Friday, September 2 vs. Tennessee Smokies: 6:35 PM: Trustmark Park
September 2, 2022 – Southern League (SL) – Mississippi Braves News Release
TODAY’S GAME: The M-Braves continue a six-game series against the Tennessee Smokies at Trustmark Park. This is the final meeting between these two clubs in the regular season. ABOUT LAST NIGHT: The M-Braves lost 7-1, dropping their third straight in the series. RHP Tanner Gordon went five innings for the fifth time in six starts, allowing just one run. He struck out six with two walks.
STRONG STARTING PITCHING: Over the last 14 games, M-Braves pitchers have posted a 3.93 ERA. The starter made it at least five innings in 11 of those 14.
CALL HIM MR. MALLOY: Since his promotion on July 12, Justyn-Henry Malloy is hitting .287 with five home runs, 10 doubles, 25 RBI, 29 walks and .868 OPS in 40 games. He shot up the most recent prospect rankings, jumping up 14 spots to No. 13 in the Braves MLB Pipeline Top 30. – The Georgia Tech product hit .301 in August with three home runs, eight doubles, 15 RBI, 20 walks, 20 runs, and .935 OPS.
BIG BAD BUNNELL: Cade Bunnell is currently in his third stint with the M-Braves this season. In 28 games for Mississippi, he is batting .337 with six home runs, seven doubles, two triples, 24 RBI, 25 walks, and 1.092 OPS. Bunnell was a 40th-round pick in 2019 by Atlanta. – Bunnell logged his first multi-homer game on August 25 at Birmingham, smashing a solo home run in the fourth and a three-run shot in the ninth.
THE SLUGBAUER MAKING MISSISSIPPI HISTORY: 1B Drew Lugbauer has hit a club-record 42 career M-Braves home runs over two seasons. He hit 18 home runs in 2021 and is tied for the league lead with 24 in 2022. He is currently two home runs away from tying Ernesto Mejia’s (2012) and Mike Hessman’s (2001) single-season franchise record (26). Lugbauer also set a club record with seven RBI on Saturday, July 2 at Biloxi. – Lugbauer hit a walk-off three-run homer on Friday, July 8 vs. PNS, and a walk-off single on Friday, June 3 vs MTG. He is in the league’s top 10 in…home runs (24, T-1st), RBI (68, 2nd), XBH (48, T-2nd), walks (68, 3rd), doubles (24, 8th), and total bases (185, 4th).
YOSEMITE SAM: INF/OF Cody Milligan has started 54 games in the leadoff spot. He has hit in 14 of his last 16 games since August 10, batting .348 with five doubles. MILLER TIME: INF Jalen Miller is at his best in clutch situations. With RISP, he is batting .339 with two home runs and 31 RBI., With RISP two outs, he’s batting .333 with one homer and 20 RBI. The Atlanta native is batting .235 with seven homers and 38 RBI this season. TAKE ‘EM TO THE DELI: INF Riley Delgado keeps on hitting, ranking 6th in the Southern League with a .271 batting average. He had an eight-game hit streak from 7/23-8/4 and an 11-game hit streak from 5/13-25.
LAST TIME AGAINST THE SMOKIES: The M-Braves won two of six games against the Tennessee Smokies in a wacky series at Smokies Stadium in Kodak, TN, from August 9-14. Three of the losses came by one run.
– On, Friday, August 12, the night’s 30 combined runs set a new Mississippi Braves team record in the 16-14 win. The seven-run fourth inning was a season-high, while the nine-run comeback was the second-largest in team history. The M-Braves became the first team in minor league baseball in 2022 to give up double-digit runs in an inning and win the game.
– The M-Braves lost a pair of 1-0 games. RHP Alan Rangel threw five innings of one-run ball on Thursday, and LHP Dylan Dodd delivered five innings of one-run ball on Saturday. – The M-Braves attempted another comeback on Sunday. Down 8-4 in the ninth, the Braves scored three runs and brought the tying run to third base but came up short 8-7.
– During the series, INF Vaughn Grissom was promoted straight to Atlanta on August 10. He is batting .324 with three home runs and 10 RBI in 18 games for the Braves. M-BRAVES TO MLB IN 2022: OF Drew Waters (8/22), C Shea Langeliers (8/16), RHP Freddy Tarnok (8/16), INF Vaughn Grissom (8/10), INF Joey Meneses (WSH, 8/2), RHP William Woods (ATL, 4/27), RHP Bryce Elder (4/12), OF Michael Harris II (5/28 from MIS), and LHP Joey Wentz (DET, 5/11) as former M-Braves to make their MLB debut this season. In total, 160 have made their debuts, and 23 have been promoted directly from Mississippi since 2005.
VALDÉS JOINS ELITE COMPANY: Catcher Javier Valdés became the first Mississippi Braves player to homer in his first two Double-A games on Tuesday and Wednesday. He was the first M-Brave to homer in his debut since Ronald Acuña Jr. homered on the first pitch he saw at the Double-A level on May 10, 2017, vs. Mobile.
THE GORDON MOBILE: In his last six starts, RHP Tanner Gordon has a 2.90 ERA over 31.0 innings. The Indiana product went at least five innings in five of those six starts. He has eight walks to 29 strikeouts over that span. Gordon finished 3-0 with a 3.48 ERA in the month of August.
THE COMEBACK KIDS: The M-Braves have come back in the eighth inning or seven more this season after just two such comebacks last season. Against the Barons, the M-Braves scored four of the final five runs to win an 11-inning thriller on Friday. On Sunday, Bunnell smashed a game-winning grand slam in the ninth.
APRIL SHOWERS, MAY FLOWERS, JUNE THUNDERSTORMS, JULY SUNSHINE, AUGUST TORNADOS: After going 7-13 in April, the M-Braves turned it around with a league-best 16-10 record in May. In June, the club was 7-19, tying their club record for losses in June. The M-Braves went 16-8 in July. The 16 wins were 2nd in AA and T-5th in MiLB and included a six-game sweep of Rocket City (the first six-game sweep in club history). The M-Braves finished 10-15 in August, continuing the remarkable trend.
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