Roddery Munoz dealt his career high in strikeouts in Rome’s win
The starting pitching for Atlanta Braves prospects on Friday evening was outstanding, with three of the top right handed arms in the system delivering notable performances. Leader among those was Roddery Munoz, who cruised past his career high in strikeouts and ended his day with 12 of them over six shutout innings.
(46-51) Gwinnett Stripers 3, (54-43) Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp
- Ryan Goins, SS: 1-3, .216/.244/.269
- Preston Tucker, DH: 1-3, HR, .259/.336/.416
- Ryan Casteel, C: 2-3, HR, BB, RBI, .230/.326/.566
- Freddy Tarnok, SP: 6 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 9 K, 2.70 ERA
- Jacob Webb, RP: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 6.59 ERA
The Stripers may not have come out on top in this game, but none of that was due to the efforts of Freddy Tarnok who delivered one of the stronger performances of his career. Gwinnett’s offense produced some big power moments, but didn’t sustain production throughout the game when the bullpen faltered late. Ryan Casteel unloaded off of a ball high off of the brick in left field at CoolRay in the second inning, tying the game at 1-1. The next inning Preston Tucker got in on the action and put one on the right center field berm to give Tarnok a lead to work with. Ryan Goins had a couple of hard hit balls in this game, and his fifth inning single set the table for the Stripers third run which came on a sacrifice fly from Tucker. Casteel had a double in the sixth inning, but Gwinnett failed to record any other hits the remainder of the game as the Jacksonville bullpen shut them down to win the seventh straight matchup between the two.
Freddy Tarnok got off to an inauspicious start in this game, as he got up 0-2 on the leadoff hitter for the Blue Wahoos but could not put him away and allowed a solo home run on the seventh pitch of the at bat. That was all Pensacola did in the entire game against Tarnok, as he dominated the rest of the way and used all four of his pitches to great effect. Tarnok didn’t have the crispest of command on his fastball, but his changeup in particular was able to mask that as he could get ahead early in counts and get into his deep well of offspeed stuff to end at bats. The only other hit in the game was a fourth inning double that right fielder Greyson Jenista just didn’t play very well, and while it was a fairly hard hit ball it was a play most major league quality right fielders would make. Tarnok ended with nine strikeouts in the game and recorded four of those in the final two innings.
Tarnok departed after six, leaving the game to Jacob Webb who shut Pensacola down in the seventh inning. Unfortunately the eighth inning was not kind to Gwinnett as the game slipped away quickly. A hit and two errors loaded the bases against Seth Elledge, setting up a bases-clearing triple that game Jacksonville a lead. A wild pitch brought in a fourth run to give the Jumbo Shrimp a bit of insurance. They added another run off of Roel Ramirez in the ninth inning to give them five runs (three earned) against the Gwinnett bullpen.
Next Game: 7/30 vs (54-43) Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp @ 6:05 PM ET
(46-48) Mississippi Braves 3, (47-42) Pensacola Blue Wahoos 2
- Vaughn Grissom, 2B: 4-5, RBI, .418/.458/.600
- Cody Milligan, CF: 2-4, BB, SB, .271/.333/.288
- Justyn-Henry Malloy, LF: 2-5, RBI, .271/.386/.438
- Darius Vines, SP: 6 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 4.14 ERA
- Lisandro Santos, RP: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 0.00 ERA
Darius Vines gave us another strong start, and while I wouldn’t describe him as dominant he was certainly effective against the Blue Wahoos. Early he struggled to get much run support from the bats, but the fifth inning saw the Braves load up the bases with no one out to bring up the middle of the order. Justin Dean took a game-tying walk on four pitches, followed by the second hit of the day from Vaughn Grissom to give Mississippi a lead. The Braves failed to capitalize further after Justyn-Henry Malloy and Drew Lugbauer struck out, but they weren’t done in the game. Grissom’s seventh inning single loaded the bases again with no outs, and this time Malloy came through and drove in a run to give Mississippi breathing room.
Darius Vines didn’t record many strikeouts in this game, but all of the contact he did allow was weak and allowed him to mostly skate through this game with little drama. The only real trouble came in the fourth inning, when the Blue Wahoos snuck two ground balls through holes in the infield and then got a bunt single to load the bases. Vines didn’t flinch, however, and held them to only one run in the inning. Vines recorded eight of his outs on ground balls and got through six innings for the third consecutive start. He has a 1.17 ERA with 32 strikeouts to nine walks in 30 2⁄3 innings this month. The game got a bit closer in the seventh inning as Pensacola knocked home a run against Coleman Huntley, but the runner that started at second goofed on the play and was caught between third and home for the final out of the inning. The rest of the bullpen shut the game down with Lisandro Santos and Justin Yeager each giving the Braves a scoreless inning.
Next Game: 7/30 @ (47-42) Pensacola Blue Wahoos @ 7:05 PM ET
(54-40) Rome Braves 5, (51-43) Hickory Crawdads 3
- Tyler Tolve, DH: 2-4, 3B, 2 RBI, .258/.320/.434
- Javier Valdes, C: 2-4, HR, .259/.377/.476
- Bryson Horne, 1B: 2-4, RBI, .279/.344/.443
- Roddery Munoz, SP: 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 12 K, 4.06 ERA
- Alec Barger, RP: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 4.34 ERA
The Crawdads stood little chance against Roddery Munoz in this game, and while they managed a late comeback against the Rome bullpen it was too-little, too-late. A second inning home run from Javier Valdes got Rome on the board and continued a strong offensive season for him. Valdes has hit 10 home runs in 50 games this season with 46 of those games coming behind the plate. Valdes and Bryson Horne started a rally in the fourth inning, which netted Rome a second run on a Caleb Durbin ground out. Neither side really got going until the starters left the game, but when Rome got theirs they got it in a bunch. Horne led off in the seventh inning with a key home run and the Rome offense followed behind him with Durbin and Cade Bunnell each reaching base. Those two then pulled off a two out double steal which set up Tyler Tolve for a two-run single that ended up being the difference in the game.
Roddery Munoz put up easily the best start of his career, but it could have been in trouble early. A two out error in the first inning was followed two a double, but a good relay throw from the Braves got the runner trying to score and that was the last chance Hickory had while Munoz was on the mound. Munoz had a pedestrian two strikeouts through his first two innings, but then went off with ten of them over his final four innings. Munoz was efficient in his strike throwing early, though he ran some deeper counts as the strikeouts piled up. Still he got through six on 91 pitches with 63 of those being strikes. He didn’t walk a batter until the leadoff hitter in that final inning, and had no issues escaping damage with two more strikeouts and a ground out back to him to end his outing. Davis Schwab gave his best effort of coughing up the lead out of the bullpen as he allowed three runs, but when he was finally pulled with two outs in the eighth inning the Braves still clung to a 5-3 lead. Alec Barger closed out the game to earn his third save of the season for Rome.
Next Game: 7/30 @ (51-43) Hickory Crawdads @ 5:00 PM ET
(45-47) Augusta GreenJackets 2, (63-31) Myrtle Beach Pelicans 5
- Brandon Parker, LF: 2-3, HBP, .289/.417/.518
- Stephen Paolini, CF: 2-3, HBP, .213/.325/.298
- Adam Zebrowski, C: 2-3, BB, 2 RBI, .240/.360/.434
- Jorge Bautista, SP: 5 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 14.14 ERA
- James Acuna, RP: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 3.26 ERA
Augusta didn’t give us the impressive starting pitching the other affiliates did, and overall continued to struggle against this strong Myrtle Beach team. The middle of the Augusta order gave them some like with six hits between the four, five, and six hitters but otherwise it was a lackluster affair all around. Zebrowski was one of those middle-of-the-order bats and he doubled home the first Augusta run in the second inning. Two at bats later he drove in the other Augusta run with an RBI single that plated Brandon Parker. With Augusta trailing by three runs in the eight inning Zebrowski got one final opportunity with the bases loaded, but he grounded into a double play to snuff the final GreenJackets scoring chance.
Jorge Bautista kept the game under control for a few innings, with the load damage coming in the first inning on a two out error that scored a leadoff double. Bautista escaped trouble in the next couple of innings, but Myrtle Beach finally got to him in the fourth inning. A two out, two run home run put the Pelicans on top in the game and the GreenJackets never caught up. It was overall a solid start for Bautista, as he was efficient with his pitches and only threw 73 over five innings while walking no batters and striking out five. That big home run marred what was an otherwise decent effort. Darling Florentino pitched a scoreless sixth inning, but after allowed the first two runners of the seventh inning to reach base he was pulled for James Acuna. Acuna allowed both of those inherited runners to score and get charged to Florentino. Acuna covered two scoreless innings for Augusta while Peyton Williams finished off the day with a scoreless ninth.
Next Game: 7/30 vs (63-31) Myrtle Beach Pelicans @ 6:05 PM ET
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