All in all it was a very successful day down on the farm as multiple teams came away with wins. Above all else, there were plenty of individual performances to highlight.
(53-48) Gwinnett Stripers 7, (46-55) Durham Bulls 3 (GAME ONE)
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Patrick Clohisy, CF: 2-4, HR, 2B, RBI, 2 R
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Herick Hernandez, SP: 5 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 6 K
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Box Score
The bats showed up and showed out in game one of Gwinnett’s doubleheader, beating Durham by a 7-3 final.
The main question from Wednesday’s first game is: will Patrick Clohisy ever cool off? The answer probably trends toward yes, but he’s shown no signs of slowing down since his promotion to triple-A. In 11 games (45 plate appearances) Clohisy has posted a slash line of .488/.523/.829 in addition to pair of homers, six doubles and a triple in the process.
Clohisy was at it once again on fire on Wednesday, going 2-4 with a double and homer to pace the Stripers’ offense in the win. Clohisy’s fourth inning homer was launched to left center field, just out of reach of the Durham centerfielder.
Again, Clohisy will eventually come back down to earth, but he’s been a fun watch and his bat has clearly shown it can compete at the triple-A level, which may move him up a slot or two when it comes to prospects being considered for a big league bench job sometime down the line.
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Back to Wednesday’s action, Sean Murphy posted another solid outing in his rehab stint, going 3-4with an RBI and a run scored, in which one of his singles registered an exit velocity of 105 MPH. Overall, Murphy is hitting .286 on his rehab assignment and appears to be close to rejoining the big league club.
Andrew McCutchen has also been a bat on fire since his promotion to triple-A, as he went 3-4 with a pair of doubles on Wednesday to raise his OPS at the level to 1.100 across six games for Gwinnett.
On the mound, Herick Hernandez got his first career triple-A win in the books by tossing five innings of three-run ball, striking out six and walking four in the process. Meanwhile Blake Burkhalter tosses a pair of scoreless frames, scattering a pair of hits and striking out one in his respective outing.
(53-49) Gwinnett Stripers 4, (47-55) Durham Bulls 5 (GAME TWO)
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Cal Conley, 2B: 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI
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Box Score
While things went in Gwinnett’s favor in game one, the same couldn’t be said in the final game of the doubleheader as the Stripers fell by a 5-4 final.
Austin Gomber got the start and put up a solid outing, tossing four innings of one-run ball, allowing three hits and a walk while striking out four along the way.
Rowdy Tellez got the scoring started for Gwinnett by launching a two-out, solo homer in the top of the first to put the Stripers on top 1-0. In the next inning, Cal Conley came through with one of his two hits on the day, this one a double, to plate both Jair Camargo and Luke Williams, to extend the Gwinnett lead to 3-0.
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The final run of the day came courtesy of Brett Wisely, who also went 2-3 on the day, after he launched a solo homer in the top of the fourth to build the Gwinnett lead to 4-0.
Despite carrying a 4-0 lead through three innings, the Stripers were ultimately unable to hold on.
Following Gomber was Joel Payamps, who gave up three runs in two innings as Durham managed to tie things up. In the bottom of the seventh, Ian Hamilton managed to record one out before giving up an RBI-single that allowed the Bulls to walk off the Stripers and hand Gwinnett the loss.
(44-49) Columbus Clingstones 4, (49-48) Rocket City Trash Pandas 5
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Will Verdung, 2B: 1-4, HR, RBI, R
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Carson Taylor, 1B: 2-5, 2 2B, R
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Ian Mejia, SP: 4.2 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, BB, 2 K
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Box Score
Columbus came up on the short end of this one, losing by a narrow 5-4 margin to Rocket City.
Ian Mejia got the start and spun 4.2 innings of two-run ball, striking out two and walking one on the night. It’s a nice change of pace for Mejia who has had a rough go of it at the double-A level, as he’s currently carrying an ERA of 8.54 at the level across 13 appearances (nine starts).
Hopefully he’s able to turn things around in the home stretch.
Back to Wednesday’s action, the Clingstones actually put up a respectable offensive performance, scoring four runs on eight hits on the night.
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The biggest blows offensively came courtesy of Jordan Groshans and Will Verdung — both of whom launched solo homers on the night — to pace the Clingstones’ offense.
Meanwhile Carson Taylor went 2-5 with a pair of doubles and a run scored as well. On the season, Taylor is hitting .412 with an OPS of 1.268, albeit in five games played for Columbus.
(47-48) Rome Emperors 12, (44-54) Hub City Spartanburgers 1
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Eric Hartman, CF: 3-5, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 4 R, BB
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Mason Guerra, 1B: 4-5, RBI, 3 R
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Ethan Bagwell, SP: 7 IP, 3 H, ER, 8 K
Box Score
To say the Emperors absolutely dominated on Wednesday could be considered a vast understatement.
All told, Rome tallied 12 runs on 15 hits — only two of which were for extra bases — while the pitching staff held Hub City to just one run on four hits.
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Ethan Bagwell was simply dominant on Wednesday, as the 20-year-old put up arguably his best start at the high-A level. Across seven innings, Bagwell held the Spartanburgers to one run on three hits, while striking out eight batters in the process.
At low-A Augusta, Bagwell made 13 starts, tossing 68 innings of 2.78 ERA ball, striking out 69 in that same span. While it is a smaller sample size, Bagwell has actually improved upon those numbers since making the leap up to Rome.
In five starts (28.1 innings pitched) Bagwell is carrying an ERA of 2.22, along with 27 strikeouts and just four walks to his credit thus far. Regardless of where he pitches, Bagwell continues to maintain his consistency for throwing strikes, while also managing to miss bats at a higher clip this season. When it comes to arms in Atlanta’s farm system to keep an eye on, every conversation should at least include Bagwell’s name.
Getting back to Wednesday’s action, Bagwell didn’t have to worry much about offensive support, as the Emperors provided him with plenty of runs — scoring at least one run in six separate innings in this one.
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In the top of the first, Eric Hartman — because of course he did — led off the scoring charge with a two-run shot to plate John Gil and give the Emperors an early 2-0 lead.
The homer hit off the top of the wall, which initially made it look like a double. However, the home plate umpire signaled it was a long ball, awarding Hartman with his first homer of the night. More on him later.
The Emperors tacked on an additional run in the top of the fourth and two more in the sixth to extend the lead to 5-1.
Leading 10-1 headed into the ninth, Hartman once again came through with his second homer of the game — this one was a no-doubt, two-run shot over the right field wall — to extend the Rome lead to 12-1, which held as the final.
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For Hartman, his two homers put him within two of the all-time single season Rome record. Barring a cold streak of epic proportions, Hartman will eclipse that record with flying numbers before this season is out.
(53-45) Augusta GreenJackets 8, (51-47) Columbia Fireflies 9
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Conor Essenburg, RF: 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI
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Luis Guanipa, CF: 2-4, RBI, 3 R, 2 BB
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Manuel Campos, SS: 1-5, 3B, RBI
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Gensi Angeles, SP: 1.1 IP, 6 H, 8 R, 7 ER, BB, K
Box Score
Despite mounting a tremendous comeback in this one, Augusta fell short by a 9-8 final.
Gensi Angeles made his first start for the GreenJackets and it couldn’t have gone much worse. Tossing just 1.1 innings, Angeles gave up eight runs — seven earned — along with six hits and a walk to put Augusta in a deep hole early on.
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Trailing 9-0 in the third inning, the GreenJackets got their first run in this one courtesy of a Manuel Campos triple — his first hit at the low-A level — to plate Luis Guanipa.
The biggest offensive blow of the night came in the bottom of the sixth inning, as the GreenJackets scored five total runs to close the gap to 9-6. Luis Guanipa and Conor Essenburg both laced RBI-singles to lead the charge on the night — more on Essenburg later.
Cooper McMurray singled home Cody Miller in the bottom of the seventh to pull Augusta within two runs, while an Essenburg double in the home half of the eighth scored Guanipa to make it a 9-8 game and pull the GreenJackets within one run.
However, Augusta failed to score in the home half of the ninth, ending the comeback bid and handing the GreenJackets the loss.
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