Exposito Reaches Five Times, Acton Drives in Four, but Augusta Drops Sunday Shootout

Exposito Reaches Five Times, Acton Drives in Four, but Augusta Drops Sunday ShootoutCalamitous eighth inning dooms GreenJackets, who split series in Charleston

*Charleston, SC* – The Augusta GreenJackets (Atlanta Braves) fell to the Charleston RiverDogs (Tampa Bay Rays) for the third straight day, dropping their highest scoring contest of the year by a score of 13-10. Augusta (26-25) clawed their way back from an early hole in the seventh inning, but the RiverDogs (21-30) scored six runs in the eighth to break a tie and salvage the series split.

Augusta began the game by stranding runners on the corners in the top of the first, a harbinger of things to come. In the bottom of the inning, GreenJackets starting pitcher Adam Shoemaker allowed the first six men to reach base, with his outing punctuated by a grand slam from Charleston’s Cooper Kinney to make it 4-0. Tyree Thompson replaced Shoemaker after two-thirds of an inning, the shortest outing by an Augusta starter this year.

The GreenJackets got a run back in the top of the second on Francisco Floyd’s sixth RBI of the year. In the fourth inning, Justin Janas reduced the arrears to one, as he hit a two-out double to make it 4-3 Charleston. However, Charleston would push their lead back to three after capitalizing on two Augusta errors, but the GreenJackets would take advantage of a Charleston error in the next frame, as Cory Acton and Dawson Dimon would both bring home runs to make it 6-5. In the bottom of the fifth, with Jason Franks pitching, a passed ball led to a sacrifice fly for Charleston as the lead went back to two.

However, the lead was finally erased in the top of the seventh inning. E.J. Exposito reached with a single, before Jeremy Celedonio hit his seventh homer of the season to straight-away center field to tie the game at seven. Exposito finished the game with three hits and two walks, reaching base in all five plate appearances. In the bottom of the eighth, Chad Bryant surrendered a solo home run to Ryan Spikes to make it 8-7, before Bryant and Elison Joseph surrendered six more base hits as Charleston plated a season-high six runs in the inning.

With the score 13-7 after eight innings, Acton hit his first homer as a GreenJacket to make it 13-10, giving him a career-high four RBIs, but it was too little, too late. For the first time this season, Augusta dropped their third straight road game. However, the GreenJackets did come away with a series split, meaning they still have not lost a series since the last week of April.

The GreenJackets return home on Tuesday for a 12-game homestand where they will take on first-placed Myrtle Beach (Chicago Cubs) and Carolina (Milwaukee Brewers), featuring a Vaughn Grissom bobblehead giveaway, a meet and greet with former UGA quarterback David Greene, and more! For tickets, information on the meet and greet, and a full promotional schedule for the upcoming series with Myrtle Beach, click here: https://www.milb.com/augusta/fans/gj-homestand-preview!

About SRP Park/Augusta GreenJackets

The Augusta GreenJackets are the Single-A affiliate Atlanta Braves. 2023 Augusta GreenJackets Full, Half and 20-game season seat memberships are on sale now. To learn more about the benefits and to lock in your seat to cheer on the Braves of tomorrow, visit www.gjmembers.com or call (803) 349-WINS (9467). For tickets, team merchandise, and more information visit www.greenjacketsbaseball.com.

SRP Park is the anchor piece of Riverside Village, a live, work, “playball" development which includes apartment living, retail, restaurants, class "A" office space, and a Crowne Plaza Hotel and Conference Center. To learn more about SRP Park and hosting events and availability, visit www.thesrppark.com.

###