Braves Minor League Recap: Ian Anderson struggles, Vaughn Grissom nearly hits for cycle

Sunday saw only one affiliate in action, but it was a wild one to say the least. From a starting pitcher knocked out in the first, to 25 combined runs being scored, extra innings, position players pitching, and a near cycle, this wasn’t a normal game in any way.

With Jared Shuster struggling for Atlanta in his big league debut Ian Anderson had a chance to help get himself back to Atlanta quickly. Unfortunately Anderson threw one of the toughest games of his career. Though some offensive fireworks made this game interesting anyway.

Gwinnett Stripers 12, Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 13 - 11 innings

Box Score

• Vaughn Grissom, 2B: 3-5, BB, 3 R, 2 RBI, 2B, 3B, HR, SB
• Braden Shewmake, SS: 0-6, RBI
• Eli White, DH: 2-4, BB, 2 R, 4 RBI, 2 HR
• Justin Dean, CF: 2-4, BB, 3 R, 3 RBI, HR
• Ian Anderson, SP: 0.2 IP, 4 H, 6 R (4 ER), 2 BB, 1 K
• Seth Elledge, RP: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K

Ian Anderson failed to make it out of the first, but even more importantly is how he struggled. Anderson didn’t just allow six runs (four earned) on four hits and two walks, but he allowed three homers in his two thirds of an inning. Anderson was leaving his fastball out over the plate and a pretty good Jacksonville lineup was able to crush him. Richard Lovelady followed with a scoreless inning and a third. Ty Tice was next on this bullpen day that went extra innings, and he gave up one run over two innings. He was followed by Brian Moran, who allowed a run over three innings of work - going the longest out of any Gwinnett pitcher in this one. Seth Elledge followed and pitched two scoreless frames while not allowing a hit. The Stripers turned to Charlie Culberson next, and Charlie would allow three unearned runs in his inning before fellow infielder Yolmer Sanchez allowed two runs (one earned) over his inning to finish this one off.

Despite spotting Jacksonville six runs in the top of the first and then another five runs over the last two innings as position players pitched, the Gwinnett offense was almost good enough to win this ugly game. Vaughn Grissom was the star of the game, going 3-5 with a walk and finishing a single shy of thy cycle as he scored three times and batted two in while also stealing a base. Eli White hit two homers and picked up four batted in before coming out of the game once the Stripers started to use position players as pitchers. Justin Dean also homered during a 2-4 game that saw him pick up three runs and three batted in. The rest of the extra base hits were doubles from Forrest Wall and Joshua Fuentes. Braden Shewmake went 0-6 with an RBI as the shortstop, but did put the ball into play in each of those plate appearances.