Braves Minor League Recap: Vaughn Grissom hits 34th double

There is only one Atlanta Braves affiliate still in action, and unfortunately they aren’t very good. Just remember how good the major league team is and it will all feel okay in the end.

(68-77) Gwinnett Stripers 2, (87-60) Durham Bulls 10

Box Score

• Vaughn Grissom, SS: 1-4, 2B, RBI, .327/.418/.499
• Joe Dunand, 1B: 3-5, .266/.357/.482
• Luis De Avila, SP: 3.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 3 K, 2.45 ERA
• Brooks Wilson, RP: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 9.00 ERA

Gwinnett was probably hoping for a better final week of the season, but so far it has been a struggle to find anything positive. For moments this game it seemed the Stripers had luck on their side, but it got away from them in a huge way late as they laid down against the Bulls. Andrew Velazquez started the Stripers half of the first inning with a double, then following a walk to Ehire Adrianza Vaughn Grissom had a chance to do damage early. Grissom fell behind 0-2 in the count, but snuck the next pitch into left field for a double to score Velazquez and give Gwinnett the early lead. With two runners in scoring position they had a chance to add on, but Joe Dunand struck out, Braden Shewmake popped out to the infield, and Jesus Aguilar hit one to the warning track but it fell into the glove of Billy Hamilton for the final out. Gwinnett wouldn’t manage another hit until the sixth inning, when Joe Dunand’s leadoff single got a much-needed rally started. Aguilar later in the inning moved Dunand to second base and Chadwick Tromp came through with a game-tying single. Durham answered with a run, and in the seventh inning Adrianza and Dunand had hits to put a runner in scoring position with no outs. Braden Shewmake ended the inning by striking out, and Durham pulled away in the next inning to seal the game.

Luis De Avila got a late call up to Triple-A for his final start of the season, and it was a struggle for him to get outs. De Avila managed to only allow one earned run over 3 ²⁄₃ innings, but the start was worse than that as it took quite a bit of luck to get him out of those innings. De Avila didn’t pitch a single clean inning, starting when he walked the first batter of the game. In the second inning he walked two more batters, but once again escaped with no damage allowed. He wasn’t able to walk a tightrope forever and allowed a run on two hits in the third inning to tie the game up. Billy Hamilton led off in the fourth with a single, and this would be trouble as he quickly stole second and third base. De Avila did make a good play on a ball back to him and had Hamilton dead to rights, but as catcher Joe Hudson chased him back towards third base Hamilton dodged a tag and Hudson dropped the ball allowing Hamilton to score. De Avila allowed another hit and then hit a batter, ending his day after just 3 ²⁄₃ innings with 81 pitches thrown. Beau Burrows pitched well in relief, retiring seven of eight batters with the only runner coming on an error by Grissom. Gwinnett tied it up in this time, but as soon as Burrows left the Bulls got back to work and scored a run off of Brian Moran in the seventh inning to retake the lead. In the eighth inning the game got ugly. Seth Elledge allowed four runs, including a three run home run, and Grant Holmes allowed another three-run shot later in the inning to cap off a seven run frame.