Atlanta Braves Minor League Recap: Mississippi evens the series behind Trey Harris’s 3 RBIs

Mississippi’s offense exploded for 8 runs and Freddy Tarnok spun a beautiful game to lead the Braves to a win

(68-51) Gwinnett Stripers, (77-43) Durham Bulls PPD

Next Game: 9/23 @ (77-43) Durham Bulls @ 5:35 PM ET

Probable Starters

GWN: Jose Rodriguez (6-4, 4.93 ERA)

DUR: TBD

(1-1) Mississippi Braves 8, (1-1) Montgomery Biscuits

Box Score

• Wendell Rijo, 2B: 1-3, HR, BB, 3 RBI
• Trey Harris, DH: 2-6, 2B, 3 RBI
• Greyson Jenista, RF: 1-5, HR, RBI
• Freddy Tarnok, SP: 4.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 4.15 ERA
• Corbin Clouse, RP: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 0.00 ERA

We may only have one game to enjoy today, but it was a banger as Mississippi ripped open a lead early and was able to hold on to take a win and even the championship series up. Mississippi staked Freddy Tarnok to a lead early, with Justin Dean’s leadoff single getting the ball rolling. Dean took advantage of his speed to steal second base on a Trey Harris strikeout, putting him in scoring position where a Shea Langeliers single would put the Braves on top early. With Freddy Tarnok on the mound for Mississippi they didn’t need a whole lot of runs early as he cruised out of the game. Tarnok struck out two batters each across a dominant first and second inning, showing a curveball that left the Biscuits befuddled.

In the top of the third Mississippi took a chance to break the game open and ran with it, taking the lead that would ultimately give them the game. Once again Justin Dean singled and stole second base to kickstart the offense and Trey Harris ripped an RBI double to extend the lead to 2-0. An infield single from Braden Shewmake had the Braves in a spot to do more damage, but two quick outs also had them on the verge of losing the scoring chance. Wendell Rijo wasn’t going to let that happen and ripped a ball over the fence in left field for a three run home run to break the game wide open. Greyson Jenista followed with a mammoth shot of his own to left field and staked the Braves pitching staff to a 6-0 lead.

Tarnok gave the Braves another good inning with a strikeout in the third, but as the game wore on the command of his pitches started to deteriorate and he struggled through a rough fourth inning. A leadoff walk and a base hit had him in a pickle very quickly, but he came through with a strikeout that left him a ground ball away from coming out of the inning. A tough plate appearance led to a six pitch walk to load the bases, and a check swing ground ball to Greyson Jenista at first base brought in the first run off of Tarnok. It was fortunate Jenista was able to make a fantastic diving play on that ball down the line, as had it snuck by him this game could be entirely different. Tarnok finished the inning with a strikeout to limit the damage. He faced two batters in the fifth inning then departed after a one out single.

Troy Bacon replaced Tarnok in the fifth inning and this is when the game became a lot more to sweat out. Bacon walked the first batter he faced in the inning and then allowed a run scoring double that brought the Biscuits a little bit closer. Then he gave up the big hit of the game — a three run home run that made a game the Braves seemed to have under control into a one run game. Bacon got one out on a strikeout but after a fourth pitch walk was pulled from the game with the tying runner on base. Brandon White was able to put out the fire and strike out the final batter of the inning, keeping the Braves hanging on to their narrow margin.

The offense continued to scuffle for a couple of innings for the MBraves, but the bullpen got it together and finished the game in dominant fashion. White got the first two outs of the seventh inning then turned the ball over to Corbin Clouse who finished a clean inning with a strikeout. Finally the Braves had life, with two leadoff walks and an error loading the bases for Trey Harris. Harris delivered again, driving in two runs with a base hit to give Mississippi just a little bit more breathing room to work with. Corbin Clouse didn’t even need those runs and dominated in the 8th inning with a weak infield pop out and then two more strikeouts. Nolan Kingham closed out the game with a perfect ninth inning and completed a span of 4 ¹⁄₃ one-hit innings with six strikeouts and no walks for the final three players out of the bullpen.

Now with the series tied it heads back to Mississippi, where they’ll have a chance to take the lead in the next game with Spencer Strider on the mound.

Next Game: 9/24 vs (1-1) Montgomery Biscuits @ 7:35 PM ET

Probable Starters

MIS: Spencer Strider

CHA: TBD