Rome and Mississippi lost out to the weather as rains postponed both teams, while Augusta couldn’t complete seven on a storm-shortened evening. There was still action on the Atlanta Braves farm as Gwinnett trounced the Louisville Bats behind a dominant outing from Kyle Wright.
Here’s how it went down on Thursday.
Gwinnett Stripers 8, Louisville Bats 1
- Kyle Wright, SP: 7 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 2-for-2, 1 3B, 1 R
- Drew Waters, LF: 1-for-3, 2 RBI, .251 BA, .757 OPS
- Eddie Rosario, CF: 0-for-5, 2 RBI, .069 BA, .272 OPS
- Johan Camargo, 1B: 1-for-5, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI, .313 BA, .916 OPS
Kyle Wright was the story here. He went down 1-0 early to Louisville in the second, but he settled down and tossed five more scoreless innings, landing 57 of his 86 pitches for strikes. He was never really in trouble, working around the few base runners he allowed and all but one of the hits — the Mike Freeman second-inning leadoff double that led to the Bats lone run — were singles.
Wright was also one of the hitting stars Thursday, going 2-for-2 with a triple. Eddie Rosario got the comeback started with the first of his two RBIs in the fifth. He and Drew Waters each drove in a pair of runs. Yolmer Sanchez had a big night, going 2-for-4 with three runs scored and Travis Demeritte had a hit, scored two runs and swiped his sixth base of the season. He has managed to keep his OPS very high, now sitting at 1.012.
Mississippi Braves at Montgomery Biscuits — PPD.
They’ll try again tomorrow in a doubleheader starting at 5:30 p.m. ET. Hayden Deal was Thursday’s probably starter and Nolan Kingham is tabbed for Friday’s start so expect to see both in action.
Rome Braves vs. Greenville Drive — PPD
It’s like deja vu all over again. Rome was washed out and will have a doubleheader on Friday beginning at 5 p.m. ET. Darius Vines was slated for Thursday and Coleman Huntley was Friday’s original probable starter.
Augusta GreenJackets 5, Carolina Mudcats 6 — 7 innings; rain
- Andrew Hoffman, SP: 3 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 4 K
- Justyn-Henry Malloy, 3B: 3-for-3, 1 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI, 1 BB, .294 BA, .840 OPS
- Cade Bunnell, 1B: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 2B,, .217 BA, .811 OPS
- Vaughn Grissom, DH: 0-for-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 SB, .308 BA, .846 OPS
These two battled rains as well with a lengthy delay in the fifth inning and the umpires eventually calling it in the seventh. Andrew Hoffman made the third start of his young career and struggled for the first time, surrendering a two-run bomb to Alex Binelas in the first.
But Augusta came firing back, thanks in large part to Justyn-Henry Malloy’s monster night. He drove in three runs, two of which came off his first professional home run in the fourth inning. Cade Bunnell was one of four GreenJackets with a multi-hit night, hitting his Low-A East-best 25th double of the season. Landon Stephens and Cam Shepherd also had two hits.
It was all for naught. A pair of former DII PacWest standout pitchers came on in relief, but Malcolm Van Buren couldn’t hold the lead. Hawaii-Hilo alumnus Dylan Spain pitched an effectively wild and scoreless inning but after the first rain delay, Van Buren struggled to get anyone out. He walked two, allowed two hits and let up the three runs Carolina needed to seal the comeback. James Acuna out of Azusa Pacific tossed 1.1 scoreless with three strikeouts and now has a 2.82 ERA on the season.