Triple-A: Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 6, Norfolk Tides 2
The Tides jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, but their bats quickly fell silent as the Jumbo Shrimp earned a come-from-behind victory. With two outs in the bottom of the 1st, Johnathan Rodríguez worked an eight-pitch walk to give Norfolk their first base-runner of the afternoon. Two pitches later, Creed Willems turned on an inside slider and deposited it into the right field bleachers for a two-run bomb. It was Willems’ third homer of the season, with the DH hitting .286 with a 1.061 OPS.
Norfolk would only register two more hits the rest of the game, a single by Rodríguez in the 3rd and another single by José Barrero in the 5th. It was an overall poor performance for the Tides’ bats, as the team finished 3-for-28 with 14 strikeouts. That included a 0-for-4 performance with two strikeouts from Jackson Holliday on his rehab assignment. The 22-year-old infielder is hitting .185 with a .500 OPS in 27 ABs with the Tides.
Jacksonville took the lead after scoring one run in every inning from the 3rd through the 6th inning. Catcher Austin Mack padded the lead with a solo HR in the top of the 8th. Jacob Berry put the final nail in the Tides’ coffin in the 9th, reaching on an infield single, stealing second and third and scoring on a sac fly for the Jumbo Shrimp’s sixth run.
Double-A: Chesapeake Baysox 4, Erie SeaWolves 1
Strong pitching and patience at the plate propelled the Baysox to a series-opening win against the SeaWolves. Big lefty Sebastian Gongora got the start for the Baysox and showed flashes of dominance against Erie. The former 11th-round pick picked up two strikeouts in the 1st, one in the 2nd and another two in the 3rd. The only blemish on Gongora’s record came in the 4th, when he allowed a one-out double followed by a two-out single as Erie took an early 1-0 lead. The 24-year-old would add two more strikeouts that inning before being pulled for a reliever, finishing with a final line of 3.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER and 7 K.
The bullpen was equally strong for Chesapeake after Gongora left the game. Relievers Gerald Ogando, Micah Ashman and Yaqui Rivera combined to pitch 5.1 scoreless innings to close out the game. The trio of relievers also racked 10 Ks, as 17 of Chesapeake’s pitchers’ 27 outs came via strikeout.
Offensively, the Baysox only registered two hits, but were able to put four runs on the board thanks to collecting nine walks. In the 5th, Anderson De Los Santos led off the inning with a walk. Chesapeake then loaded the bases with Tavian Josenberger reaching on an error and Adam Retzbach working a walk. Their first run of the game came on the Baysox’s second hit, as Douglas Hodo III singled through the right side to bring home De Los Santos. Three batters later, De Los Santos scored on a wild pitch to give Chesapeake a 2-1 lead.
The Baysox would grow that lead without registering a hit in the 6th. Ethan Anderson, Griff O’Ferrall and De Los Santos started the inning with three walks to quickly load the bases. Back-to-back sac flies from Josenberger and Retzbach scratch across two more runs as Chesapeake built up an insurmountable lead.
High-A: Winston-Salem Dash 7, Frederick Keys 6 (F/10)
The Keys came from behind to tie the game in the 9th and take a lead in 10th, but couldn’t finish the job in North Carolina, falling in 10 innings to the Dash. Down 4-2 heading into the top of the 9th, Orioles top prospect Nate George led off the inning with a walk. Ike Irish then moved George to second on a bloop single to right. Two batters later, RJ Austin was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Braylin Tavera then singled to left to drive home George, and Irish scored on an RBI groundout to tie the game at four.
Frederick then led off the top of the 10th with Vance Honeycutt as their Manfred Man and Ryan Stafford at the plate. Stafford reached on a two-base error by the Dash LF, allowing Honeycutt to move to third. Then, with one out, Irish singled up the middle to bring home both runners and give the Keys a 6-4 lead.
Reliever Jacob Cravey couldn’t hold the lead, however, as he allowed a triple to the first batter he faced. The extra base hit scored Winston-Salem’s ghost runner and cut the Frederick advantage in half, all while putting the tying run on third. Cravey then walked the next batter before giving up a game-tying sac fly. After a wild pitch moved the winning run to second, the Frederick right-hander picked up a strikeout to get within one out of forcing an 11th inning. Instead, he left a ball over the plate to the Dash’s Alec Makarewicz, who served it into right field for a walkoff single.
The Keys did get standout pitching performances from two pitchers acquired at last year’s trade deadline in Boston Batemen and Twine Palmer. The 20-year-old Bateman started the game and delivered a line of 4 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB and 5 K in his season debut. Palmer took over in the 6th, tossing 4 IP with 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB and 5 K. Irish led the way offensively, going 3-for-4 with 2 RBI, 1 run, 1 BB and a SB.
Low-A: Augusta GreenJackets 10, Delmarva Shorebirds 7
Delmarva raced out to an early lead thanks to a big 3rd inning, but couldn’t keep that momentum going as they dropped the first game of their series with Augusta. With the game tied at 0-0, Félix Amparo led off the 3rd with a single followed by a steal of second base. Cobb Hightower then grounded out to move Amparo to third, before Jordan Sanchez drove him home on an RBI groundout to tie the game at 1-1.
Stiven Martinez then extended the inning by reaching on an error on a ball hit to short. Luis Almeyda kept the two-out rally alive with a single to center before Joshua Liranzo launched a three-run homer over the left-center fence to give the Shorebirds a 4-1 lead.
The GreenJackets would tie the game again in the 4th with a three-run inning, before Martinez restored a Delmarva lead with a solo blast to lead off the 5th. Augusta briefly took a 6-5 lead after scoring two runs in the top of the 6th, only for Delmarva to tie things again via a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the 6th.
Walks would come back to betray the Shorebirds in the 7th, as the GreenJackets started the inning with four straight walks to take a 7-6 lead. Augusta would tack on another two runs thanks to a throwing error, before scoring their 10th run on an RBI single. Sanchez would get one of those runs back with a leadoff homer in the 9th, but it’d be the only run Delmarva could claw back as Edwin Amparo struck out to end the game.
Wednesday’s scheduled games
Norfolk Tides vs. Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, 6:35pm ET (Dean Kremer vs. Dax Fulton)
Chesapeake Baysox vs. Erie SeaWolves, 6:05pm ET (TBD vs. Eric Silva)
Frederick Keys at Winston-Salem Dash, 6:30pm ET (Yeiber Cartaya vs. Gabe Davis)
Delmarva Shorebirds vs. August GreenJackets, 7:05pm ET (Keeler Morfe vs. Derek Vartanian)
