In another double header appearance Ian Mejia threw seven scoreless innings
How does he keep doing this? Atlanta Braves prospect Ian Mejia has been the most dominant arm in the Southern League this month, and in four starts has yet to allow a run for Mississippi. He helped the Braves take a split of their double header. Rome is also on a roll with a five game winning streak and a first place spot in the division.
(26-28) Gwinnett Stripers 7, (28-26) Norfolk Tides 2
- Luke Williams, 1B: 2-4, 2B, HR, BB, 3 RBI, .250/.318/.461
- Luke Waddell, SS: 2-3, 2B, BB, RBI, .204/.294/.268
- Allan Winans, SP: 4.2 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 7 BB, 6 K, 4.43 ERA
- Daysbel Hernandez, RP: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 2.41 ERA
It’s been a mystery as to Allan Winans’s status over the past week or so as he missed his last turn in rotation with Gwinnett, so it was nice to see him finally pop up yesterday afternoon to make his start. That said it was an odd game for him, as although he had success stifling the Tides and forcing weak contact he issued seven walks which ultimately came back to get some runs on the board for Norfolk. Winans would be pulled after a couple of walks in the fifth inning, and reliever Taylor Widener allowed both of those inherited runners to score before he got a strikeout to end the fifth inning. At this point though Gwinnett had already built themselves up a nice lead, and Widener and Daysbel Hernandez would combine to shut down Norfolk the rest of the way.
Gwinnett got a chance to face off against a former Striper in Tucker Davidson, and the offense feasted against him notching seven hits as Davidson couldn’t clear the fifth inning. Luke Williams was the man who would break the game wide open in the third inning, ambushing the first pitch he saw from Davidson and hitting it out to left field for a three-run home run. Gwinnett would add on late in the game to run away with it, with Eli White providing a big leap in the seventh inning. He too got one he liked on the first pitch, clearing the center field wall with his first home run of the season. White has been a force against left handed pitchers in each of the last two seasons, putting up a 1.013 OPS against them in 2023 and 1.050 OPS against them this season.
(23-24) Mississippi Braves 3, (26-21) Montgomery Biscuits 0
- Nacho Alvarez, SS: 1-3, RBI, .269/.378/.319
- Drake Baldwin, C: 2-3, RBI, .247/.315/.335
- Ian Mejia, SP: 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 1.45 ERA
(23-25) Mississippi Braves 1, (27-21) Montgomery Biscuits 4
- Nacho Alvarez, SS: 0-2, BB, .269/.378/.319
- Drake Baldwin, DH: 0-3, .247/.315/.335
- Rolddy Munoz, SP: 2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 4.00 ERA
Mississippi split their evening double header with the Biscuits on Thursday, and Ian Mejia was the hero of game one pitching his second complete game shutout of the season as he comes back down after a spot start in Gwinnett. Mejia has had four outings with Mississippi this month, and in 26 2⁄3 innings has yet to allow a run with a total of eight hits. This was the third time in those four outings Mejia has gone seven innings with no runs allowed, and in a double header that was enough to go the distance in a Mississippi win. On the offensive end of things Justin Dean made his presence known early in the game, utilizing his speed on the bases to contribute to multiple runs for Mississippi. In the first inning Dean cracked a fastball up the middle for a base hit, then quickly took off for second and advanced to third base as the throw sailed into center field. He would score on a ground out from Nacho Alvarez. In the third inning Dean tapped one into the dead zone between the pitcher and first baseman, and with his speed beat out the throw to first base for his second hit. He then attempted a steal of second base again, getting caught in a rundown to allow Brandon Parker to score the second run from third but also in the process advancing safely on an errant throw. A bit later and Dean would score on a base hit from Drake Baldwin.
With no scheduled starter for the second game the Braves had to be creative to cover their seven innings, and the offense did not carry over to the second game. Dean struck out in all three of his plate appearances, and the top of the order as a whole was a disappointment. Mississippi’s hits both came in the bottom of the second inning, first from Cal Conley who rolled a soft grounder through the left side, then from Geraldo Quintero who floated a game-tying single into center field. Rolddy Munoz got the start for Mississippi and pitched his longest outing for them this season by completing two innings. Munoz allowed three hits and a run, but overall the contact against him wasn’t particularly loud.
(26-20) Rome Emperors 6, (20-28) Greenville Drive 5
- Ethan Workinger, LF: 3-5, 2B, HR, BB, 2 RBI, .271/.359/.424
- Sabin Ceballos, DH-3B: 1-5, BB, RBI, .293/.392/.380
- Mitch Farris, SP: 5.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 3.68 ERA
- Cory Wall, RP: 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 4.15 ERA
The Emperors are on a roll, and while it took a bit to make it official they won their fifth straight game after outlasting the Drive in 11 innings. Mitch Farris was brilliant through five innings, working quickly through the Drive order and utilizing his above average ability to locate and his changeup as a weapon to pile up six strikeouts. Finally though the Drive got their third look at Farris and hit him around a bit in the sixth inning, forcing him out of the game after he gave up two runs. Tyree Thompson then had to strand a runner to hold on to the Rome lead, and he did so successfully. Unfortunately though Thompson would crack in the seventh inning, allowing Greenville to come up with three runs to storm in front 5-3.
Rome’s offense was all over the basepaths in this game, with the leadoff hitter reaching base six times to always have the Drive in a little bit of trouble. Ethan Workinger did much of that damage, and he was involved in most of Rome’s critical rallies while coming up a triple short of the cycle. Workinger got Rome on the board first with his third inning home run, then in the fifth inning started off a rally with a double. Ultimately the Emperors scored twice in the latter of those innings to take a 3-0 lead.
After the Drive took the lead in the bottom of the seventh inning the Emperors needed a response, and it was ultimately the errors of the Greenville defense that led to them tying the game. Carlos Arroyo reached on catcher’s interference with one out, then soon after left the game as it appeared he hurt his knee while standing over at first base. This would ultimately lead to Sabin Ceballos having to give up the DH position to go play third base, meaning in extra innings we got a rare pitcher at bat. Back to the game at hand though, Nick Clarno grounded to second in what could have been an inning-ending double play, but an errant throw from the second baseman allowed all runners to reach safely and Rome made Greenville pay for these mistakes. A throwing error on a steal from Kevin Kilpatrick Jr. allowed a run to score, and then Sabin Ceballos tied the game by lining a base hit into left field. Both sides put up zeros in the tenth inning, and Greenville decided at this point the game had gone on long enough and put in their backup second baseman to pitch in the 11th inning. Ethan Workinger came up with an RBI single to give Rome the lead (and eventual win) but surprisingly Rome had a lot of trouble and only came up with one run in the inning.
(19-28) Augusta GreenJackets 0, (23-25) Fayetteville Woodpeckers 1
- Isaiah Drake, DH: 0-4, .105/.179/.145
- Robert Gonzalez, CF: 0-3, BB, .189/.273/.265
- Davis Polo: SP: 5.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 4.33 ERA
I expected some ugly baseball between these two teams, and we have certainly had a few interesting results in the first three games of the series. Davis Polo put up a nice start actually, going 5 1⁄3 innings and relying on Fayetteville’s aggression to rack up ground ball outs. His only really tough inning was the first when a couple of grounders from the Woodpeckers found holes in the defense to let up a run, and it turned out that was the only inning that mattered as Augusta gave him zero runs of support. Polo had a chance to cut down the run at the plate on a bouncer back to him, and he made a nice little flip home that was well ahead of the runner. However the tag from catcher Harry Owen came in a bit high, and to the surprise of both Owen and Polo. The umpire was correct from what I can tell, the tag was just too high on the body to prevent the foot touching home from beating it, but what a game where the lone run scored on a ball that rolled about 30 feet in front of home plate.
Augusta’s offense, despite not producing a run and only having three hits, still had plenty of chances to make this game at least be tied up. The GreenJackets went 0-10 with runners in scoring position, including in the third inning when Pier-Olivier Boucher led off with a single and then stole two bases only for the next three batters to all strand him. It was simply an ugly evening for the GreenJackets hitters who have overall had a rough season. Robert Gonzalez drew another walk at the plate and suddenly he has eight walks in his past six games to push his walk rate up to 10% on the year. Unfortunately like everyone else he is just not hitting. Isaiah Drake got off to a decent start when he returned from the injured list, but now has just one hit in his last 20 trips to the plate with no walks and 11 strikeouts.
(5-14) FCL Braves 6, (13-6) FCL Rays 4
- John Gil, SS: 2-4, RBI, .246/.338/.304
- John Estevez, LF: 0-2, 2 BB, .220/.360/.424
- Luis Arestigueta, SP: 4 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 3.00 ERA
I’m not sure why it is that the FCL Braves keep winning games when I have recap duty but I am not going to complain about it. It helps quite a bit that the start days for Luis Arestigueta and Jeremy Reyes have been lining up with me, and Arestigueta put out another quite impressive performance. The lone run on his register was unearned, and with five strikeouts he now has 21 in 15 innings this season. Arestigueta had four walks in his start last week which account for 2⁄3 of his total this year, so overall he has kept walks down though I should mention he hit three batters in this last start. Douglas Glod had a big afternoon for the Braves, reaching base three times and driving in two runs with a first inning double.