The Gwinnett Stripers’ season finale had all the ingredients for a comeback win - and then the ninth inning happened.
Gwinnett erased an early deficit and pulled even late, but the Indianapolis Indians scored three times in the top of the ninth and left the Stripers with a 9-6 loss to close out the year. The game also featured a look at several arms in a bullpen day setup after the promotions of JR Ritchie and Owen Murphy, with Michael Grove getting the start and Joe Jiménez, Robert Suarez and others following behind him.
Grove worked 1.1 innings, allowing two hits, two earned runs and a walk while striking out two. He opened with a clean first inning despite a walk and stolen base, but the second frame got away after back-to-back singles.
Jiménez entered next and was charged with the inherited runs plus another run in the inning. The line wasn’t pretty, but it was still a notable sight: his first game action since 2024.
His slider wasn’t sharp and his four-seam fastball sat at 92-93, which fits the layoff.
Suarez was the next reliever to grab attention. He came in throwing his four-seam at 96-97 and allowed a double on a changeup left up high, though he bounced back by retiring the next hitter immediately. Ricky Vanasco followed and was tagged for one run, which scored on a sacrifice fly.
Elieser Hernández gave up a solo homer in his first inning and later allowed a leadoff triple that came around to score, finishing with two innings, three hits and two earned runs. After that, Tyler Uberstine and Danny Young gave Gwinnett two crisp innings in a row. Uberstine needed just 13 pitches for a scoreless frame, and Young was even more economical, firing nine pitches in his shutout inning.
The ninth, though, belonged to Indianapolis. James Karinchak took the loss after surrendering three earned runs on three hits and two walks in the final frame.
Offensively, Gwinnett started fast. Patrick Clohisy reached on an error, stole second, and scored on a Jim Jarvis single.
After that, the bats went quiet for a while. The Stripers hit into two double plays, got picked off second, and generally had a rough stretch before the sixth inning flipped the game.
That rally began with two outs and David McCabe on the bases after a single. Jordan Groshans followed with a double to bring him home, then Brett Wisely added another double to cut deeper into the deficit. After Lizandro Espinoza walked and the runners executed a double steal, Maverick Handley singled in two more to make it a one-run game.
Gwinnett kept pushing in the seventh. Luke Williams scored on a David McCabe single to tie the game, but the Stripers couldn’t hold it from there.
The loss closed the season for Atlanta’s minor league system, and it ended on a night that showed both sides of the story: a few encouraging arms, a burst of late offense, and one inning that spoiled the finish.
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