(50-70) Gwinnett Stripers 7, (64-55) Memphis Redbirds 1
- David McCabe, 1B: 1-4, HR, 2 RBI, .250/.250/1.000
- Carlos Rodriguez, LF: 2-4, HR, RBI, .265/.334/.348
- Blake Burkhalter, RP: 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 3.63 ERA
- Hayden Harris, RP: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 0.42 ERA
It has been a long time coming for David McCabe to get the call to Triple-A, and he wasted no time ingratiating himself to the Stripers lineup. The Redbirds decided to challenge McCabe with velocity, throwing fastballs on seven of the eight pitches he saw, and while it took a few at bats he did eventually turn one around. His first three at bats were quiet, with a couple of ground balls and a routine fly out to center field on a hittable fastball, but the Redbirds came into the strike
zone one too many times. McCabe got a 91 mph fastball in the heart of the plate on the top of the strike zone and he didn’t miss, crushing a 410 foot home run that capped off the scoring for Gwinnett. It was another piece of evidence in a wild power surge for McCabe, who has vaulted up and is the system leader in batting average, slugging percentage, and wRC+ by a wide margin. The rest of the offense was on their game as well, with two other home runs in the game and seven hard-hit balls in the air. Jesus Bastidas provided one of these home runs and three of the team’s hard hit balls, continuing his strong play since Gwinnett acquired him. Bastidas hit safely in every game last week and has seven RBI and 12 hits over his past seven games.
It was a complete team win for the Stripers, as the pitching staff combined five pitchers to allow only one run in this game, with Blake Burkhalter delivering the strongest outing. Anderson Pilar, acquired last week, had the toughest outing of the crew, allowing three of the five hits and the only run over two innings of work, but he never pitched in the game while tied or trailing. Gwinnett led wire-to-wire, and Burkhalter has now had a few good outings in a row. This was the peak, however, as he deployed his best fastball/cutter command since moving up to Triple-A, and racked up whiffs with those two pitches. His changeup was also effective, giving him three effective pitches to work with despite his curveball not being a factor. Burkhalter’s curveball has really been a problem pitch for most of the time in Triple-A and they’ll need to do work on it so he can effectively locate it and use it for whiffs, but he’s otherwise been solid overall and today he showed a handful of his best changeups at the level. Hayden Harris of course went two scoreless innings, and it seems like he might never allow a run again, though he had some issues with his location this game. His release point was a bit more inconsistent than we’ve seen at times recently, and as a result he wasn’t elevating his fastball to and above the top of the zone while also not being able to bury his sweeper down. As a result the Redbirds did make contact, but it was poor contact and Harris retired every batter he faced.
Swing and Misses
Blake Burkhalter – 7
Hayden Harris – 2
(48-64) Columbus Clingstones 0, (59-55) Pensacola Blue Wahoos 3
- Adam Zebrowski, C: 2-4, 2B, .218/.281/.347
- Patrick Clohisy, CF: 2-5, .328/.375/.463
- Landon Harper, SP: 5 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, 3.81 ERA
- Elison Joseph, RP: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 3.38 ERA
Columbus had some offensive success in their first game of the post-McCabe era, but a lack of extra base power and timely hitting stranded eleven runners on base and sunk them to a shutout. The lineup almost top to bottom had an excellent day with all but one player reaching base and five players reaching multiple times, but every time they needed it the Clingstones came up short. They spent most of this game playing from behind despite Landon Harper not having a terrible game, but the Blue Wahoos were able to jump on him for early runs. He wasn’t commanding the ball as sharply as he tends to and left pitches over the plate, and the biggest hit came in the second inning when a two-run blast put Columbus in a 3-0 hole. Though his control continued to waver at times Harper was able to settle in and get Columbus through five, but the early struggles stuck with the team and they never made a significant comeback.
A big chance came immediately in the bottom of the second inning, when Drew Compton laced a single up the middle to lead off. The Clingstones would end up loading the bases on a hit from Cal Conley and a walk to Kevin Kilpatrick, but couldn’t manage a critical hit with a runner in scoring position. Some of that, though, can’t be attributed to poor hitting. EJ Exposito had a sharp grounder over to shortstop, but a diving attempt turned a potential RBI single into a force out for the second out of the inning. Pat Clohisy, with the bases loaded, hit a deep drive to right center field but it hung up just a bit too much in the power alley and the center fielder ran it down on the warning track for the final out. That ended up being by far their best chance to score in the game, as they were otherwise unable to string hits together. Clohisy’s two hits continue his strong August, and he has multiple hits in three straight games. His power numbers from the first week haven’t reappeared and Clohisy’s walk rate has taken a major tumble, but he is the most consistent hitter remaining in this lineup at making solid contact, and has earned his good numbers so far.
Swing and Misses
Landon Harper – 10
Elison Joseph – 3
(50-63) Rome Emperors 3, (48-65) Asheville Tourists 1
- Colby Jones, 2B: 2-4, .385/.429/.415
- Alex Lodise, SS: 0-4, BB, .229/.288/.354
- Cody Miller, 3B: 1-5, .200/.200/.200
- Luke Sinnard, SP: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, 4.50 ERA
It’s an exciting time of the season for the Rome Emperors, but unfortunately for the week we are going to be stuck without a chance to watch them on MiLB.tv thanks to Asheville not streaming games. As a result, Luke Sinnard’s gem was lost to us as he dominated with eight strikeouts over five scoreless innings. In Asheville’s hitter-friendly environment it is always beneficial for a pitcher to keep the ball on the ground, and Sinnard did just that by also forcing six ground ball outs while having no fly outs. For Sinnard this is a great bounceback performance as he has been on a bit of a poor stretch with declining numbers in each of his past three games, and especially in his last two control has been an issue. This is his best start so far as an Emperor, though Atlanta seems like they’re going to keep him on a strict 80 pitch limit through the rest of the season.
Thanks to the work of Sinnard and his opponent, this game breezed through the first five innings and neither team was able to mount a scoring rally. Rome would take the first chance they got to jump on a reliever, with Cody Miller leading off in the sixth inning with his first High-A hit. This would go to waste on a double play, but thanks to an error which extended the inning the Emperors were able to cobble together the first run. Justin Janas and Mason Guerra had back-to-back two out singles, scoring Logan Braunschweig. Those three came together in the eighth inning as well, with three consecutive two outs hits from the trio to push home two key insurance runs. The Tourists managed a run late, but with the tying run on second base Riley Frey got a strikeout to hold them in place, and Isaac Gallegos came in to clean up the inning and prevent late disaster. Braunschweig’s late hit was exactly what he needed to protect his long hitting streak. After going hitless in his first two games he has now hit in an even ten straight, and only has four strikeouts in 12 games.
Swing and Misses
Luke Sinnard – 12
Riley Frey – 7
(61-50) Augusta GreenJackets 2, (53-60) Columbia Fireflies 3
- Eric Hartman, CF: 2-4, .261/.361/.401
- Tate Southisene, SS: 1-4, 2 RBI, .250/.250/.250
- Ethan Bagwell, SP: 6.2 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 2.20 ERA
- Owen Hackman, RP: 1.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 3.77 ERA
Typically we would have the benefit of MiLB tv for Augusta games, but it couldn’t have come at a worse time for them to have feed issues. We lost this entire game from the feed, and that robbed us of seeing Tate Southisene’s professional debut and first hit. The Atlanta Braves first round pick got off to a bit of a disappointing start in this game with two strikeouts, but when he did come through he did so in a big way. Southisene drove in two runs in the sixth inning, giving Augusta a 2-1 lead. The offense as a whole really struggled, however, and the only player outside of Southisene to get a hit was Eric Hartman. He added two of them, and while his power has dropped off a bit this month, especially since having a home run and a double in the first two games, he has been getting on base at a high clip and has cut a huge piece out of his strikeout rate. Hartman has a .419 on base percentage and is perfect on his nine stolen base attempts this month. His on base percentage is up to .361 on the season, and if he can maintain that it’s a mark only reached by a Braves teenager at this level four other times in the past 20 years — Freddie Freeman, Jason Heyward, Ozzie Albies, and unfortunately also Braxton Davidson.
Ethan Bagwell put up his longest start of the season, pitching into the seventh inning at a high level despite not having much swing-and-miss on the register. That has been a steady theme for him this season, but he has limited walks and forced a lot of ground balls, and has been able to limit runs as a result. He did have to contend with a bit of traffic on the basepaths as seven Fireflies managed hits, but they were ending at bats early in counts and the only RBI came on an infield single. The pitching staff held on to the 2-1 lead until the end of the game, when Juan Sanchez and Jhonly Taveras had a disastrous inning. Sanchez walked the first batter he faced, but seemed like he would still close the game out when he struck out the next two. That wouldn’t be the case. He walked three straight batters, forcing home the tying run, and handed the ball over to Taveras. Taveras immediately walked home another run, giving Columbia the lead, and Augusta went down 1-2-3 in the ninth inning.
Swing and Misses
Juan Sanchez – 6
Ethan Bagwell – 5
Owen Hackman – 2
(22-31) DSL Braves 7, (29-26) DSL Astros Orange 4
- Angel Carmona, SS: 1-3, 2 BB, .253/.374/.453
- Manuel Campos, 2B: 4-4, RBI, .291/.396/.380
- Gabriel Cesa, CF: 2-5, RBI, .299/.410/.423
The DSL Braves won this game thanks to a four run seventh inning, which went almost exactly how you would expect innings in the DSL to go. They were gifted four walks, a throwing error, a hit batter, and an infield single, but they did at least earn it a little bit. Juan Espinal hit a home run in the middle of that, a solo shot, and gave the Braves a little bit of their own magic to talk about from the inning. Manuel Campos is on a run for the team, with five multi-hit games out of his last six. He has a .444/.522/.639 slash line this month with four walks to three stolen bases.
