Braves MiLB recap: Rome wins a wild one

The Rome and Asheville series continues to rack up runs as the Atlanta Braves farm teams went 2-2 on Saturday night.

The Rome Braves and Asheville Tourists series continues to be a wild one, this one needing an R-Braves comeback to pull off the victory. That helped the young Atlanta Braves prospects split on Saturday night, with Gwinnett also winning.

Here’s how it went down on the Braves farm Saturday night.

Gwinnett Stripers (33-32) 5, Indianapolis Indians (31-32) 3

Box score

• Drew Waters, CF: 1-for-4, 1 BB
• Kramer Robertson, 2B: 1-for-2, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 3 BB
• Huascar Ynoa, SP: 6 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 7 K

Huascar Ynoa wasn’t perfect, but he held the Indians bats in check to allow Gwinnett to walk away victorious. He landed 57 of 82 pitches to strike out seven over six effective innings. Ynoa is having by and far his best month of the season, pitching to a 2.86 ERA and 1.09 WHIP over four June starts, holding hitters to a .192 average and striking out 21 in 22 innings pitched. He left the game to Touki Toussaint and the Stripers bullpen to hold down, which they did, with three pitchers combining to toss three perfect innings while striking out seven.

Alex Dickerson and Delino DeShields had two-hit games for the Stripers with DeShields scoring two runs and Dickerson scoring one. Kramer Robertson (who reached base four times), Preston Tucker and Pat Valaika each had an RBI in the victory. Kyle Muller, coming off a huge seven-inning, 11-strikeout performance, throws Sunday looking to keep Gwinnett above .500.

Mississippi Braves (27-34) 3, Birmingham Barons (25-36) 4, 12 innings

Box score

• Justin Dean, CF: 2-for-5, 1 R, 1 BB
• Jalen Miller, DH: 2-for-5, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 SB
• Freddy Tarnok, SP: 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 8 K

Freddy Tarnok was dealing on Saturday, pounding the strike zone and striking out Birmingham batters at will. He hit as high as 97 mph and was holding the velocity around 94-95 into the fifth, where he struck out the side for the second time on the evening. Tarnok also allowed a home run in the fifth that just snuck over the right field foul pole, leaving on the losing side.

Coleman Huntley came on and allowed a run, but Justin Yeager, Jake Higginbotham and Tyler Ferguson held it down, combining to throw four scoreless innings and get Mississippi through 11 tied. Indigo Diaz couldn’t close the door, picking up the loss in the 12th.

There wasn’t much offense. Of the M-Braves nine hits, nary a one went for extra bases. Justin Dean’s hot June continues. He extended his hitting streak to five games and is now hitting .311 with a .446 OBP while walking (10) more than striking out (7). He looks like he is getting back to Justin Dean ways. Jalen Miller did the damage with a two-RBI single in the seventh. CJ Alexander drove in a run in the bottom of the 12th to cut the lead to one, but it wasn’t enough. Darius Vines is expected to take the mound Sunday.

Rome Braves (34-28) 12, Asheville Tourists (24-37) 8

Box score

• Vaughn Grissom, SS: 0-for-4, 1R, 2 BB, 1 K
• Justyn-Henry Malloy, 3B: 0-for-5, 1 R, 1 BB, 3 K
• Landon Stephens, DH: 2-for-4, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 2 K
• Bryson Horne, 1B: 4-for-5, 2 R, 1 2B
• Luis De Avila, SP: 2 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 2 BB

It was a wild one in Asheville. Rome jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead in the first inning powered by a Javier Valdes grand slam. It wasn’t enough for Luis De Avila, who allowed four runs right back in the bottom of the first and another three in the second before getting lifted. Alec Barger improved to 3-0 in pitching two shutout innings, striking out three while Dylan Spain (1 ER), Benjamin Dum and Austin Smith locked it down, allowing just one run over the final five innings.

Landon Stephens belted his 15th home run of the year in the second inning, but Rome would quickly be behind. Christian Robinson began the comeback with a fifth inning solo shot as Rome went on to score four in yet another crooked inning. Cody Milligan was a large contributor, going 1-for-2 with three walks from the leadoff spot, scoring two and driving in two more. Cade Bunnell also walked three times as the Asheville pitchers walked 11 Rome Braves while R-Braves pitchers mustered a mere three free passes.

Roddery Munoz gets the ball to close out the series on Sunday, a series in which both teams have combined to score 103 runs in six games.

Augusta GreenJackets (34-28) 3, Charleston RiverDogs (42-20) 6

Box score

• Cal Conley, SS: 2-for-5, 1 R, 1, 2B, 1 K
• Geraldo Quintero, 3B: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 BB, 1K , 1 SB
• Brandol Mezquita, RF: 2-for-5, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 3 K
• Kris Anglin, SP: 5 IP, 6 H, 4 ER (2 ER), 0 BB, 5 K

Kris Anglin wasn’t at his best, but was certainly servicable through five innings. He landed 52 of his 74 pitches for strikes and didn’t walk anyone, but unfortunately ran into trouble with the long ball allowing a home run in the first and the third, putting the GreenJackets in an early hole. James Acuna tossed two innings allowing a run and Jose Montilla and Rolddy Munoz each pitched one inning to close it out.

At the plate, it was the usual suspects. Gerarldo Quintero reached base twice, once via a hit and also stole his 14th base of the season. Cal Conley reached base on two hits, one being his ninth double of the season. Brandol Mezquita looked to be the hero early on, starting the day with two hits and two RBI, but he struck out in his next three at bats, including the final out of the game with runners on second and third. Tomorrow wraps up the first half of the season for Augusta with Samuel Strickland expected to start.