It was a very busy day down on the farm with a mixed bag of results from Gwinnett down to Augusta. There were plenty of homers and strikeouts to go around, so let’s get into it.
(42-45) Gwinnett Stripes 3, (54-35) Memphis Redbirds 7
- Sandy Leon, C: 1-3, HR, RBI, R
- Brewer Hicklen, CF: 1-5, HR, RBI, R
- Garrett Baumann, SP: 6 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
Garrett Baumann got roughed up in his fifth start for Gwinnett, as the righty gave up five runs on seven hits while being handed the loss in this one.
Wednesday’s outing marks the fourth straight start in which Baumann has allowed five or more earned runs as he currently carries an ERA of 10.38 across 21.2 innings
of work at the triple-A level. While he’s kept the walks under control for the most part, Baumann has been giving up a ton of loud contact to the tune of 10 homers across those 21.2 innings. That’s simply not going to cut it at any level, much less triple-A.
One has to wonder how long the leash for Baumann is with Gwinnett before he’s sent back down to double-A to correct a few things.
At the plate, the Stripers actually almost matched Memphis hit for hit in this one, but ultimately came up short.
Two of the bright spots offensively came courtesy of Sandy Leon and Brewer Hicklen who launched their first and 15th homers of the season, respectively, to pace the offense.
(37-41) Columbus Clingstones 3, (31-52) Birmingham Barons 2
- Luke Waddell, SS: 2-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 2 R
- Patrick Clohisy, CF: 2-3, 2B, R
- Lucas Braun, SP: 7 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 12 K
While their triple-A counterparts struggled on the mound, the same could not be said for Columbus as the Clingstones rode an absolutely dominant and record-setting performance from Lucas Braun to their 37th win of the season.
To date, Wednesday’s start was the best of the season for Braun, who struck out an even dozen batters in seven innings of work while holding Birmingham to just two runs on six hits. The 12 strikeout mark sets a Clingstones’ franchise record.
It’s the sixth straight solid start for Braun. Dating back to June 6, Braun has tossed 35.1 innings while giving up just six runs in the process. He has also struck out a dominating 40 batters across that span as well.
It appears as though Braun has made some serious corrections since being demoted from Gwinnett. Now the only question is: when will he rejoin the Stripers?
Getting back to Wednesday’s action, while Braun’s offense was almost as stymied, the Clingstones scratched out enough at the plate to get the win — thanks in large part to the bat of Luke Waddell.
With a pair of homers on the night, Waddell both paced the Columbus offense while also tallying his best start of the season thus far while also driving in all three of the Clingstones’ runs as well.
Patrick Clohisy also had a solid night at the plate, going 2-3 with a double and a run scored on one of Waddell’s homers.
(40-40) Rome Emperors 2, (39-42) Hudson Valley Renegades 7
- Tate Southisene, SS: 1-3, HR, RBI, R
- John Gil, 2B: 0-3
- Eric Hartman, CF: 0-4, K
- Ethan Bagwell, SP: 5 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
Rome came up on the short end of things on Wednesday to drop the high-A squad back down to .500 on the season.
Ethan Bagwell made his second start of the season for Rome on Wednesday and while it wasn’t as good as his first — in which he tossed six scoreless frames — it was still a somewhat decent outing for the righty. Across five innings of work, Bagwell surrendered eight hits, two of which were homers, and four runs while walking a pair and striking out three.
Offense was hard to come by in this one for Rome as the Emperors were limited to just two runs on three total hits across nine innings.
Colby Jones registered a double and John Estevez singled, but the biggest swing of the night came courtesy of Tate Southisene who took a backdoor breaking ball and pulled it over the left center field wall for his third homer of the season with the Emperors.
(47-36) Augusta GreenJackets , (46-35) Hickory Crawdads 7
- Luis Guanipa, CF: 4-5, HR, RBI, 2 R
- Conor Essenburg, RF: 2-4, HR, 2 RBI, 2 R, BB
- Alex Lodise, SS: 3-4, HR, 2 RBI, R
- Cooper McMurray, 1B: 2-4, HR, 2B, RBI, R
- Michael Martinez, DH: 1-4, HR, 2 RBI, R
- Carter Holton, SP: 4 IP, 9 H, 4 ER, BB, 4 K
In an offensive-dominated game, the GreenJackets ultimately rode five home runs from five different players to victory on Wednesday night.
Both offenses got going in a hurry as six total runs (three apiece) were scored in the first inning.
Trailing 3-0, Luis Guanipa homered in the GreenJackets first at-bat of the game to put Augusta on the board. Then, after a Conor Essenburg walk, Alex Lodise launched a an absolute rocket of a two-run shot to tie things up at 3-3.
The month of July has been very good to Lodise who has seen a power surge at the plate. In seven games and 27 at-bats since July 1, Lodise has homered three times while driving in six along the way. He has also posted an OPS of 1.049 for the month as well.
Starter Carter Holton didn’t have his best stuff as he gave up four runs on nine hits across four innings in his fourth start (fifth total appearance) with Augusta.
While that wasn’t great, his offense luckily came out to play.
In the bottom of the fifth, Conor Essenburg decided to get in on the fun by launching a solo shot — his seventh of the season — to cut the deficit to 5-4. In the next frame, Michael Martinez smashed a two-run homer of his own to give Augusta the 6-5 lead.
As if that wasn’t enough, Cooper McMurray — who doubled earlier in the game — followed up with a solo shot in the very next at-bat to extend the GreenJackets lead to 7-5.
Essenburg came through with a much-needed insurance run later in the inning — an RBI-single — to make it an 8-5 advantage for Augusta, which proved to be critical.
As for the rest of the GreenJackets pitching staff, Logan Forsythe, Daniel Brookes and Adiel Melendez — who recorded the win — combined to toss five innings of three-run ball while striking out five.
