Braves Minor League Recap: Nick Montgomery homers in second straight game

Nick Montgomery and the GreenJackets picked up win 30 of the season.

(35-27) Memphis Redbirds 4, (24-40) Gwinnett Stripers 2

• Jonathan Ornelas, SS: 2-for-3, BB, R, .231/.302/.231
• Carlos Rodríguez, RF: 2-for-4, 3B, RBI, R, .300/.355/.347
• Nathan Wiles, SP: 6IP 7H 4ER 2BB 4K, 2.64 ERA
• Wander Suero, RP: 1IP 1H 0R 2BB 1K, 1.14 ERA

Box Score

The Stripers dropped another game again thanks to a rough offensive performance. Nathan Wiles moved to 1-6 on the season despite a great 2.64 ERA, including picking up the loss despite six innings of four run baseball. He would be followed by a trio of relievers in Austin Cox, Kevin Herget, and Wander Suero who would shut down the Redbirds over the final three innings giving the Stripers a chance to mount a comeback, unfortunately the offense fell flat after a fun start to the game. With one out, Jonathan Ornelas singled and was brought home on a triple by Carlos Rodríguez. He would then score on a passed ball with two outs. Matthew Batten would walk, and Eddy Alvarez would be hit by a pitch to load the bases, but Jason Delay would end the threat with a fly out.

The next twelve Stripers in a row would be retired before Jonathan would single to start the sixth. He would be moved to second on Carlos Rodríguez’s second hit of the game before they both would be stranded. That would be the last true threat of the game for the Stripers as the offense would struggle to get anything started in any other inning.

(26-31) Knoxville Smokies 6, (24-30) Columbus Clingstones 7

• Ethan Workinger, DH: 1-for-4, 2B, 3 RBI, .241/.319/.459
• David McCabe, 3B: 1-for-4, .254/.377/.408
• Drew Compton, 1B: 1-for-3, 2R, BB, .261/.342/.358
• E.J. Exposito 2B: 2-for-3, R, BB, .667/.750/.667 (.277/.375/.489)
• Ian Mejia, SP: 5IP 7H 6ER 3BB 5K, 2.05 ERA
• Landon Harper, RP: 4IP 2H 0R 0BB 7K, 1.94

Box Score

You know it’s your season when you have the worst outing of your season and you still pick up the win. That’s what happened with Ian Mejia who was very un-Ian like as he walked three and gave up six earned runs, including a solo shot. The six runs were easily the most he had given up on the season which caused his ERA to rise from 1.21 to 2.05 on the season. Landon Harper, however, would come in and absolutely shut down the Smokies as he fired four scoreless innings and earned himself the save. Landon has pitched in every conceivable role this season and has just excelled in every single one of them.

The reason Ian was able to pick up the win, outside of the stellar pitching by Landon, was a very strong offensive performance by the Clingstones as everyone in the lineup was able to reach base at least once. After going down 5-0 over the games first 1.5 innings, the Clingstones offense would erupt for six runs in the bottom of the second starting with this Kevin Kilpatrick Jr. two run single.

Two batters later Cal Conley would single in a run himself making the score 5-3. The big blow would come one batter later when Ethan Workinger hit this bases clearing double

They would add on their seventh, and final, run of the game in the next inning on an Adam Zebrowski single. The Clingstones offense would then be held scoreless in the last five innings of the game but still pick up the win.

E.J. Exposito made his Columbus Clingstones debut and went 2-for-3.

(38-19) Greensboro Grasshoppers 8, (27-31) Rome Emperors 2

• Will Verdung, 1B: 1-for-3, R, BB, .299/.388/.358
• Justin Janas, RF: 3-for-4, 2R HR, 2 RBI, R, .256/.324/.355
• Ambioris Tavarez, 2B: 1-for-4, .238/.336/.314
• Cory Wall, SP: 3IP 3H 1ER 0BB 3K, 1.05 ERA

Box Score

The Emperors fell apart late in a rough loss to the Grasshoppers. Rome lead this game entering the eighth inning at 2-1 before the bullpen faltered late – allowing three runs in the eight and four runs in the ninth. Cory Wall earned the spot start and pitched effectively – allowing just one earned run over the games first three innings. He would be relived by Giomar Diaz who was outstanding (3IP 1H 0R 1BB 2K) in shutting down the Grasshoppers offensive giving the Emperors the chance to take the lead at 2-1 from this Justin Janas two run homer.

After Ryan Bourassa had a quick seventh inning getting the Grasshoppers to go 1-2-3, he struggled in the eighth, allowing three stolen bases, and a three run homerun. It didn’t get much better in the ninth as Logan Samuels would be tagged for a two run homerun of his own as the GreenJackets fell 8-2.

(30-26) Augusta GreenJackets 5, (28-30) Charleston RiverDogs 1

• Owen Carey, LF: 1-for-5, RBI, .275/.351/.382
• Isaiah Drake, CF: 0-for-2, 2 BB, .261/.349/.383
• Nick Montgomery, C: 1-for-3, 2 RBI, R, BB, .169/.260/.292
• Mason Guerra, 1B: 2-for-4 2B, R, RBI, .232/.376/.455
• David Rodriguez, SP: 3IP 2H 1ER 0BB 1K, 4.63 ERA

Box Score

David Rodriguez got his first start of the season and turned in a good one, in a well pitched game for the GreenJackets. David, along with Reibyn Corona, Albert Rivas, and Justin Long limited the RiverDogs to just five hits with one being an extra-base hit. The RiverDogs had just four total opportunities with runners in scoring position to which they went 0-for-4.

With the game tied 1-1 in the fourth inning, Nick Montgomery hit a two run homerun to give the GreenJackets a 3-1 lead.

That makes it two games in a row in which Nick has homered. They would add on their two additional runs in the seventh inning from a first pitch single by Luis Sanchez to push it to 4-1. Following a strikeout by John Gil, Owen Carey pushed the lead to 5-1 with a first pitch single of his own.

Isaiah Drake reached base twice today and picked up stolen base 20th on the season. After Owen Carey’s single, he picked up his 10th stolen base of the season as well. Justin Long’s impressive season continued with another scoreless outing. He has now held opponents scoreless in 8 of his 10 outings.

(10-17) FCL Braves 2, (13-15) FCL Red Sox 11

• Nacho Alvarez Jr., 3B: 0-for-1, 2 BB, .000/.400/.400
• Jose Perdomo, SS: 0-for-4, .224/.278/.306
• Juan Mateo, DH: 2-for-4, 2B, .287/.357/.337
• Junior Garcia, RF: 0-for-4, .215/.279/.392
• Manuel Dos Passos, C: 1-for-4, 2B, RBI, .289/.396/.489
• Kendy Richard, SP: 4.2IP 5H 3R 2ER 2BB 3K, 3.66 ERA

Box Score

The Braves struggled to stop the Red Sox and struggled to find a hit with a runner in scoring position (1-for-11), a recipe for a rough game which is exactly what happened. Juan Mateo, the $10K signing continues to look the strongest on a very good FCL Braves roster that has serious upside. A rehabbing Nacho Alvarez went 0-for-1 with a pair of walks before exiting the game. The defensively gifted Manuel Dos Passos collected yet another XBH and now has an .885 OPS.

(1-6) DSL Cubs Red 4, (4-3) DSL Braves 5

• Elias Reyno, DH: 1-for-3, 2 BB, RBI, R, .300/.483/.400
• Juan Espinal, RF: 1-for-2, R, 2 BB, .238/.407/.476
• Diego Tornes, CF: 1-for-5, SB, .154/.267/.192
• Luisberth Valdez, SP: 4IP 0H 0R 2BB 7K, 6.75 ERA

Box Score

Impressive start for Luisberth Valdez who struck out seven over four innings of work. Everyone in the lineup for the Braves had exactly one hit, while also totaling eight singles. They picked up the win despite stranding 13 runners and going 3-for-10 with runners in scoring position. After starting the season 0-for-7, Diego Tornes has at least one hit in the last four games.