It was a rough day down on the farm for Atlanta’s minor league affiliates — due in large part to pitching — as each starter from Gwinnett down to Augusta gave up at least three earned runs, putting their respective teams in an early hole. Regardless, let’s dive into what went down.
(58-75) Gwinnett Stripers 2, (75-56) Durham Bulls 8
- Eddys Leonard, 3B: 1-3, RBI, BB
- Luke Waddell, SS: 1-3, R
- Jhancarlos Lara, SP: 4 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 8 K
On the one hand, Jhancarlos Lara struck out eight and only issued a pair of walks in his start on Wednesday night. On the other hand, Lara gave up a pair of homers
and five earned runs in the loss.
To say it’s been a rough season for Lara would be an understatement. In 62 innings on the mound this year, Lara is carrying an ERA of 7.04, and while his strikeout numbers are decent — 96 total — he’s also handed out 57 walks in the process.
At the plate on Tuesday, offense was sparse, as the score might suggest. Eddys Leonard tallied the Stripers lone RBI on the night as he went 1-3, while Luke Waddell — who also went 1-3 — scored one of Gwinnett’s only two runs.
(56-69) Columbus Clingstones 6, (72-56) Montgomery Biscuits 4
- E.J. Exposito, DH: 1-3, HR, 4 RBI, R, 2 sacrifice fly
- Ethan Workinger, RF: 2-4, R
- Drew Compton, 1B: 2-4, R
- Drue Hackenburg, SP: 5 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 5 BB, 3 K
Columbus was the lone team to come away with a win on Wednesday night among Atlanta’s minor league squads, beating Montgomery by a 6-4 final.
Drue Hackenburg got the start for the Clingstones and while he did a decent job of limiting the opposition in terms of putting the ball in play, walks — as has been the case for the righty this season — were the main root of his trouble in this one. In five innings of work, Hackenburg scattered just five hits while allowing three runs in what would have normally been a fair start had that been his only blemishes. However, he also issued five free passes over the course of his outing while only striking out three batters.
Overall through 58 innings pitched this season, Hackenburg has given up 45 walks while striking out just one more batter than that. It’s beginning to look like a step back of a season for Hackenburg, who had high expectations coming into this season following his 2024 campaign.
Back to Wednesday’s action, the offensive hero in this one was E.J. Exposito, whose fifth-inning, two-run homer tied the game at 4-4. However, Exposito also came through with a pair of clutch sacrifice flies — one in the first and another in the bottom of the sixth — to give Columbus four of their six runs scored in the win.
(55-69) Rome Emperors 2, (64-63) Hub City Spartanburgers 4
- Isaiah Drake, CF: 2-4, RBI
- Alex Lodise, SS: 1-4, R
- Luke Sinnard, SP: 5 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 7 K
While pitching wasn’t the problem for Rome on Wednesday, it was the lack of offense that resulted in the Emperors coming away with a loss.
Luke Sinnard got the start and across five innings, the righty gave up three runs on five hits while issuing a pair of walks and striking out seven in the process.
As for the offense, the Emperors struggled to record just two runs on three hits — none of which were for extra bases. Isaiah Drake had the best day at the plate, going 2-4 with an RBI, which was the lone one for Rome. A day after hitting his first professional career homer, Alex Lodise came through by going 1-4 with a run scored in the process.
(65-60) Augusta GreenJackets 2, (62-66) Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 6
- John Estevez, RF: 2-4, RBI
- Tate Southisene, SS: 1-4
- Ethan Bagwell, SP: 4 IP, H 4 ER, 4 BB, 5 K
Ethan Bagwell only lasted four innings in what was a lackluster start for the righty. In those four frames, Bagwell gave up four runs on only one hit. His downfall — like a lot of the arms on Wednesday — was walks, as he issued four of them. On the positive side, Bagwell also struck out five in the process as well.
At the plate, first-round pick Tate Southisene went 1-4, while John Estevez put up the best day at the plate for Augusta, going 2-4 with an RBI in the GreenJackets 6-2 loss to Kannapolis.
