Braves Minor League Recap: Jhancarlos Lara makes season debut

Sunday saw the season debut of pitching prospect Jhancarlos Lara with Rome, and although he only got to pitch three innings, he had no trouble picking up a bunch of strikeouts. Lara wasn’t the only pitching prospect to have a strong outing, as Luis De Avila had a shutout going through six and a third innings before running out of gas.

Strikeouts were the theme of the day as all three games in the system that were started on Sunday had at least 10 strikeouts for Braves pitching prospects - or in all four games that were played if you count the Augusta game that was suspended on Saturday and finished on Sunday afternoon.

Durham Bulls 4, Gwinnett Stripers 2

Box Score

Statcast

• Luis Liberato, LF: 2-4, 2 2B, .231/.271/.323
• Zach Logue, SP: 4 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 7 K, 3.66 ERA
• Brooks Wilson, RP: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K, 2.61 ERA

Zach Logue got the ball on Sunday and allowed three runs over four innings, striking out seven batters. Logue allowed just two hits, as well as three walks, over those four innings. He was followed by Brooks Wilson, who struck out three in an inning and a third, but did also put three runners on without allowing a run. Ben Bowden followed with a scoreless inning and two thirds, and then a scoreless frame from Jake Walsh, before Brian Moran allowed a run during his inning to finish this one off from the pitching side.

The bats were not alive for Gwinnett in this one, as they scored just two runs on five hits and one walk. Of those five hits, Luis Liberato collected a pair of doubles in four at bats and Leury Garcia added a triple. The only other Striper hits were singles by Forrest Wall and Yuli Gurriel.

Pensacola Blue Wahoos 9, Mississippi Braves 1

Box Score

• Cal Conley, 2B: 2-4, SB, .250/.333/.298
• Nacho Alvarez, SS: 0-3, BB, SB, .279/.398/.314
• Luis De Avila, SP: 6.1 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 6 K, 4.55 ERA

A look at the final score doesn’t tell you very much about what happened in this one. Luis De Avila got the start and had gone six and a third shutout innings in a 0-0 game before allowing three consecutive singles and getting the hook in the seventh inning. De Avila finished allowing three runs on seven hits and no walks, with six strikeouts - though before those last three hits after running out of gas, his line was 6.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K. Things only got worse from there as Trey Riley finished off the last two outs in the seventh and allowed two runs of his own, Jake McSteen would allow a run in an inning of work, and Jorge Juan gave up three runs in his inning.

This was another game where the bats just didn’t come alive, as Mississippi collected just four hits on the day while scoring once. Half of those hits came as Cal Conley singles, and he finished two for four with a steal. Geraldo Quintero and Bryson Horne accounted for the other two singles, as the Braves weren’t able to pick up an extra base hit off Pensacola pitching. Among the notable prospects Nacho Alvarez was hitless in three at bats, but drew a walk and stole his 10th base of the season.

Rome Emperors 11, Hickory Crawdads 1

Box Score

• EJ Exposito, 2B: 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB, SB, .277/.351/.631
• Jhancarlos Lara, SP: 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 5 K, 0.00 ERA
• Landon Harper, RP: 3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 6 K, 2.55 ERA

Jhancarlos Lara got the ball on Sunday, making his season debut here for Rome after the 21-year-old made a pair of appearances here last year. Lara was strong over three innings, allowing one hit and three walks while striking out five and finishing his day at 57 pitches. The command wasn’t exactly on, but it was his first game of the season so there is likely some rust to shake off. Lara was followed by three very strong innings from Landon Harper. Harper allowed a solo homer and three total hits while striking out six. Elison Joseph was next and he threw an inning and two thirds scoreless, picking up two strikeouts, before Tyree Thompson threw a scoreless inning and a third of his own, with one strikeout. Combined the four Rome arms allowed a run on six hits and five walks while striking out 14 hitters.

Rome went on to score 11 runs in this win, and the offense was led by EJ Exposito. Exposito went two for four with a walk, doubling, homering, stealing a bag, scoring twice, and batting a pair of runs in. The homer was Esposito’s sixth of the season, after hitting just eight in 110 games in 2023. Kevin Kilpatrick went three for five with a double and scored twice while adding an RBI, raising his OPS to .780. The other multi-hit game in the lineup came from Ethan Workinger, who was two for three with a walk and an RBI. Among the other prospects in Rome Sabin Ceballos was 1-5 with a run and an RBI, while Ambioris Tavarez was 0-4 with a walk and run scored.

Charleston RiverDogs 4, Augusta GreenJackets 2

Box Score

• Drew Compton, 1B: 1-4, BB, RBI, SB, .364/.473/.545
• Adam Maier, SP: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, 4.09 ERA
• Mitch Farris, RP: 3.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 5 K, 3.06 ERA

This game was the completion of Saturday’s suspended game and covered Adam Maier’s start here. As Garrett already noted Adam Maier turned in five very strong innings, and Mitch Farris was strong for three and two thirds out of the pen, and the duo racked up a combined 11 strikeouts.

This game was initially suspended at the start of the bottom of the 11th inning, and ended up going 12 innings. Among the action that took place on Sunday Drew Compton singled and stole a base, Kade Kern was hit by a pitch, and Diego Benitez drew a walk. Giomar Diaz, who got the last out in the top of the 11th on Saturday, came on to pitch the 12th inning and allowed two runs - including the extra inning inherited runner, to take the loss.

Augusta GreenJackets vs Charleston RiverDogs - PPD

The originally scheduled game for Sunday ended up not being played, as rain wiped it away.