Friday night brought a little bit of everything across the Braves’ minor league system: a comeback that turned into extra-inning chaos, a power-heavy loss in Gwinnett, a rough night for Rome, and Augusta standing alone with a win.
The most dramatic finish came in Columbus, where the Clingstones nearly pulled off a wild escape before the bullpen collapse in extras spoiled it. Pensacola grabbed a 2-1 lead in the top of the ninth, but Alex Lodise answered with a leadoff homer to tie the game and push it into the 10th. From there, Columbus’ relief group allowed six runs as the Blue Wahoos built an 8-2 cushion.
Even then, the Clingstones weren’t done making noise. Dalton McIntyre began the bottom of the 10th on second base, Archer Brookman and Ambioris Tavarez drew walks to load the bases, and John Gil crushed a grand slam on a 3-2 pitch to bring Columbus within two. Eric Hartman was then hit by a pitch to put the tying run aboard, but Lodise grounded into a double play to end it.
The game had been shaped early by Drue Hackenburg, who was excellent in his return to Double-A. He worked eight innings, gave up one run on three hits, struck out five and did not issue a walk.
After being sent down from Gwinnett following his Aug. 28 start, Friday was his first Columbus appearance since June 10. In three starts for the Clingstones this season, Hackenburg has allowed just two earned runs over 18 innings.
Columbus’ offense had to work for everything. Dixon Williams tied the game in the seventh with a solo homer, his second at Double-A, and Lodise later delivered the shot that sent the game to extras. John Gil’s grand slam was the final jolt in a night full of swings.
Gwinnett’s night was much less kind, as the Stripers fell 9-3 to Charlotte after digging a deep early hole. Garrett Baumann made his second Triple-A start since being promoted for the second time this season and allowed five runs, one earned, on eight hits over 4.1 innings.
He walked one and struck out two. It wasn’t a clean outing, but it did come with some command control from a pitcher who has usually battled that area.
Charlotte jumped out to a 7-0 lead before Gwinnett finally got on the board in the fifth. Maverick Handley launched his second Triple-A homer of the season to make it 7-1.
The Stripers added one run in each of the sixth and seventh innings, with Rowdy Tellez and Jim Jarvis each driving in a run, but that was as close as they got. Blake Burkhalter also had a rough stretch, giving up two runs in 1.2 innings, including a homer in the sixth.
Rome also spent most of the night trying to climb out of an early deficit and couldn’t quite do it in an 8-2 loss to Winston-Salem. Aiven Cabral went five innings for the Emperors, allowing four runs on six hits with one walk and six strikeouts.
Trailing 4-0, Rome finally broke through when Will Verdung and Colby Jones each hit triples in a three-batter span, bringing home Verdung and cutting the deficit to 4-1. Winston-Salem answered with a run in the sixth, and Verdung later provided Rome’s final offense with a solo homer on a 1-0 pitch to make it 5-2.
Verdung has now driven in a run in three straight games, and his average with Rome sits at .326 with an .879 OPS. Jones finished with the triple and an RBI. Carter Beck and Conor Essenburg both went 0-for-4, with Beck at .177 for the Emperors and Essenburg down to .200 at high-A.
Augusta was the one bright spot in the system, beating Charleston 6-2. Wil Libbert made the second professional start of his career and held the RiverDogs to one run on two hits in 3.2 innings. He struck out two and walked one.
The GreenJackets tied it in the fourth when Caleb Klein scored on a sacrifice fly by Dominic Kibler. They went ahead in the sixth on a Dallas Macias double that brought in Parker Brosius.
In the eighth, Augusta took advantage of Charleston mistakes as Brosius stole third and scored on a wild pitch, then Kibler also came home on a wild pitch to make it 4-1. Macias came through again in the ninth with a two-run double to score Klein and Kibler.
Adiel Melendez finished it off with 1.1 scoreless innings and three strikeouts. Since Aug. 5, he has thrown 12.2 innings across six appearances without allowing an earned run, while striking out 21 batters.
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