Sports Page Atlanta

Atlanta 11, Arizona 4 (box)
Richmond 3, Durham 2 (box)
Jacksonville 8, Mississippi 4 (box)
Lynchburg 5, Myrtle Beach 3 (box)
Rome 4, Charleston 2 (box)

MLB - Atlanta: The big club won their third straight against Arizona in big fashion. The team had 14 hits with four players (McCann, Escobar, Infante, and Kotsay) getting multiple hits in the game. Brian McCann drove in four and hit a home run in the first inning. He also stole his 4th base of the year. Jair Jurrjens won his 11th game as he pitched seven innings allowing three earned runs, seven hits, and striking out 6 while walking two.

AAA - Richmond: The R-Braves got ten hits yesterday with five players (Josh Anderson, Diory Hernandez, Jason Phillips, Corky Miller, Wes Timmons) each with two hits a piece. Phillips hit his 2nd home run of the season and Anderson stole his 35th base. Matt DeSalvo struck out 11 in 5.2 innings, but didn’t factor in the decision as Brad Nelson got the win in relief. Jorge Julio saved his 6th game.

AA - Mississippi: Mississippi scattered 11 hits with Reid Gorecki getting three of them but couldn’t score enough runs to overcome a late barrage by Jacksonville. Glavine took the loss in his rehab start where he threw five innings and gave up four hits and two earned runs. His start was solid and the Braves have announced that Glavine will come off the DL and start Thursday against the Cubs.

Adv. A - Myrtle Beach: Tyler Flowers hit two doubles and had three of the Pelicans seven hits in a losing effort against Lynchburg. Former Gainesville High School standout Jon Owings hit his 16th home run of the year. Jeff Lyman took his 6th loss of the year as he gave up two earned runs in three relief innings.

A - Rome: Rome had four runs on 11 hits last night, none bigger than the two runs in the top of the 10th driven in by Cody Johnson and Chad Lundahl to give Rome the go ahead runs they needed. Craig Kimbrel earned his 2nd win of the season as he pitched two scoreless innings to finish out the game and hold off Charleston. Kimbrel struck out three and didn’t walk a batter.

Over the past day or two a few people have landed on this site searching for information about players from the 2008 First-Year Player Draft this past June. Not wanting to disappoint anyone, here’s a bit of information on the Braves’ first four picks, all of whom were pitchers.

• Brett DeVall | LHP - DeVall was taken with the 40th overall pick in the draft, which was a supplemental first round pick for the Braves. He finished his high school career in Niceville, Florida where he went 13-2 in his senior season, with only 25 walks and 152 strikeouts. You can see his MiLB draft report here. DeVall pitches for the Gulf Coast League Braves and has seen action in two games thus far, both in July. He’s thrown a total of 4.2 innings and has a 0-0 record. He hasn’t given up an earned run and has two strikeouts and two walks.
• Robert Stovall | LHP - Stovall was taken in the second round by the Braves with the #64 pick overall. He’s from Hokes Bluff High School in Alabama and was named Mr. Baseball by the Alabama Sports Writers Association. His senior season was impressive with a 14-1 record with a 1.00 ERA. He also struck out 187 batters in 84 innings and threw three no-hitters. So far for the GCL Braves, Stovall has pitched 10.1 innings in four games. He’s 1-0 with a 6.10 ERA and has struck out 14 while walking 11 batters.
• Ezekiel Spruill | RHP | Draft Report - Spruill was also taken in the second round with the #70 pick overall. Spruill, who’s out of Kell High School in Marietta, Georgia has a fastball that sits in the low 90’s. He’s also pitching in the Gulf Coast League for the Braves and in seven games has a 6-0 record. He’s thrown 27.1 innings and has an ERA of 1.65. Most impressively, he’s shown that he can overpower hitter as he has a 27:5 strikeout to walk ratio.
• Craig Kimbrel | RHP - Kimbrel was taken in the third round with the #96 overall pick and played at Wallace State Community College before being drafted. He started in the Rookie Appalachian League for the Danville Braves where he saw action in 12 games pitching 19 innings. His record was 1-2 with a 0.47 ERA and six saves before he was promoted to the Single-A Rome Braves. In Rome he’s record three saves (I spoke about him notching his third save last night) in 5.1 innings of work. He also has a 0.00 ERA and opposing batters are hitting only .056 against him. He’s struck out 12 while walking zero for Rome.

San Francisco 3, Atlanta 2 (box)
Richmond 5, Durham 4 (box)
Jacksonville 10,  Mississippi 9 (box)
Myrtle Beach 9, Kinston 6 (box)
Rome 1, Charleston 0 (box)

MLB - Atlanta: This one-run game skid has got to stop soon. Today marked the 26th time in a row that the Braves lost a one-run ball game. Brian McCann collected three of the Braves five hits as Tim Lincecum is proving just hot tough of a pitcher he really is. Chuck James struggled again allowing three runs and five hits in four innings. James gave up another home run today (his 10th in seven starts) in the first inning to Aaron Rowand.

AAA - Richmond: Josh Anderson made it two games in a row with a home run as he led the R-Braves to a 5-4 victory going 3 for 4 with two doubles, a home run and two RBI. Brandon Jones kicked in another two RBI as he went 2 for 4. Damian Moss got the win in relief (his 4th) and Jorge Julio saved the game (his 5th). Starter Jo-Jo Reyes went only five innings giving up four runs and seven hits.

AA - Mississippi: Starter Calros Sencion only made it 3.2 innings as he gave up four earned runs, three hits, and struck out four while walking six. But, the M-Braves scored some runs, and Sencion wasn’t on the hook for the loss. Matt Young, Greg Creek, and Jose Camarena each had two RBI for the M-Braves and the team even took an 8-7 lead into the ninth inning. But Luis Valdez gave up three earned runs and three hits in the 9th to blow his 8th save of the year and take his third loss.

Adv. A - Myrtle Beach: Willie Cabrera was in left field instead of the DH spot tonight, but he continued to swing a hot bat going 3 for 4 with a double and an RBI in the Pelicans 9 to 6 victory. Most of the offense came from Randy Gress’s three RBI and Eric Campbell, who hit his 17th home run and went 1-4 with two RBI. Georgia Southern’s own Dustin Evans gave up a home run Carlos Rivero, but managed to lock it up and earn the win in relief (his 2nd). Nick Fellman earned his 6th save of the season as he struck out two and walked one in 0.2 innings.

A - Rome: 20-year-old Jeffrey Locke earned his fifth win of the season as he pitched six shutout innings, allowing five hits and striking out five while walking two. And continuing with the trend of 20-year-old pitchers, Craig Kimbrel earned his third save as he pitched a scoreless ninth inning, striking out two batters. Rome only managed five hits tonight, but scored on a fielding error by Charleston pitcher Jairo Heredia.