Braves Minor League Recap: Alan Rangel dominates with 12 K’s

Sunday saw Alan Rangel pitch his best start of the season, seven one-hit shutout innings with 12 strikeouts. We also got to see Lucas Braun make his High-A debut, Sabin Ceballos hit his first pro homer, and AJ Smith-Shawver make his return from the IL as the Braves system won three out of four games on the day. Ceballos was joined by Keshawn Ogans as prospects to homer on Sunday.

Gwinnett Stripers 6, Memphis RedBirds 5

Box Score

• Dalton Guthrie, LF: 3-4, BB, R, RBI .266/.353/.339
• Braden Shewmake, SS: 2-4, 2 R, RBI .229/.294/.394
• AJ Smith-Shawver, SP: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 2 K, 4.75 ERA

AJ Smith-Shawver made his return from the IL with a start on Sunday and didn’t have his best command in this one. He failed to make it out of the first inning, as he allowed a run on a hit and three walks while retiring two batters by strikeout. AJSS was pulled for going over 30 pitches in an inning, and of the 31 pitches he threw - just 12 of them were for strikes. Dereck Rodriguez came in for long relief and allowed two runs (one earned) in three and a third. He was followed by a scoreless frame from Adam Kolarek before Mike Morin allowed two runs in an inning and two third. Grant Holmes got the next four outs and picked up the victory, and a scoreless inning earned Brian Moran the save.

Dalton Guthrie and Braden Shewmake had the big games here, but it was Joe Dunand who came through with the big hit. Guthrie went three for four with a walk, scoring a run and batting one in, while Shewmake was two for four with a pair of runs scored and one batted in. Dunand only had one hit, but his two-run triple in the top of the ninth led the Stripers comeback effort, and he added those two RBI to another one from earlier in the day.

Mississippi Braves 6, Rocket City Trash Pandas 0

Box Score

• Bryson Horne, DH: 2-4, RBI, .327/.362/.418
• Alan Rangel, SP: 7 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 12 K, 4.66 ERA
• Tyler Owens, RP: 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, 3.47 ERA

Alan Rangel spun a gem on Sunday, throwing seven shutout innings and allowing just one hit and no walks while racking up 12 strikeouts. Rangel wasn’t just dominant, but efficient too as he needed just 82 pitches to get through seven despite the high strikeout total. Domingo Gonzalez followed with a scoreless inning, and the final inning by Tyler Owens kept the combined shutout intact for Mississippi. Overall the three allowed four hits and one walk to go with 15 strikeouts.

Mississippi scored six runs in the win, but only managed to put together five singles and four walks as the Trash Pandas committed three errors, two hit batsmen, and two wild pitches. Bryson Horne led the way with two of the five hits and picked up an RBI. Cody Milligan, Luke Waddell, and Drew Campbell had the remaining hits, while Cal Conley added two runs scored and one batted in.

Rome Braves 8, Winston Salem Dash 4

Box Score

• Keshawn Ogans, 2B: 3-5, HR, R, 4 RBI, .262/.356/.393
• Nacho Alvarez, SS: 2-2, 3 BB, 2 R, RBI, SB, .288/.400/.397
• Lucas Braun, SP: 4 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 5 K

Lucas Braun made his first appearance for Rome after his recent promotion, and the over-slot sixth round pick seemed to start slow but have some moments where his talent flashed. After dominating in Low-A, Braun had some struggles here as he allowed three runs on five hits and a walk over four innings - including a homer. However the runs came in the first two innings and he didn’t allow any additional runs over his next two innings, and he struck out five hitters in his four innings. Jonathan Hughes followed with two scoreless frames and picked up the win. Rolddy Munoz didn’t allow a run in his inning and a third, but he did get into some trouble with his command before getting the hook in favor of Jared Johnson. Johnson went the final five outs and allowed just one unearned run as he picked up a save.

The top of the Rome lineup did some real heavy lifting in this one as Keshawn Ogans and Nacho Alvarez combined to reach base eight times with five RBI. Ogans finished three for five with a homer and batted in four runs, while Nacho was a perfect two for two with three walks in his five trips to the plate and stole a base as well. Beyond those two the rest of the Braves lineup had just three hits, with a Kadon Morton double being the only extra base hit outside of the Ogans homer.

Salem Red Sox 5, Augusta GreenJackets 2

Box Score

• Sabin Ceballos, 3B: 1-4, HR, R, RBI
• Ambioris Tavarez, DH: 1-4, .213/.313/.332
• Samuel Strickland, SP: 5 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 8 K, 3.00 ERA

Samuel Strickland got the start and turned in five solid innings, allowing two runs on seven hits and a walk while recording eight strikeouts. With this game Strickland, who has both started and come out of the pen this year, actually saw his ERA rise to 3.00 on the season. Strickland was followed by LJ McDonough giving up two runs in two innings, and then Zack Austin allowed an unearned run to score in his two innings of work.

The Augusta offense struggled to get anything going, coming up with just four hits and one walk against four different Salem pitchers. Of course one of those hits was a solo homer by third round draft pick Sabin Ceballos, his first pro homer in 31 plate appearances between here and the FCL. The rest of the hits were all singles, from Ambioris Tavarez, Jace Grady, and Drew Compton.