Braves Minor League Recap: Vaughn Grissom has two hits

With one of the organization’s minor league games being rained out the organization went 2-1 on the day with 11 of their allowed runs coming in one game. One of the team’s top young talents showed flashes again today, whilst another struggled mightily.

(18-15) Nashville Sounds 11 , (12-21) Gwinnett Stripers 3

• Vaughn Grissom 2-4, 1 RBI, 2 K
• Eli White 1-4
• Dylan Dodd, SP, 3 ⅓ IP, 8 H, 7 ER, 1 BB, 3 K

The Stripers jumped out to a first inning lead in this one. Eli White hit a leadoff double and scored on a Nick Solak single. After that though, they struggled to string much of anything together. They got a man on with one or fewer outs from the second through the fourth, but never were able to get them into scoring position. From the fifth through the seventh, the minimum came to the plate due to a double play. They tried to fight back in the eighth with a two-run homer from Vaughn Grissom and solo shot from Chadwick Tromp, but it was too little too late.

Dylan Dodd struggled badly in this one as shown with the box score. 51 of his 75 pitches were strikes which is a fine ratio, outside of that there were a lot of negatives. He allowed back-to-back home runs in the first with three batters reaching in that inning. Then in the second he allowed four-straight batters to reach which allowed three to score. After a 1-2-3 third, he allowed his third homer of the game, this time a two-run shot before he was pulled. After a quiet fifth, another two runs scored in the sixth one came as Monte Harrison stole third and scored on a throwing error. The other was via an RBI single from former top prospect Keston Hiura.

(14-14) Chattanooga Lookouts 1, (10-18) Mississippi Braves 3

• Cal Conley 0-3, 1 BB, 2 K
• Justin Dean 0-3, 1 BB, 2 K
• Scott Blewett, SP, 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 8 K

Despite getting two on in each of the first two innings and one on in the third, the Braves didn’t score their first run until the fifth inning, where they scored three. They got their first two batters on via a single and a walk with both scoring in the frame. Jesse Franklin IV, who had an RBI double in the inning, also came across to score on a wild pitch. In the final three innings the Braves did little in terms of offense with just two batters reaching safely.

After retiring the first six batters of the game, Scott Blewett, worked into some trouble in the third as he allowed a two out single that put runners on the corners. He was able to retire the next batter he faced though to prevent any damage. However, in the fourth, he allowed the first two batters to reach in the inning with one coming across to open the scoring. Miguel Pena and Victor Vodnik combined for the final three innings, shutting out the Lookouts and securing the victory.

(9-16) Asheville vs. (12-14) Rome

Rome and Asheville was rained out and will play a doubleheader starting at 11 a.m. Wednesday.

(10-18) Charleston RiverDogs 3, (13-14) Augusta GreenJackets 8

• Ambioris Tavarez 1-4, 1 K
• David McCabe 2-4, 1 BB, 1 K
• Cedric De Grandpe, SP, 5 IP, 2 H, 5 K

The bats showed up early and often in this one for the GreenJackets who pushed eight runs across in the first three innings. They scored all three of their runs in the first with two outs off of a Ethan Workinger three-run home run after back-to-back singles. In the second after a strikeout to start it, seven of the next eight GreenJacket batters reached base, getting four runs across the dish in that span, including a bases loaded walk. They scored in the third via a Dawson Dimon leadoff homer. After the third though, the GreenJackets didn’t do a whole lot. They threatened in the fifth, seventh and eighth innings getting a runner into scoring position in each, but they were unable to drive them in.

Starter Cedric De Grandpe dominated in this one tossing five scoreless frames where just three batters reached. The only batter to get into scoring position against him was due to a wild pitch but he quickly retired the next batter to work around it. De Grandpe’s ERA on the season is now down to a 2.16. Nolan Martinez came in to start the sixth inning pitching the final four frames and earning the save since he finished the game's final three plus innings. After a quiet sixth, he allowed a solo shot to start the seventh and then back-to-back singles before an RBI groundout. In the ninth he allowed another run after two singles in the frame. All in all, he struck out just two and allowed five hits.