Minor League Game Summaries 4/17

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Delmarva catcher Alex Murphy went 3-4 with a double He is the Orioles Hangout Milb player of the day.

Tides lose 4-3

Ronnier Mustelier put Gwinnett ahead for good with an RBI single in the third inning, and the G-Braves (9-2) edged the Norfolk Tides (2-8) 4-3 on Sunday afternoon at Coolray Field. The International League South Division-leading G-Braves swept the four-game series, extending their winning streak to six games.

Mustelier's RBI single brought home Chase d'Arnaud, who had doubled to lead off the third against Norfolk left-hander Ariel Miranda (L, 0-1). The Cuban-born Mustelier finished 2-for-3 for his second consecutive two-hit game, raising his batting average to .348. He picked up RBIs in three of the four games against the Tides, helping Gwinnett sweep a four-game series for the first time since August 20-23, 2015 vs. Louisville.

Right-hander John Gant (W, 1-0) completed five innings for the G-Braves, allowing three runs on three hits while walking two and striking out six. He was perfect through the first two innings and held a 3-0 lead before Norfolk scored three times in the bottom of the third. Ozzie Martinez singled and Michael Almanzar walked before Sharlon Schoop brought them both home with a double to left. It appeared that Gant would get through the inning with a lead still intact, but Henry Urrutia hit a two-out RBI single to tie the game.

Norfolk's three-run outburst ended a streak of 27 straight scoreless innings thrown by G-Braves' starting pitchers, a span that dated back to April 12 at Durham.

Gwinnett had built a 3-0 lead in the second inning, with Brandon Snyder, Rio Ruiz and Braeden Schlehuber each collecting RBIs off Miranda. Ruiz punctuated the inning with an RBI triple to center and came in to score on Schlehuber's first hit of the season in his first plate appearance.

After Gant's exit, Rob Wooten (H, 2), Kanekoa Texeira (H, 2) and David Peterson (S, 2) allowed a total of two hits over four scoreless innings of relief. Peterson, who was 11-for-13 in save chances across three levels of the Braves' system in 2015, retired the side in order with help from strong defensive plays from right fielder Matt Tuiasosopo and first baseman Blake Lalli.

Mustelier had the only multi-hit game for the G-Braves, while Ruiz and Schlehuber each finished 1-for-3 with an RBI. The double by d'Arnaud was his fourth of the season, tying him with Tuiasosopo for the league lead.

Miranda allowed four runs on five hits over 6.0 innings for the Tides. Schoop went 1-for-3 with the two-run double, one of just five Norfolk hits on the day.

Baysox win 9-4 Adam Pohl

After bashing 17 hits in a Saturday afternoon blowout win, the Baysox used an unusual first inning to catapult them to a 9-4 win in Akron on Sunday in the series finale.

Akron starter Dace Kime could not find the strike zone. The Baysox sent ten men to the plate in the first inning without registering a hit as Kime walked five batters and hit two more while facing just eight men before being lifted. In came reliever DJ Brown who walked home a fourth Bowie run for the frame.

Up 4-1 in the fifth inning, the Baysox blew the game open. Mike Yastrzemski put down a bunt single up the third base line. That was followed by a Trey Mancini walk and a Chance Sisco single to right field to load the bases. That set the table for Corban Joseph who ripped a one-out triple to right field to score them all. Jeff Kemp then singled Joseph in through a drawn-in infield and the lead had swelled to 8-1.

It was another solid day for starter Chris Lee (2-0) who went six strong innings, allowing two runs on the afternoon. Bowie got work from a trio of relievers in Donnie Hart, Bobby Bundy and Jason Stoffel to close out the win.

The consecutive victories saw the Baysox score 23 runs over the last two games. Garabez Rosa had two more RBI?s reaching 11 in his last five games. All-in-all the Baysox batters walked eight times in the game.

Keys Lose 8-1 Geoff Arnold

he Lynchburg Hillcats completed a four-game sweep of the Frederick Keys on Sunday afternoon, as the visitors came away with an 8-1 triumph at Nymeo Field. It was the first time the Keys had been swept in a four-game home series since late-June 2014. Offensively, the Hillcats were led by Mike Papi, who went 3-for-4 with a home run, two doubles, two RBIs and two runs scored.

Lynchburg scored in five of their nine trips to bat, but did the most damage in the second. Anthony Santander started the inning with a double, before a walk by Mitch Horacek put runners on first and second. Papi followed with his first two-bagger of the game to make it 1-0. From there, Yu-Cheng Chang scored on a wild pitch, before Daniel Salters completed the scoring with an RBI single.

In the third, Taylor Murphy got into the act, singling home Santander from second, while Dorssys Paulino drove in Salters from third base one inning later. The fourth would be the last of the game for Horacek (1-2). Working four complete innings, the southpaw allowed five runs on nine hits to go with two walks and three strikeouts.

Frederick?s lone marker came in the fifth. Tad Gold walked to start the inning, advanced to second on a groundout and then reached third on a Jay Gonzalez single. Later in the inning, Gold came home on a double steal.

The Hillcats rebuilt their five run cushion in the seventh, on Papi?s solo shot, before completing their scoring in the ninth. With the bases loaded, Salters scored on a wild pitch, while Greg Allen came home on a passed ball. In the game, the Keys pitchers threw three wild pitches and walked five.

David Speer (1-0) earned the win for the Hillcats, working 1.2 innings of scoreless baseball. He walked one and struck out three. Cole Sulser earned the save, pitching three shutout innings and allowing just one hit.

Shorebirds win 4-3 Brendan Gilick

Yermin Mercedes clubbed two extra-base hits, Alex Murphy went 3-for-3 and Natanael Delgado drove in two key runs as the Shorebirds salvaged the series finale with Hagerstown, 4-3, on Sunday afternoon. Delmarva won its first home game of the year in a complete team effort in wire-to-wire drama.

Ofelky Peralta pieced together a nice performance in his second outing of the year. Peralta allowed just one run on four hits in five innings. Hagerstown had scoring chances in the first, third and fifth innings, but only broke through on a RBI groundout in the third inning to take a 1-0 lead. Max Schrock collected his third RBI of the season.

The ?Birds tied things at 1-1 in the home half of the fifth. Mercedes led off the frame with an unlikely triple into the right field corner, diving into third just around Kelvin Gutierrez?s tag. Delgado delivered a couple pitches later with a ground ball to second base to score Mercedes and tie the game.

Delmarva took it first lead in the seventh inning. Murphy banged his second hit of the day off of Gutierrez?s glove and into shallow left field. After D.J. Stewart flew out to deep right-center field, Mercedes one-hopped the center field wall for a double. Murphy only made it to third base, as he got a late read on a ball which Victor Robles almost tracked down.