Nacho Alvarez is still in his rehab, but his showing on Sunday makes you wonder how far away he is in Atlanta. Nacho reached base safely in all five of his plate appearances on the day.
Sunday saw Nacho Alvarez turn in a memorable game, strong starts from Nathan Wiles and Brett Sears, a solid day from Jurickson Profar’s rehabbing bat, and good games from Patrick Clohisy and Owen Carey among others. The Atlanta Braves farm teams ended up splitting the day down the middle, 2-2, but we had things to watch at every level on Sunday.
Gwinnett Stripers 5, Charlotte Knights 4
- Nacho Alvarez, 3S: 2-2, 2B, 2 BB, 2 R, RBI, .455/.636/.682
- Jurickson Profar, DH: 1-4, BB, R, .400/.467/.680
- Nathan Wiles, SP: 7 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 6 K, 2.92 ERA
Nathan Wiles turned in a strong start, allowing just a pair of solo homers over seven innings with six strikeouts against no walks. Wiles racked up 16 swings and misses on his way to earning his second win of the season despite a 2.92 ERA. Enoli Paredes was next and allowed a pair of runs in an inning of work. Wander Suero pitched a perfect inning to pick up his eighth save of the season.
Nacho Alvarez’s rehab start went almost perfectly here, reaching base in all five of his plate appearances. Nacho singled, doubled, got hit by a pitch, and walked twice. Jurickson Profar’s rehab game was saw him go one for four with a walk and a run scored. Jonathan Ornelas added his second homer since coming to Gwinnett, while Carlos Rodriguez added two hits in five at bats in the win.
Swing and Misses
Nathan Wiles – 16
Wander Suero – 2
Columbus Clingstones 5, Birmingham Barons 1
- David McCabe, 3B: 2-4, R, .241/.350/.363
- Cade Bunnell, DH: 1-4, HR, 2 RBI, R, .171/.318/.357
- Brett Sears, SP: 7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 5 K, 4.10 ERA
Brett Sears turned in a dominant start on Sunday. Over seven innings of four hit ball, he allowed only one run and no walks while striking out five. This now gives him three strong outings in his first five appearances in Double-A. Jose Cuas and Austin Smith each threw a scoreless frame to finish this game out.
A pair of two-run homers, by Adam Zebrowski and Cade Bunnell ended up making all the difference for the Clingstones and powering their offense to a win. Only two of the Clingstones ended up on base multiple times in this one, David McCabe, who went two for four, and Cody Milligan, who had a single, walk, and made if I wasn’t about to make a mistake.
Swing and Misses
Brett Sears – 8
Winston-Salem Dash 2, Rome Emperors 1
- Patrick Clohisy, RF/CF: 2-3, BB, R, SB, .238/.339/.335
- Cedric De Grandpre, SP: 2.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 4 K, 4.29 ERA
- Samuel Strickland, SP: 3.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 1.64 ERA
Sunday was Cedric De Grandpre’s turn to start, and although he gutted his way through nearly three innings, allowing one run, Cedric struggled with his command. De Grandpre walked three, and threw nearly half as many balls (28) as strikes (32). Still it was another outing where he showed he can get some swing and misses without his best command. Samuel Strickland was next, and he was perfect through three and a third innings. Strickland, who struck out four, picked up seven swings and misses. Ryan Bourassa was next, and he allowed a run during his inning of work to shut down the Dash. Finally Jacob Gomez came on for the final inning, and short of one walk, he kept the Dash off the bases.
The Rome offense just never got started in this one. The Emperors managed just two hits as a team, with Patrick Clohisy going two for three with a walk, the only Emperors run, and a stolen base. Keshawn Ogans also walked twice, while Titus Dumitru walked and stole a baseball. Luke Waddell and Will Verdung both failed to reach base in the loss, with Waddell having four plate appearances and Verdung owning three.
Swing and Misses
Samuel Strickland – 7
Cedric De Grandpre – 5
Jacob Gomez – 2
Lynchburg Hillcats 2, Augusta GreenJackets 1
- Owen Carey, CF: 3-4, .281/.351/.378
- Mason Guerra, DH: 2-4, 2 2B, R, .240/.389/.473
- Samuel Mejia, RP: 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K, 4.57 ERA
This game became a bit of a bullpen game by necessity. Luis Arestigueta made the start, and went an inning, allowing two runs on a hit and a pair of walks – but had a high pitch count and was forced out of the game. Jackson Dannelley was next up and in two scoreless frames where he allowed a hit and a walk, he stuck out three and picked up eight swings and misses. Juan Sanchez also pitched two scoreless innings, though allowed a pair of walks to account for the pair of base runners he allowed. Finally Samuel Mejia was dominant, going four scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and two walks, and striking out five. Combined the quartet allowed two runs on three hits with seven walks and 12 strikeouts, with all of the runs scoring coming in that first inning.
Augusta’s offense struggled to get going minus two guys. Owen Carey went three for four, while Mason Guerra was two of four with a pair of doubles. Those two accounted for five of the eight GreenJackets hits, with Nick Montgomery going one for four with an RBI, Roiber Niazoa picking up a double, and Leiker Figueroa picking up a hit out of the nine hole. John Gil did walk in his four plate appearances, while both Isaiah Drake and Douglas Glod failed to reach base.
Swing and Misses
Jackson Dannelley – 8
Samuel Mejia – 7
Juan Sanchez – 5
Luis Arestigueta – 4