GWINNETT- The Gwinnett Braves defeated the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees 5-4 on Friday night at Gwinnett Stadium. With the win, the G-Braves improve to 34-28 while the Yankees drop to 36-25 on the season.
Yankees’ first baseman Juan Miranda got Scranton on the board first with a second-inning home run. Miranda’s 10th home run of the season barely cleared the left-field fence, so much so, that it summoned a conference from the umpires. The solo shot put Scranton up 1-0.
G-Braves’ first baseman Kody Kirkland answered Miranda’s shot with one of his own in the bottom of the third. The lead-off homer was Kirkland’s first home run since joining the G-Braves on June 2.
The solo home run extended his hitting streak to seven games and he is now batting .409 (9-22) in seven games with Gwinnett. The next batter, Antonio Perez, drew a walk and later in the inning with two outs, Brooks Conrad hit a two-run shot that cleared the visitor’s bullpen in right field to give Gwinnett a 3-1 lead.
But Scranton right fielder Shelley Duncan put the Yankees back in front with a three-run homer in the fifth inning. On base were Austin Jackson who started the two-out rally with a double to right field and Cody Ransom who later drew walk. Duncan’s homer made it a 4-3 game.
Reid Gorecki wanted in on the fun and hit his fourth home run in his last seventh games, to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning. Gorecki’s fifth homer of the season tied the game at four.
G-Braves’ catcher Alvin Colina broke the four-all tie with an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning. Colina plated J.C. Holt who reached base after being hit by a pitch. Holt’s run put Gwinnett up 5-4.
Brandon Jones was 2-for-3 in the Gwinnett win and was one of the seven G-Braves’ starters to collect a hit. Friday night was the first time the Gwinnett Braves went deep three times in a single game. Gwinnett had previously gone deep twice on eight separate occasions.
The two teams hit a combined five home runs in the game, the most homers in a single-game at the brand new Gwinnett Stadium.
Gwinnett starter Tony Armas allowed four earned runs in six innings in the no-decision start. It was the first time that a G-Brave starter pitched six or more innings in any of the last 10 games, since Todd Redmond pitched eight innings on May 30.
Rafael Cruz was charged with the loss on Tuesday but quickly evened his record at 1-1 with his win on Friday. Cruz pitched a scoreless seventh inning and has still not allowed an earned run in 6 1/3 innings with Gwinnett.
Gwinnett and Scranton will play game three of the four-game series on Saturday night. Gwinnett will send recently promoted LHP Jonny Venters to the mound to make his Triple-A debut to battle Yankees’ southpaw Casey Fossum (6-4, 2.34 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
