Excitement turned to concern as Isaiah Drake pulled up with an apparent hamstring injury in the fifth inning of Augusta’s loss
If you’re a fan of offense then it probably wasn’t a pretty day for you, as the Atlanta Braves were off and their affiliates didn’t exactly make up for it in any huge way. This doesn’t apply to Ethan Workinger, however, who stayed red hot for the Rome Braves in a win.
(9-9) Gwinnett Stripers 1, (8-10) Memphis RedBirds 3
- JP Martinez, CF: 0-3, BB, .305/.406/.508
- Luke Waddell, SS: 1-4, .213/.294/.328
- Dylan Dodd, SP: 5 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 4.22 ERA
- Daysbel Hernandez, RP: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 3.86 ERA
Dylan Dodd put out an ugly line in his start for Gwinnett, his second such outing as his command again isn’t at the level it was a couple of years ago when he had his breakout season. The Braves seem to have him putting a heavy emphasis on his changeup development, with an uptick in usage up to 33% in this start. Results were mixed, as he wasn’t really getting the RedBirds batters to bite even with fairly successful location on the pitch, though they didn’t do much damage with the contact they made. Dodd was able to work around trouble in the early innings and completed four scoreless, but in the fifth Memphis stacked up extra base hits against him. The RedBirds came away with their only three runs in the game and that was all they needed to take a win against a struggling Gwinnett offense.
Gwinnett’s savior Sandy Leon certainly had another good game with a hit and a walk, but it wasn’t enough as the offense really had little success against Cardinals #8 prospect Gordon Graceffo and the rest of the Memphis pitching staff. Hard contact was at a premium for both sides, and Gwinnett combined their weak contact with 11 strikeouts. Gwinnett strung together second inning hits with a base hit from Luke Waddell and Sandy Leon, giving them a chance to take an early lead.with only one out in the inning. Luis Liberato put one in play, but with it chopped right at third base Waddell was caught in a tough spot and got caught in a rundown and tagged out. The Stripers came away empty-handed, but that wouldn’t be the case in the third inning. JP Martinez drew a walk with one out, and a bunt from Alejo Lopez saw him reach safely to once again give Gwinnett a scoring chance. Leury Garcia flew one deep into center field, and though it fell short and into the glove of the center fielder on the warning track that was enough to advance both runners a base. This would be key as Gwinnett got a run off of a wild pitch. Gwinnett for the remainder of the game did little to nothing offensively, with the only notable swing being a double from Lopez in the second inning that went nowhere from a scoring perspective.
(4-8) Mississippi Braves 0, (7-5) Birmingham Barons 2
- Nacho Alvarez, SS: 1-4, .318/.434/.341
- Drake Baldwin, C: 0-3, BB, .225/.279/.225
- Geraldo Quintero, LF: 3-3, BB, SB, .231/.333/.269
- Luis De Avila, SP: 6 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 4.73 ERA
Luis De Avila was partially the victim of his own defense, but it was also bad luck that sparked an early deficit for Mississippi. A grounder that trickled right down the first base line had De Avila in the stretch after two pitches, and after he threw a pickoff away he was in serious trouble when a perfect bunt put runners at the corners. De Avila worked out of trouble as best he could, getting the first of three double plays in the game, but the first run also came in on this play. Birmingham consistently made contact against De Avila and kept the bases busy with nine hits, but it felt often like De Avila was a victim of batted ball luck as it was rare to see a hard hit ball off of him in this outing. One of those hard hit balls came in the fourth inning when a triple scored a run and doubled the Birmingham lead. De Avila largely pitched to weak contact throughout the game and managed to end up with a decent final line allowing only one unearned run across six innings. Mississippi’s bullpen remained a buzzsaw, with Jake McSteen and Trey Riley extending their hot starts with scoreless innings.
Mississippi made just as much contact in this game as Birmingham did, but saw fewer of their hits fall. They also weren’t the victims of poor play quite as often, with three Mississippi errors looming large on the scoreboard. Geraldo Quintero was the only one consistently on the bases, managing to get three hits off of soft contact, but each of the four times he reached base the offense behind him failed to capitalize. In the ninth he led off with a walk and Tyler Tolve followed with a single to give the Braves two out life, but consecutive strikeouts ended the game in shutout fashion. The top of Mississippi’s order has cooled in a major way, and out of the top six only Nacho Alvarez has an OPS above .620. Alvarez himself has cooled in recent days with strikeouts ticking up a bit for him, including one today, but he is still by far the most productive of the trio at the top of the lineup and is reaching base at a good clip. He had a hit today along with a well-struck line drive that was unfortunately right at the third baseman. Drake Baldwin is the one whose lack of production has really been a problem, as when Milligan and Alvarez have gotten on base he just hasn’t been able to keep rallies going. This is a similar look to the start he had in 2023, where early in the season he was struggling to pick out pitches to drive with consistency. Hopefully he can show a similar turnaround this season and provide more of a spark than what Mississippi is currently getting.
(6-5) Rome Emperors 8, (6-6) Asheville Tourists 5
- Kevin Kilpatrick Jr., CF: 3-5, 2B, .317/.378/.390
- Sabin Ceballos, 3B: 0-3, 2 BB, .250/.375/.325
- Ethan Workinger, LF: 2-3, HR, BB, RBI, .344/.475/.625
- Daniel Martinez, SP: 4 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, 2.25 ERA
- Elison Joseph, RP: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 0.00 ERA
You simply have to love our yearly Asheville blackouts, where the most absurd stadium in the league doesn’t bother to have a feed for us and it’s all going to be box score writing. For those who aren’t aware, Asheville is an absolute bandbox and that’s why an 8-5 game like this isn’t even particularly abnormal. For reference, Great American Ballpark had a home run park factor of about 130 in 2024, and the Tourists’s home park sat at 152. Ethan Workinger took advantage of that with a ninth inning home run, though for all we know it could have been an absolute moonshot it’s quite hard to tell from a gameday blurb. Workinger has really been carrying Rome’s offense early in the year, with a 1.100 OPS and 31.8% of the team’s run production. Kevin Kilpatrick Jr. has cooled significantly, but not today as he had three hits at the top of the lineup. Sabin Ceballos had two walks in the game, and Stephen Paolini also was a standout with two hits and three RBIs. Paolini’s slash line hasn’t been great this year, but he has looked genuinely improved at the plate (obviously not an observation from this game). Paolini has cut his strikeouts significantly and has six walks and six strikeouts through 32 plate appearances, and has looked by far the most confident and comfortable he ever has at bat in the early going. He has always been a project bat for the Braves, and while it’s highly unlikely he makes any noise moving forward it is good to see some of that potential in a game.
Pitching wasn’t much to talk about in this game. Daniel Martinez struggled with four walks, but he managed to also beat up a bit on younger hitters holding Asheville to a run on one hit across four innings. Landon Harper allowed two home runs leading to four runs across three innings of relief, perhaps a victim of the ballpark’s nature for big flies. Elison Joseph is an interesting older relief arm with a huge fastball and command problems even fatter, but through two outings he has no walks and four strikeouts. Yesterday it was a scoreless inning with three strikeout, and if he can keep the ball even remotely close to the zone he has the stuff to get outs at a high level.
(6-6) Augusta GreenJackets 3, (10-2) Carolina Mudcats 4
- Isaiah Drake, CF: 1-2, 3B, BB, RBI, .100/.213/.150
- Diego Benitez, SS: 1-4, RBI, .211/.286/.263
- Didier Fuentes, SP: 4.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 3.38 ERA
The good news is that Isaiah Drake had his best game as a GreenJacket in this loss. The very bad news is that on his best swing as a GreenJacket he made it about 200 of the 270 feet necessary for his fifth inning triple before pulling up with injury. Drake dropped his bat and turned on a pitch down an in, ripping a hard line drive down the right field line. With his speed it was clear for the beginning three bases was goal, and he did make it that far with an RBI triple. Unfortunately he also pulled up after he rounded second, grabbing his left hamstring and hopping the rest of the way there. Drake immediately left the game without even a visit from the trainer, and it’s worth mentioning that this may be a nagging injury for him. In a game last week Drake pulled up a bit and favored that same hamstring as he came in to score from second base on a play, and though he would ultimately stay in that game it is a concern to see that same injury crop back up. How long this has been an issue and whether that has affected his early season play isn’t really clear, though I would lean towards assuming that incident last week was the first if it is in fact a reoccurring issue.
Outside of that minor nightmare the GreenJackets also lost the game, with the inconsistencies of Didier Fuentes hurting them in the end. Fuentes has struggled in the first inning of both of his outings this season, and while he got two quick outs he walked the next two batters before a fly ball just cleared the wall in left center field for a three-run home run. Fuentes largely looked better the rest of the game and his command was better than the first game, but he wasn’t forcing many whiffs and relied on his running fastball to force ground balls which isn’t always the best strategy with a Single-A defense but it worked. Augusta’s defense turned four double plays in this game, though they also had throwing errors from Leiker Figueroa and Diego Benitez. Benitez has been an interesting case, showing some pitch recognition problems early but other times flashes of the potential that made him a top-level signing. I should specify here that I mean this on offense, as his defense is far, far behind his bat. Benitez needs to see breaking stuff better, but that’s a common concern with any 19 year old, and when he has been making contact it’s generally been quality contact. Today he came up in that fifth inning and delivered a big hit, sending a line drive right back up the middle for a base hit to tie the game.
With the game back even the GreenJackets relied on Beau Philip for three innings, with Philip showcasing a three pitch mix of fastball, slider, and changeup. Unfortunately the Mudcats were kind of sitting on Philip’s fastball, and while double plays allowed him to work around trouble for a few innings Carolina was finally able to get the ball in the air. A leadoff double in the eighth inning would spell trouble for Augusta, and with Zack Austin on to relieve Philip the game finally flipped. After a walk Austin got a ground ball over to third base with a chance to at least get a force play. The run would have scored anyways, but Leiker Figueroa made a great play to dive to his left and stop a potentially big hit. He then turned and threw an absolute missile into right field about four feet over the head of Cam Magee trying to cover. This ultimately didn’t really hurt Augusta as Benitez would turn a double play to end the inning. Also shoutout to Philip, who in the seventh inning made an impressive snag on a line drive back to him to start an inning-ending 1-3 double play. Augusta did nothing over the final 1 2⁄3 innings, before Kade Kern beat out a two out infield single. On the play the ball got past the first baseman, and Kern seeing this made a slight twitch/step towards second base. The umpire interpreted this as a move towards second (I actually don’t think this was a bad call, Kern even knew to get back to the base afterwards), then interpreted the tag on Kern after Kern’s foot was on the base first as the final out of the game (this was the bad call).