Braves Minor League recap: Young Braves go 5-0 behind a pair of one-hitters

Perfection! The Atlanta Braves’ minor-league teams went 5-0 on Thursday. Some nice pitching highlighted the evening with Gwinnett and Augusta both tossing combined one-hitters. Augusta was able to sweep a doubleheader on a night full of victory high fives.

Here is how it went down on the Braves’ farm.

Gwinnett Stripers 1, Columbus Clippers 0

Box score

• Bryce Elder, SP: 7 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K
• William Contreras, C: 2-for-4, .290 BA, .873 OPS
• Johan Camargo, 3B: 2-for-4, 1 2B, .312 BA, .908 OPS

What a season for Bryce Elder. A fifth-round pick in 2020, the right-hander has turned into an absolute bulldog for the Braves. It’s impressive that he has climbed from Rome to Gwinnett despite missing almost all of 2020. Elder is dependable, strikes out hitters and goes deep into ball games. He lowered his ERA to 2.78 in Triple A behind another impressive outing. Elder landed 61 of 99 pitches for strikes and had more ground outs than fly outs. Thomas Burrows and Yoan Lopez pitched a hitless inning each for a combined one-hitter.

Ryan Casteel provided the offense with his sixth home run of the season. Johan Camargo had his fifth multi-hit game in a row. He has 11 hits over that span. William Contreras added a pair of hits himself for his third-straight two-hit game.

Mississippi Braves 4, Montgomery Biscuits 3

Box Score

• Alan Rangel, SP: 6 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 9 K
• Trey Harris, 2-for-4, 1 2B, 1 R, 1 RBI, .244 BA, .666 OPS
• Braden Shewmake, SS: 1-for-3, 1 RBI, 1 BB, .228 BA, .672 OPS

Alan Rangel had a bounce back performance after lasting just three innings his last time out. He’s now struck out at least nine batters four times since July 17. Strikeouts were never Rangel’s calling card, so this has been a nice adjustment season for him. Sean McLaughlin, Daysbel Hernandez and Brooks Wilson slammed the door with three combined shutout innings. Wilson grabbed his fifth save of the season.

The M-Braves provided just enough offense to win. Trey Harris was one of two M-Braves — joining CJ Alexander — with two hits on the night. Alexander also had an RBI, joining Harris, Braden Shewmake and Jacob Pearson as those responsible for driving in runs. Greyson Jenista went 1-for-4 and scored a run. It’s the sixth-straight game with at least one run for him.

Rome Braves 11, Asheville Tourists 9 (10)

Box score

• Darius Vines, SP: 5 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 H
• Andrew Moritz, DH: 3-for-6, 1 R, 2 RBI, .282 BA, .659 OPS
• Vaughn Grissom, SS: 0-for-2, 2 R, 3 BB, 1 SB, .474 BA, 1.487 OPS

Darius Vines had another nice start, holding Asheville to two runs. He’s now gone at least five innings in 11 consecutive starts dating back to July 3. He landed 43 of his 63 pitches for strikes and induced six ground outs to zero fly outs. Unfortunately, Coleman Huntley and Benjamin Dum couldn’t hold the lead and get him the win. Huntley allowed two runs in 2.1 innings and Dum allowed four in the bottom of the ninth as Asheville forced extra innings.

Vaughn Grissom is getting on base and scoring runs in any and every way possible. With three walks on Thursday, Grissom has six walks to just two strikeouts in six games with Rome. He’s also scored two runs in four of his last five games. Carlos Martinez ad Shean Michel both had three-hit nights. Michel had four RBI on the night, two of which came on his fifth home run of the season in the decisive 10th inning.

Augusta GreenJackets vs. Columbia Fireflies

Let’s double it up.

Game 1: Augusta 6, Columbia 4

Box score

• Ryan Cusick, SP: 3.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 7 K
• Dylan Spain, RP: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K — first career save
• Landon Stephens, LF: 1-for-3, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI, .236 BA, .804 OPS

It was another big strikeout performance for the Braves 2021 first rounder. It was certainly a nice bounce back for Ryan Cusick after not escaping the first inning in his previous start. He’s now made five starts and this was his second that he was able to strike out seven in less than four innings of work. Alec Barger allowed three runs in his 1.2 innings of work but picked up the win because Dylan Spain closed the door. He finally allowed an inherited runner to score, but he kept his ERA at 0.00 in picking up his first save.

Landon Stephens launched his 18th home run of the season in the first and Cade Bunnell followed with his 15th in the second. Every GreenJacket in the lineup minus leadoff hitter Cal Conley recorded a hit, but no hitter had more than one. Six different GreenJackets accounted for each run scored.

Game 2: Augusta 4, Columbia 0

Box score

• Andrew Hoffmann, SP: 5 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K — first career win
• Willie Carter, LF: 2-for-3, 2 RBI, .277 BA, .778 OPS
• Christian Robinson, RF: 1-for-3, 2 RBI, .232 BA, .561 OPS

Augusta fell just short of a combined no-hitter. Andrew Hoffmann got it rolling with five nearly perfect innings. His only blemish was a walk while striking out seven. Gabriel Rodriguez got in a bit of a jam after hitting back-to-back hitters but got out of it. Lisandro Santos allowed the hit in the final inning but escaped without allowing a run to cap the shutout.

Willie Carter and Christian Robinson were the offense for Augusta. They drove in all four runs — two apiece — in a nightcap when Augusta didn’t record a single extra-base hit.