming on and immediately allowing a home run before striking out three of the next four he faced. The 7th inning saw Alec Berger come in who sat down 6 of the 7 batters he faced which included 3 strikeouts, one of which was Noelvi Marte. Domingo Gonzalez nearly blew it for the Braves in the 9th as he loaded the bases with two walks and a single, but he was able to get Marte to line out to end the inning.

(2-0) Bowling Green Hot rods 7, (2-1) Rome Braves 3

• Ignacio Alvarez - 1-3, 1 RBI, 1 BB
• Kadon Morton - 1-3, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 BB
• Luis Vargas, SP, 2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K

The Rome Braves picked up 13 base runners over the course of the game but were only able to scratch across 3 runs. The first of which was scored in the first inning after the first four batters in the frame reached base, 3 of which were via walks. After that though, the next three batters were retired, limiting the damage. They did not score another run until the sixth inning where they scored two on a home run off the bat of Kadon Morton with two outs. Outside of those two innings though, the bats were not able to get any runs across the plate. A large part of their lack of success on the night was due to 12 strikeouts, 3 innings with multiple strikeouts.

The Braves were poor overall pitching as they allowed runs in 5 of 8 innings. Each pitcher who came in for them allowed at least 1 and three of them walked at least a better, with 6 total walks on the night to 9 strikeouts. Rolddy Munoz was the worst of the 4 pitchers as he allowed 3 runs and walks over 3 innings, however Ryder Jones also allowed 2 in his single inning. Rome did have an error on the night but luckily it did not result in an unearned run crossing the dish.

(2-1) Down East Wood Ducks 6, (1-1) Augusta GreenJackets 5

• David McCabe 0-3, 1 BB, 1 K
• Ambioris Tavarez 0-4, 3 K
• Didier Fuents, SP, 2 ⅔ IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 3 BB, 4 K

The GreenJackets started the game quietly, but in the third they were able to push across one after a walk, steal, throwing error and then a sac fly from Tyler Collins. Augusta did damage in the 6th as they drew two walks, stole a base and had a 2 RBI single from Ethan Workinger. However, two strikeouts and a fly out over the course of the inning limited the damage. In the 9th they tried to mount a comeback scratching two across as they led the inning off with four consecutive base runners. However, Andrew Keck hit into a double play with the bases loaded and then Tyler Collins struck out to end the game.

Starter Didier Fuents pitched a quiet first but allowed 4 base runners and two runs in the second. After that he retired the next 2, he faced in the third but was lifted from the game. Hayden Harris came in and replaced Fuents and sat down the only batter he faced. From there Cedric De Grandpre came in and pitched a solid fourth and fifth innings where he faced 4 batters and struck out one in each. He then allowed 1 in the 6th after a walk and double with the run scoring on a sac fly. In the 7th the Wood Ducks scored two off of him on an inside the park home run. De Grandpre was lifted later in the inning for Jared Johnson who immediately walked two but got out of it. From there he faced 6 batters to pick up 6 outs.