Braves Minor League recap: AJ Smith-Shawver tosses a pair of hitless innings

The only game for Atlanta’s minor league team in action came away with relatively disappointment as Gwinnett fell by a 3-0 final on Wednesday. A couple of bright spots were Luis De Avila — who hasn’t made his Triple-A debut yet — and Drake Baldwin getting the call-up to the Stripers prior to the end of the season.

(68-78) Gwinnett Stripers 3, (88-60) Durham Bulls 0

• Ehire Adrianza, 2B: 1-4, 2B
• AJ Smith-Shawver , SP: 2 IP, 3 BB, 4 K
• Nick Anderson, RP: IP, H, ER, BB
• Colin McHugh, RP: 2 IP, 2 H, BB, 4 K

Box Score

Despite a solid performance on the mound from starter AJ Smith-Shawver and by multiple relievers, Gwinnett dropped their final Friday night game of the season.

As for Smith-Shawver, despite only going two innings, the righty would hold the Bulls hitless while allowing three walks and striking out four.

Meanwhile at the plate, the Stripers would try to work some offensive magic, but it just wouldn’t come around. The first hit for Gwinnett didn’t come until the bottom of the third inning — on a Dalton Guthrie single.

Colin McHugh would take over for Smith-Shawver in the top of the third and actually did a great job of keeping Gwinnett in the game. Across two innings, McHugh spun two scoreless innings, allowing just two hits, a walk and striking out four to keep the Bulls off the board.

Nick Anderson, making another rehab appearance, took over for McHugh in the top of the fifth and allowed the first run of the game as Durham took a 1-0 lead.

Offensively, the Stripers managed to put a pair of runners in scoring position in the bottom of the fifth. Joe Dunad walked to leadoff the inning and Drake Baldwin — freshly promoted to Triple-A — replaced him at first on a forceout. Yolmer Sanchez singled to move Baldwin to third as a Hoy Park groundout moved them both up a base into scoring position. Despite Gwinnett having a pair of runners in scoring position, Dalton Guthrie would groundout to end the inning as the Stripers failed to score.

Meanwhile Durham would tack on another run in the top of the sixth — off of Daysbel Hernandez — as the last hit for Gwinnett came on an Ehire Adrianza double in the bottom of the sixth.

Durham added an additional run in the top of the ninth to give the Bulls a 3-0 lead. That would prove to be more than enough as the Stripers managed just thre hits on the night in the loss.