Gwinnett Braves 0, Pawtucket Red Sox 2

Box Score

Ozzie Albies, 2B: 1-4, CS, .255/.279/.378

Rio Ruiz, 3B: 1-3, SB, .235/.278/.400

Sean Newcomb, SP: 7 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 11 K, 3.08 ERA

Sean pitched arguably the best game of any Braves’ pitching prospect this year (which is definitely saying something), but the offense sputtered and Caleb Dirks allowed a walk-off homer as Gwinnett lost 2-0. Newcomb was outstanding in this game over 7 innings despite having to put things on pause for a relatively short rain delay. Pawtucket looked helpless as he was spotting his fastball well and getting some hilariously bad swings with his breaking ball. While some of Newcomb’s peripherals do not look improved (walk rate in particular), to our eyes he does not appear to be missing by much and it is certainly better than the wildness he showed in AA. Caleb Dirks came in to try and keep Gwinnett in the game until the offense decided to show up, but a walk-off homer off the bat of Bryce Brentz snuffed Gwinnett’s hopes of victory out.

On offense....this was not a banner night. Gwinnett had two hits all night and they were singles that came off the bats of the team’s two best position prospects. Ozzie Albies had one of those hits, but he has been struggling a bit of late with now just two hits in his past 5 games. On the flip side, Rio Ruiz, the owner of the other hit in this game, has now hit safely in 4 straight games including two homers over that span. Gwinnett as a whole has been struggling at the plate and with the promotion of Lane Adams, their struggles could be more pronounced in the short-term.

Next Game: 5/2 at 7:05 PM vs. Durham. Probable Starter - TBD

Mississippi Braves - Postponed

Rain sucks

Next Game: 5/1 doubleheader at 11:35 AM vs. Tennessee. Probable Starters - Max Fried and Mike Soroka

Florida Fire Frogs 0, Lakeland Flying Tigers 7

Box Score

Ronald Acuna, CF: 1-4, CS, .287/.333/.471

Alex Jackson, DH: 1-4, .301/.323/.581

Ricardo Sanchez, SP: 6 IP, 7 H, 2 runs (0 ER), 1 BB, 6 K, 3.52 ERA

This was another rough offensive game as the Fire Frogs were shut out by Lakeland’s Kyle Dowdy and co. as Florida fell 7-0. You can’t really hang this one on Ricardo Sanchez as he now has two straight starts (and three of his first 5 to start the year) where he has given up zero earned runs. More heartening than that, this was his second straight start where he gave up just one walk. A passed ball on Wigberto Nevarez on a swinging strike that would have been the third out of the 1st inning proved extremely costly as it directly led to two runs scoring. However, Ricardo restored order and while it was a bit messy at times (several baserunners at times, a balk, etc), he handled himself well the rest of the way. The bullpen struggled yet again as Jacob Webb and Carlos Salazar combined to throw 3 innings and gave up 7 hits, 5 runs (4 earned), 3 walks, and recorded just a pair of strikeouts.

On offense, Ronald Acuna extended his hitting streak to 10 games and he is batting .364 over that span. Alex Jackson also recorded a hit, although his 24 strikeouts vs. 2 walks in nearly 100 plate appearances is something to keep an eye on. The only other hits on the evening for Florida were recorded by Alay Lago and Wigberto Nevarez with Wigberto’s double being the only extra-base hit of the night for the Fire Frogs. To be fair to the Fire Frogs’ offense, both Austin Riley and Jonathan Morales had the night off and when two of your better hitters are not in the lineup, it definitely increases the level of difficulty to produce especially against a tough pitcher like Dowdy has been this year.

Next Game: 5/1 at 6:30 PM @ Palm Beach Cardinals. Probable Starter - Touki Toussaint

Rome Braves 2, West Virginia Power 8

Box Score

Anfernee Seymour, LF/RF: 2-4, RBI, CS, .329/.391/.390

Lucas Herbert, DH: 1-3, HR, RBI, BB, .189/.218/.340

Jeremy Walker, SP: 3.2 IP, 5 H, 6 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 5.40 ERA

Jeremy Walker struggled in this one as the Power jumped on top in the 3rd and 4rd innings and didn’t look back as Rome fell 8-2. Walker was struggling with his fastball command and was leaving it over the plate leading to some hard contact. His overall line looks a little worse than it was due to an inherited runner scoring and an error from Randy Ventura in center field, but this was a tough outing to be sure. Also, West Virginia did not seem afraid to run on Brett Cumberland as they stole three bases (two of which while Walker was in the game). Brett has caught two bases thieves in 10 attempts to start the season.

On offense, Anfernee Seymour and Kevin Josephina both recorded multi-hit games for Rome. Josephina has been quietly excellent to start the season, slashing .313/.371/.328 in 19 games. He isn’t a masher, but he has some real quickness to him and he was thoroughly impressive on defense at second base in my live looks at him. Lucas Herbert hit his second home run of the season and has now hit safely in four straight games. Rome’s struggles on offense were from their 2-5 hitters as Derian Cruz, Anthony Concepcion, Brett Cumberland, and Marcus Mooney combining to go 0-13 with Cumberland’s two walks being the lone bright spot there. Cristian Pache had the day off and between his absence, Randy Ventura being held in check, and the aforementioned struggles from the heart of the lineup, it was always going to be an uphill battle to come back from a big deficit.

Next Game: 5/2 at 7:05 PM @ Hagerstown. Probable Starter - Ian Anderson