Braves Minor League Recap: Winans no-hits Saints across five innings

Surrounding July 4th festivites across minor league baseball we got ourselves a rare set of Monday games, and there were a couple of bangers mixed in to the Atlanta Braves farm system. Allan Winans continues to impress for Gwinnett, and put up a dominant start in a loss versus Saint Paul. Down in Florida Douglas Glod has been on a tear, notching extra base hit after extra base hit for the FCL Braves.

(33-48) Gwinnett Stripers 4, (49-31) St. Paul Saints 6

Box Score

• Vaughn Grissom, 2B: 1-5, .313/.390/.459
• Braden Shewmake, SS: 2-4, HBP, RBI, .235/.317/.415
• Allan Winans, SP: 5 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 4.60 ERA

In what could have been an all-time great game for the Stripers rain took Allan Winans away from them and they coughed up a four run lead. Neither side scored through three innings, but the second time through the lineup did the trick for Gwinnett. Braden Shewmake and Vaughn Grissom had hits back-to-back to open up the inning and Jesus Aguilar broke through with a double that scored both. They continued to add on from there, with Shewmake driving in a run on a fifth inning single and Joe Dunand leading off the sixth with a home run. Meanwhile, on the other side Allan Winans was rolling and held the Saints hitless through five innings. Following an error in the third inning Winans sat down eight straight batters and after a hard ground out from the first batter of the game no one did anything threatening against him. Winans forced 11 whiffs on his changeup alone out of 7 swings at the pitch, utilizing it as his primary offering in his dominating performance.

Unfortunately for Winans and the Stripers his day was cut short by a rain delay, and the bullpen immediately coughed up the lead they had built. Brian Moran gave up a hit to the first batter he faced in the sixth inning and a two-out three-run home run put the cap on a four run inning for the Saints. The Stripers had a chance to get on top in the seventh inning, with Shewmake being hit by a pitch and Dunand ripping a double that put them both in scoring position with one out. Aguilar and Luke Williams then struck out consecutively and no other Striper reached base the rest of the game. Dereck Rodriguez pitched a perfect seventh inning of relief but allowed a two run home run in the eighth inning that put the Saints in the lead for good.

(37-37) Mississippi Braves 6, (36-39) Biloxi Shuckers 2

Box Score

• Landon Stephens, 1B: 1-4, HR, 3 RBI, .238/.361/.519
• Jesse Franklin V, LF: 2-4, RBI, .242/.303/.483
• Alan Rangel, SP: 4.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, 4.98 ERA
• Daysbel Hernandez, RP: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 0.00 ERA

Mississippi has been heavily reliant on the home run ball to produce offense, and over their four game win streak against Biloxi they’ve been able to provide the power. Today that power came late, with Cade Bunnell cranking a seventh inning home run that first put the Braves on the board. Still, they were trailing by a run and with two down in the inning were running out of time to make a comeback. In stepped a two out rally, with Javier Valdes and Jesse Franklin each dropping in base hits to bring up Landon Stephens. Stephens put a charge into one, and his three run home run was enough to put Mississippi in the lead for good. Jesse Franklin added an RBI in the next inning for the final run after the Biloxi reliever walked two batters and hit another in front of Franklin. Stephens took the Southern League lead for home runs with 16 and Mississippi ranks second in the league with 94 home runs as a team.

Alan Rangel didn’t have the best of starts for Mississippi, but it was the first time he allowed fewer than three runs in a game since May so it was a little bit of step forward. The Shuckers were busy on the bases against Rangel largely because he struggled with control throughout the start, but they didn’t string together any long scoring rallies. All of their runs came on a two-run home run in the second inning, and Rangel managed to hold them to 0-8 with runners in scoring position. In total the Shuckers went 0-12 with runners in scoring position, with most of the rest of the outs coming from Jake McSteen. McSteen allowed four baserunners in two innings of work, but kept the Shuckers scoreless with timely outs. Daysbel Hernandez struck out the side in the ninth to close the win, and so far his return to Double-A has gone fantastic. Hernandez has pitched twelve scoreless innings since joining the M-Braves with 15 strikeouts in that span.

(34-41) Rome Braves 6, (36-34) Bowling Green Hot Rods 5

Box Score

• David McCabe, 3B: 1-3, 2B, BB, 2 RBI, .289/.400/.434
• Ignacio Alvarez, SS: 2-4, .286/.411/.357
• Rolddy Munoz, SP: 3 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, 2.52 ERA

It wasn’t the prettiest of wins for Rome, but they still got the job done primarily behind a huge first inning. Each of the first four hitters in the lineup had hits in the bottom of the first inning, with Drake Baldwin and David McCabe slugging back-to-back doubles to drive in three total runs. Geraldo Quintero made it a four run lead with an RBI triple and Rome held the lead for the remainder of the game. It did get close late in the game, so Bryson Horne’s solo home run in the fourth inning providing some much-needed insurance for the pitching staff to work with. Quintero made it six runs with his second RBI of the game in the fifth inning, so despite the offense shutting down late in the game they were able to hold on and win.

Strike-throwing was a struggle for most of the game for Rome, with Rolddy Munoz leading the way in that. Munoz walked four batters in just three innings of work, which led to two runs scoring in the second inning. Munoz had avoided trouble and struck out the first two batters in the second inning, but with two outs he allowed a walk and then three consecutive singles that brought home two runs. Munoz got a strikeout to end the inning and pitched a scoreless third with his fourth strikeout of the game. Patrick Halligan had a solid first two innings of work, netting himself four strikeouts and no runs allowed, but in the sixth he gave up two runs on three hits before being chased from the game. Ben Dum got out of the sixth, but got into trouble in the seventh as he couldn’t find the strike zone allowing a run to score. Dum and Jonathan Hughes each got an out to strand two runners in the eighth inning and Hughes shut down the Hot Rods in the ninth to close out a tight win.

(36-38) Augusta GreenJackets 0, (40-34) Columbia Fireflies 1

Box Score

• Ambioris Tavarez, SS: 0-4, .209/.317/.306
• EJ Exposito, 2B: 1-4, .230/.321/.368
• Adam Shoemaker, SP: 4 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 6.59 ERA

Adam Shoemaker had one of the worst months you’ll see from a player in June, but one start into July and he set his career-best for strikeouts in arguably his best career start to this point. Unfortunately the GreenJackets offense provided him no help and thus he took the loss to fall to 0-4 on the year and 0-10 in his career. Shoemaker may not have a win for awhile, simply because he pitches as a starter but isn’t given a pitch limit that allows him to go deep enough to qualify. Today Columbia jumped on him, hitting a home run off of the second pitch he threw, then got completely shut down with Shoemaker striking out seven batters over just four innings of work. Control of the zone has been an unfortunate rarity for Shoemaker, but he showed the potential he has with a start like this. The bullpen backed him up with even more fantastic work. Ronaldo Alesandro and Landon Harper had identical stat lines, each going two scoreless inning with three strikeouts and one walk and hit.

The GreenJackets at least didn’t get no-hit in this game, but it took a long time for them to even get on that board, With two outs in the fifth inning Andrew Keck had the GreenJackets first single, constituting a rally in this pitchers duel. Keck advanced on a balk to get in scoring position, but Francisco Floyd struck out to end the inning. EJ Exposito singled and Jeremy Celedonio drew a walk in the seventh inning, so with one out the GreenJackets had a serious chance to tie or take the lead. Unfortunately Jair Casanova grounded into a double play and Keck failed to get a second hit stranding Exposito at third base. In the eighth inning the GreenJackets had one final opportunity as Dawson Dimon singled and Tyler Collins walked to bring up the top of the order. Ambioris Tavarez ran the count full, but on the eighth pitch of the at bat struck out for the second out of the inning. Justin Janas then ended the inning with a fly out and the GreenJackets were retired in order in the ninth.

(10-11) FCL Braves 7, (10-11) FCL Twins 2

Box Score

• Douglas Glod, CF: 1-2, 2B, 2 BB, .268/.418/.563
• Diego Benitez, SS: 1-3, 3B, BB, RBI, .263/.325/.408

The FCL Braves jumped on the board early in this game, and with the game shortened due to inclement weather that was enough for them to take the win. Top prospects Douglas Glod and Diego Benitez were the driving force to a big first inning and they each had an extra base hit as part of a four run inning. Both drew walks in the three run second inning, as common to rookie level baseball the Braves scored all their runs due to five walks in the inning. Glod’s scorching pace continued with that first inning double as he now has eight extra base hits over his past seven games to go along with ten walks. Unfortunately his strikeouts remain concerningly high.

(6-15) DSL Braves 6, (11-10) DSL Guardians Red 13

Box Score

• Mario Baez, SS: 2-3, 2B, RBI, .292/.370/.403
• Carlos Monteverde, RF: 1-5, 2B, 3 RBI, .228/.340/.367

Luis Guanipa has not played since leaving Friday’s game early, but the Braves have been getting a hot bat from Mario Baez in his place. Baez had two hits, a stolen base, and two runs scored at the top of the DSL lineup, though the pitching staff remains a nightmare. Carlos Monteverde had a two run double in the Braves five run second inning and drove in three runs total this game.