Braves Minor League Recap: Bryce Elder strikes out 11

Bryce Elder had a nice game on the mound for Gwinnett.

After a rough night on Tuesday evening, the Braves’ minor league affiliates bounced back on Wednesday with a 3-1 slate. Bryce Elder seems to have gotten back on track down in Gwinnett while Mississippi rallied late to get a much needed win. Lets get into the games.

Gwinnett Stripers 4, Memphis Redbirds 3

Box Score

• Phil Gosselin, 3B: 2-4, 2B, 2 R, .842 OPS
• Greyson Jenista, RF: 1-2, 2B, BB, RBI, R, .884 OPS
• Bryce Elder, SP: 7 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 11 K, 5.50 ERA

Bryce Elder was largely dominant on Wednesday evening while Drew Waters drove in the go ahead run late in Gwinnett’s 4-3 win over Memphis. Elder’s line is pretty deceptive as he only had one hiccup all evening. After giving up a hit and his first walk of the evening in the sixth inning, he made a mistake that resulted in a three run homer. He would go on to still pitch the seventh and strike out two of the last three hitters he faced. Overall, Bryce seems to be making progress on the command issues that plagued him during his first stint in the majors. Jesus Cruz and Dylan Lee would close out the game with scoreless innings of relief.

It was a balanced effort from Gwinnett’s offense as four different players drove in runs and three players (Phil Gosselin, Ryan Goins, and Delino DeShields) had multi-hit games for the Stripers. While the Braves’ Triple-A affiliate was only have to connect for two extra-base hits (both doubles) in the game, they were able to stitch together just enough runs to get the job done. The penultimate run would be drove in by Drew Waters with an RBI single. Waters has posted a very respectable .792 OPS in his nine games at Triple-A since returning from injury, although we would like it if he took a walk every now and again as he has just one free pass during that same nine game stretch.

Mississippi Braves 6, Biloxi Shuckers 4

Box Score

• Michael Harris II, CF: 2-4, 2B, RBI, 2 R, .845 OPS
• Jalen Miller, DH: 1-3, 2B, 2 RBI, BB, .898 OPS
• Alan Rangel, SP: 5 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 5.40 ERA

Mississippi had to rally late with some help from the Braves’ top prospect, but they ultimately prevailed with a 6-4 victory over Biloxi. Alan Rangel took the mound for Mississippi on Wednesday and overall looked good as he gave up three runs in five innings of work with six strikeouts. Rangel has, so far, had a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde season in terms of his command. In four of his seven starts this season, he has walked one batter or less. In the other three….he walked four or more which is far more unfortunate. Things got dicey for AJ Puckett (again) in relief, but he managed to get through two innings while allowing just one run. Indigo Diaz pitched a scoreless inning of relief although another pair of walks pushed his season walk rate north of 9 BB/9 for 2022 and he had to get bailed out by a GREAT defensive play from Michael Harris II to avoid another meltdown.

A two run double off the bat of Jalen Miller (who is slashing .375/.419/.675 for the month of May) in the first inning was all the offense Mississippi had to speak of until the bottom of the seventh inning. After an RBI double from Logan Brown and an RBI single from Andrew Moritz made it a tie game, Michael Harris entered the chat with an RBI double that gave the MBraves the lead. Harris had advanced to third on a throwing error which proved to be fortuitous as he was able to score on a wild pitch to give Mississippi an insurance run. Between that and the catch he made to help Mississippi keep their newfound lead, its safe to say that Harris did his job on Wednesday.

Rome Braves 2, Aberdeen Ironbirds 1

Box Score

• Justyn-Henry Malloy, 3B: 1-3, 2B, RBI, .898 OPS
• Drew Campbell, CF: 1-3, BB, R, .683 OPS
• Luis De Avila, SP: 5 IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 3.67 ERA

It was a pitcher’s duel between Rome and Aberdeen on Wednesday evening with Rome ultimately prevailing by the final score of 2-1. While Luis De Avila has been a bit uneven this season in terms of the end results, when he is on…he is really good and overall, he has averaged a strikeout an inning all season. An arm worth keeping an eye on. RJ Freure got himself in a pickle in the sixth inning as he gave up a solo homer and then got pulled with runners on the corners, but Davis Schwab got a key strikeout to end the madness. Schwab and Ben Dum would then combine for three innings of scoreless relief the rest of the way.

Rome didn’t have much in the way of offense on their way to a W. Justyn-Henry Malloy’s sac fly in the first inning and Beau Philip’s RBI single in the top of the ninth accounted for all of Rome’s runs in the game. Malloy and Cody Milligan each had doubles in the game while Vaughn Grissom was not as fortunate as he is now hitless in his last three games (although he did reach via a walk in all three of those games).

Augusta GreenJackets 2, Charleston RiverDogs 4

Box Score

• Stephen Paolini, LF: 2-4, 2B, R, .598 OPS
• Mahki Backstrom, 1B: 1-2, RBI, 2 BB, .684 OPS
• Jordano Perez, SP: 4 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 4.20 ERA

It was a tough night for Augusta as they got put in a 4-1 hole in the fourth inning and were never able to come back with Charleston emerging victorious by the score of 4-2. Jordano Perez has only made three starts this and this was the worst of them. Ultimately, he just doesn’t miss a lot of bats which can create problems especially with a low-A defense behind you. He does throw a lot of strikes, though, so he is far from a lost cause and so far the results have been fine. Rolddy Munoz and Estarlin Rodriguez combined for four scoreless innings of relief, but unfortunately the damage had already been done.

There wasn’t much to speak off on offense as Caleb Durbin and Stephen Paolini each had multi-hit games. Mahki Backstrom reached base three times and drove in a run which is good news….however the fact that he strikes out almost half the time he comes to the plate is far less good.