Braves Minor League Recap: Vaughn Grissom has two hits

It was a long day for Atlanta’s minor league squads on Friday as the Stripers were the only team to bring home a win on the night.

(14-22) Gwinnett Stripers 4, (19-17) Nashville Sounds 3

• Vaughn Grissom, 2B: 2-4, 2B, R, BB
• Joe Hudson, 1-3, HR, RBI
• Forrest Wall, CF: 2-5, R
• Beau Burrows, SP: 4 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K

Box Score

After losing Thursday’s game, Gwinnett got back in the win column thanks to timely hitting and solid pitching on the day.

The Stripers got on the board first in the top of the second inning, as Magneuris Sierra got an RBI on a groundout which scored Daniel Robertson to make it 1-0 early. That lead would be short lived, however, as Nashville scored two runs in the home half of the inning off of Beau Burrows — who got the start for Gwinnett — on a two-run homer to make it 2-1 Nashville.

Burrows would settle down after the second inning, as he would total six strikeouts on the day and wouldn’t allow another run through the next two innings before being pulled in relief.

In the top of the sixth, the Stripers would tie things up at 2-2, as Joe Hudson would leadoff the inning with a solo home run. Gwinnett would retake the lead in the top of the seventh thanks to themselves and a bit of help from Nashville.

After Eli White grounded out, Forrest Wall singled for the first hit of the inning. After Wall stole second, Vaughn Grissom laced a double into center field, moving Wall over to third. Nick Solak would bring both Wall and Grissom home on an error, giving Gwinnett the 4-2 lead.

With Ty Tice on the mound for Gwinnett, Nashville would cut into the lead with a run of their own in the bottom of the seventh inning to make it 4-3.

The one-run lead would be enough to hold on for the win, as Kyle Wilcox and Yacksel Rios would be called on to slam the door on the victory, tossing a scoreless inning each.

(11-18) Mississippi Braves, (14-15) Chattanooga Lookouts (Cancelled due to weather)

Obviously not much to say here as Mother Nature had other ideas on Friday night.

The Braves announced the game would be canceled and would not be made up after storms rolled through the area.

So with that, let’s keep things moving.

(14-16) Rome Braves 2, (11-18) Asheville Tourists 6

• Ehire Adrianza, DH: 1-3, R
• Drake Baldwin, C: 1-4, RBI
• Kadon Morton, LF: 1-3
• Ian Mejia, SP: 4.2 IP, 5 R 3 ER, BB, 6 K

Box Score

It was a bit of a rough night for Rome as they dropped the fourth game of the series to Asheville to split it as two games apiece with the fifth game looming on Saturday.

Ian Mejia got the start for the Braves and got off to a rocky start out of the gate. After allowing a one-out walk, Mejia would allow an RBI-single, giving Asheville the 1-0 lead.

After that, Mejia would settle down for the next couple of innings. Then the fourth inning happened.

In the top of the inning Mejia would allow the first four batters to reach, including three singles and a hit batter. All told in the inning, Mejia would allow four runs, allowing the Tourists to extend their lead to 5-0 over Rome.

Mejia would notch two outs in the top of the fifth — in addition to allowing a single — before giving way to Estarlin Rodriguez. Rodriguez, along with the rest of the bullpen would only allow one run over the final 4.1 innings, but that would prove to be too much for Rome to overcome.

Offensively, it was a quiet night for the Braves until the final inning — by which point it was too little, too late.

Rome only tallied one hit through the first eight innings. That’s what kind of night it was.

But things began to trend in a positive direction in the home half of the ninth. Kevin Kilpatrick Jr. walked to lead off the frame before Ehire Adrianza and Drake Baldwin strung together back-to-back singles to bring home the Braves first run of the game to make it 6-1. The Braves would get another run courtesy of a Geraldo Quintero RBI-groundout, which scored Adrianza, cutting into the lead to make it 6-2. However, Keshawn Ogans would strike out to end the game, as Asheville took game four.

(14-16) Augusta GreenJackets 6, (12-19) Charleston RiverDogs 11

• David McCabe, 3B: 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI, R
• Bryson Worrell, 1-4, HR, 3 RBI
• Francisco Floyd, 2B: 2-3, 2 R, BB
• Owen Murphy, SP: 2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K

Box Score

This one had bad news written on it from the get-go for Augusta.

Owen Murphy had perhaps his worst start thus far for the GreenJackets, allowing three runs (two earned) in just two innings while issuing two walks.

Charleston got one run in the top of the first inning, and two runs in the following frame, as they would lead 3-0 before Augusta had a chance to bat for the second time in the game.

However, the GreenJackets were able to dig into the RiverDogs’ lead soon enough. In the bottom of the second inning, after Jeremy Celedonio walked to leadoff the inning, Ethan Workinger doubled him home to make it 3-1. The following inning, Francisco Floyd singled in the first at-bat for Augusta and after a pair of strikeouts, David McCabe would double Floyd home, making it 3-2.

Charleston would tack on two more runs in the top of the fifth inning, as the GreenJackets would tally a run of their own in the home half. Trailing 5-2, a mirror image of the bottom of the third inning would occur. Floyd would single in the leadoff spot in the frame and McCabe would once again bring home home — this time on a single — to make it 5-3 in favor of the RiverDogs.

Charleston would extend their lead to 7-3 after plating a pair of runners in the top of the eighth. Augusta would close the gap, as the GreenJackets would bring home three runs in the home half of the inning. McCabe singled to start the inning off, and Justin Janas would walk two batters later to put a pair of runners on. Bryson Worrell would launch his first homer of the year over the right field wall, making it a 7-6 ballgame.

Trailing by just one run headed into the top of the ninth inning, it looked as though there might be an opportunity for Augusta to fight for at least a tie headed into the home half of the frame.

With Rolando Gutierrez on the bump in relief, Charleston would blow the game wide open, scoring four runs in the inning to make it an 11-6 lead for the RiverDogs.

That score would hold, as Augusta would whiff three times in the bottom of the ninth inning — despite a leadoff walk from Floyd — handing Augusta the loss.