The young righty struck out five in his stellar performance.
It was a jam-packed day down on the farm with games from the morning all the way into the night. So, let’s dive into it.
(13-14) Gwinnett Stripers 5, (10-18) Durham Bulls 0 (Game 1)
- J.P. Martinez, LF: 2-3, 2B, 2 R
- David Fletcher, 2B: 2-3, RBI
- Yuli Gurriel, 1B: 2-3, RBI, R
- AJ Smith-Shawver, SP: 5 IP, 3 H, BB, 5 K
Box Score
AJ Smith-Shawver turned in an excellent performance on the mound for Gwinnett as the Stripers shutout Durham 5-0.
Smith-Shawver held Durham scoreless for all five innings he was on the mound. Meanwhile in the bottom of the first, the Stripers took the lead.
After J.P. Martinez doubled with one out, David Fletcher then singled him home to make it 1-0 Gwinnett. In the second, a Phillip Evans sacrifice fly scored Alejo Lopez to extend the lead to 2-0. The next frame, Yuli Gurriel scored on a wild pitch to extend the Gwinnett lead to 3-0.
Meanwhile, Smith-Shawver continued to do his thing, tossing five scoreless innings on the day in game one of the doubleheader.
Gwinnett scored again in the bottom of the fifth, this time on a Gurriel single making it 4-0. A Sandy Leon sacrifice fly plated Luke Waddell to make it 5-0 Stripers.
Grant Holmes came on in relief and continued Smith-Shawver’s excellent work by tossing two scoreless frames to close out the game and get the win for Gwinnett.
(13-15) Gwinnett Stripers 2, (11-18) Durham Bulls 6 (Game 2)
- Alejo Lopez, 3B: 1-3, HR, RBI
- Yuli Gurriel, DH: 3-3
- Sebastian Rivero, C: 3-3, 2B, R
- Ray Kerr, SP: 3 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, BB, 6 K
Box Score
While Gwinnett came away with a win in game one of Wednesday’s doubleheader, the Stripers didn’t fare as well in game two.
Reliever Ray Kerr got the start for Gwinnett and while he struck out six, the lefty gave up four runs in three innings.
The Bulls got two runs in the first and two more runs in the third while the Gwinnett offense was stagnant for the first three frames.
Finally, in the bottom of the fourth, the Stripers finally broke through as Alejo Lopez sent a solo homer over the right field fence to cut the Durham lead to 4-1.
Jackson Stephens took over on the mound for Kerr in the top of the fourth and tossed a scoreless frame before giving up two runs in the fifth to make it 6-1 Bulls.
Gwinnett wouldn’t score again until the bottom of the seventh inning — as Sebastian Rivero scored on a wild pitch to make it 6-2. However, that was all Gwinnett would get as the Stripers finished the day at 1-1.
(7-16) Mississippi Braves 3, (13-10) Pensacola Blue Wahoos 5
- Yolbert Sanchez, 2B: 3-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBI, R
- Brandon Parker, RF: 2-4, HR, 2B, RBI, R
- Justin Dean, CF: 2-4, SB
- Drew Parrish, SP: 6 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 6 K
Box Score
Mississippi fell in extras to Pensacola as the Braves’ bullpen collapsed in the top of the tenth inning on Wednesday.
Making his fifth start of the year for Mississippi was 26-year-old lefty Drew Parrish who despite giving up two runs on the day, put up an overall solid outing on the mound for the Braves. In his six innings of work, Parrish struck out six batters while allowing just four hits and zero walks on the day.
While Pensacola got on the board first in the top of the third to take a 1-0 lead, Mississippi bounced back in the home half of the fourth inning to take their first lead of the game. After Tyler Tolve flew out to begin the frame, Yolbert Sanchez launched a solo homer over the left field wall to tie the game at 1-1. Then, just two batters later, Brandon Parker got in on the fun and tallied a solo homer for himself to make it 2-1 Braves.
While Pensacola would tie the game in the very next inning, Mississippi’s offense managed to put a runner in scoring position in both the fifth and sixth frames but failed to score to retake the lead. The Braves would once again get a runner in scoring position in the bottom of the ninth in Justin Dean, but Nacho Alvarez Jr. flew out to send the game to extras.
Things had been relatively tame for Mississippi’s arms on Wednesday until the top of the tenth inning when the wheels fell off.
Domingo Gonzalez came on in relief of Jake McSteen and allowed a leadoff single which scored the runner at second to make it 3-2 Pensacola. Gonzalez allowed another RBI-single to make it 4-2 before throwing a wild pitch to plate another Pensacola run to extend the Blue Wahoos’ lead to 5-2.
Alvarez Jr. began the home half of the tenth on second base and advanced to third on a Tolve groundout before scoring on a Sanchez double to cut the deficit to 5-3. However, Cal Conley would pop out to the Pensacola first baseman to end the game, handing Mississippi the loss.
(11-10) Rome Emperors 1, (9-13) Hickory Crawdads 4
- Ambioris Tavarez, SS: 1-4, 3B, RBI
- E.J. Exposito, 2B: 2-4, 2B, SB
- Justin Janas, 1B: 2-3
- Owen Murphy, SP: 5.2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 4 K
Box Score
While it wasn’t the prototypical Owen Murphy masterclass performance we’ve become accustomed to seeing this season, the young righthander still put up respectable numbers despite not having his best stuff against Hickory.
Murphy got roughed up a bit to start the game, allowing two runs after issuing a leadoff walk and giving up a two-run homer all in the first two batters of the game. However, after that, he settled down to retire the side.
Meanwhile at the dish for Rome, the Emperors failed to get anything working in the home half of the first but did manage to cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the second. Adam Zebrowski singled to kick things off before Ambioris Tavarez brought him home on an RBI-triple two batters later to make it 2-1.
After the first inning, Murphy returned to form. In his final 4.2 innings of work, the righty held Hickory scoreless to keep Rome within striking distance.
Offensively, things were going in the opposite direction for the Emperors as failed opportunities came back to bite them in the end. Despite putting runners on second and third in the bottom of the fifth inning, Rome came up empty. Once again, in the seventh frame, Rome put a runner on third without bringing him home.
With Jared Johnson on the mound, Hickory was able to tack on one run in each of the final two innings to take the game by a 4-1 final.
(11-12) Augusta GreenJackets 4, (9-13) Charleston RiverDogs 5
- Robert Gonzalez, CF: 3-4, 3B
- Jace Grady, RF: 2-3
- Davis Polo, SP: 2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
Box Score
Augusta attempted a late rally against Charleston, but came up just short as they fell 5-4.
The GreenJackets jumped out to an early lead in the bottom of the first inning. Kade Kern drew a one-out walk and scored later in the inning as Drew Compton reached on an error to make it 1-0.
That lead wouldn’t last long as GreenJacket starter David Polo would allow two runs to Charleston in the top of the second as the RiverDogs took a 2-1 lead.
Charleston continued to pile it on in the top of the fifth — scoring one run — and two more runs in the top of the sixth to extend their lead to 5-1 over Augusta.
Since their first inning run and headed into the seventh inning, Augusta had totaled just three total hits on the night.
However, in the bottom of the seventh, Augusta attempted a comeback. Drew Compton and Will Verdung drew back-to-back walks to leadoff the frame before Luis Sanchez was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Compton would score on a wild pitch to make it 5-2. Then, in a wild sequence of events, Pier-Olivier Boucher drew a walk — which also includes a wild pitch — that plated two runs to make it 5-4 RiverDogs.
But that would be the only runs Augusta would get as they fell by the 5-4 final.
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