John Gil has forced the eyes of prospect watchers on him after this spring, and for those following along with Rome’s opener he gave them something to admire. Gil’s strong opener featured a no-doubt home run, all three of Rome’s RBIs, and two stolen bases. Gwinnett’s offense led the way to close win for them in Round Rock, with Nacho Alvarez Jr. making some solid contact on a couple of occasions and contributing to the eight run affair.
(3-3) Gwinnett Stripers 8, (1-5) Round Rock Express
- Nacho Alvarez Jr., DH: 2-4, 2B, RBI, .240/.321/.280
- Rowdy Tellez, 1B: 1-4, 2 RBI, .211/.318/.316
- Carlos Carrasco, SP: 5 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 2.70 ERA
- Rolddy Munoz, RP: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 0.00 ERA
The firepower came in bunches for the Gwinnett
Stripers, who thanks to an eight run outburst were able to outlast Round Rock for a third straight win to open their week. Aaron Schunk has been a menace in this series for Gwinnett with seven hits and two home runs, and his long ball in this game opened the scoring for the Stripers in the second inning. DaShawn Keirsey Jr. tacked on a home run a few batters later to give Gwinnett a lead, and from that point forward they never again trailed. Despite the two home runs it wasn’t the big flies that put up big numbers on the scoreboard, but timely offensive sequences as the Stripers went 4-8 as a team with runners in scoring position despite only having two 100+ mph batted balls in the game. Both came from Rowdy Tellez, whose fifth inning double to the warning track in center drove in a run. Tellez just missed a home run in the first, hitting a long fly ball to the deepest part of the park. Nacho Alvarez Jr. had some poor contact in his first couple of at bats, though one managed to fall in for a base hit. His final two at bats were more impressive on the contact front, though he ran into a bit of bad luck in the fifth inning to balance out that early bloop. With two runners on Alvarez pulled a sharp grounder over to third, but a nice pick from the third baseman kept a run from scoring and got Alvarez out on a force out, potential preventing an even bigger inning than the three runs scored. Alvarez’s best swing of the game came on his final swing. He waited out a breaking ball over the play and smacked a sharp liner in the left center field gap, and though the defender was able to cut the ball off Alvarez made a heads up base running play to recognize no one was covering second base and never stopped on his way to a double.
It was a veteran affair on the pitching end with Carlos Carrasco taking the bump for his second start of the season, and though he had a bit less success than last week’s outing he was still able to cover valuable innings for Gwinnett and departed the game with a lead. Carrasco’s safe cushion was immediately dismantled by Tayler Scott, who couldn’t find a way to get out of his sixth inning. Two quick outs had the 6-3 score looking safe and sound in his hands, but following a walk he allowed a squeaker of a single through the right side of the infield to put himself in a bit of trouble. Scott pitched Alejandro Osuna well to set up a 2-2 count, but pulled a splitter into the inner part of the plate. Osuna sat all over it and smashed a game-tying three run bomb to inject energy into the crowd. Gwinnett immediately answered in the top of the seventh with two runs, and they cruised into the ninth with strong relief work. Rolddy Munoz pitched a solid inning with only a handful of mistakes, and struck out two batters on the way to another scoreless innings. Javy Guerra had a seemingly safe save opportunity in the ninth inning, but the game slowed down and got nasty for a bit as he immediately walked three batters to load the bases with no outs. A sacrifice fly moved the tying run to third before Guerra got a strikeout, but he walked yet another batter and was forced out of the game for James Karinchak. Karinchak locked down and placed a fastball well in the upper corner of the zone, forcing a pop out that allowed the Stripers dugout to exhale and celebrate another road win.
Swing and Misses
Carlos Carrasco – 8
Rolddy Munoz – 4
(0-1) Rome Emperors 3, (1-0) Asheville Tourists 4
- Isaiah Drake, CF: 1-3, BB, 2 SB, .333/.500/.333
- John Gil, SS: 1-3, HR, BB, 3 RBI, 2 SB, .333/.500/1.333
- Dixon Williams, DH: 1-3, .333/.333/.333
- Cedric De Grandpre, SP: 4 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, 0.00 ERA
The Rome Emperors feature an exciting duo at the top of the lineup, but despite a strong effort from both Isaiah Drake and John Gil the offense did not have enough juice to avoid a loss to Asheville. Gil had all of the team’s RBI’s thanks to an eighth inning home run and the two had half of the team’s hits, but not much help came and the bullpen folded after eight strong innings of pitching. Gil worked a walk in his very first High-A plate appearance, and showed the extra muscle from the offseason work wasn’t going to slow him down when he immediately stole second and third base. Opportunity went to waste on a Dixon Williams strikeout and a ground out from Cody Miller which stranded the potential first run for either side ninety feet away. Asheville would end up taking the lead with a run in the fifth inning, and in the sixth inning with Drake on second after a hit and a stolen base Gil grounded out. The eighth inning the bottom of the lineup showed up in the clutch, with a Will Verdung single and Colin Burgess walk putting the tying and go ahead runs on base with one out for the top of the order. Drake would strike out swinging, but Gil had his first big moment in an Emperors uniform. Gil got a 1-0 slider over the plate and absolutely unloaded, obliterating a no-doubter that flew off of the screen and blew the game open for the Emperors. Gil’s status as one of the potential breakout stars of the season has early support with his clinic on opening day, and thanks to his efforts the Emperors had a 3-1 lead headed into the ninth inning.
Season number three in a Rome uniform started off well for Cedric De Grandpre, though his command struggles throughout the game were a notable point. De Grandpre threw less than 60% of his pitches for strikes, and it was a very inconsistent showing for him. He wasn’t all bad, but had a handful of pitches and stretches where he was pulling his pitches down and to the glove side. De Grandpre’s command has been up-and-down since he returned from Tommy John surgery with flashes of plus control mixed with poor outings, and he needs a lot more of those great outings to keep progressing. Logan Samuels returned to Rome after a very awful string of games last season and there was no solace for him in this outing. He pitched a clean eight, but nursing that two run lead Samuels got victimized by a check-swing dribbler for a base hit to open the ninth inning and that may have been the highlight of the frame. An inside-out base knock to finish out a nine pitch at bat put the tying run on first base, and though Samuel would manage a strikeout on a pretty sweeper off of the plate he could not finish the deal in the inning. A base hit out into right field sank to the turf just in front of a charging Isaiah Drake, who charged hard enough to keep the runner honest and prevent anyone coming home. Samuels was given one last batter with one out, fair given that he hadn’t pitched a particularly poor inning, but he made his worst pitch of the evening. A slider stayed up and over the plate and the batter slapped it down the line the other way for a double, tying the game up and ending Samuels’s night. Isaac Gallegos let up a fly ball to the worst arm in the talented Rome outfield, and Eric Hartman didn’t have enough juice to make it a close play as the go ahead runner managed to beat the ball home. It was an unfortunate opening to the season, but the performance of Gil was a particular bright spot and went along with a quietly solid-looking day from Owen Carey. Carey had a second inning fly ball that got snagged on a slide by the right fielder (though a better first step saves him from needing to slide at all) and in the seventh inning he sliced a hard line drive to center field but hit it right at the defender. Carey lifting the ball up the middle and pull side is an important look for him early on and he looks locked in on the ball even if the hits did not fall this time around.
Swing and Misses
Cedric De Grandpre – 9
Jacob Shafer – 5
Logan Samuels – 2
