COLUMBIA, SC - Andrés Giménez's rampage at the plate continued on Friday night. The 18-year-old Mets prospect reached base safely all four plate appearances but the Fireflies fell to the GreenJackets, 6-5. Gimenez now has 12 hits over his last eight games, good for a .387 batting average since July
COLUMBIA, SC - Andrés Giménez's rampage at the plate continued on Friday night. The 18-year-old Mets prospect reached base safely all four plate appearances but the Fireflies fell to the GreenJackets, 6-5. Gimenez now has 12 hits over his last eight games, good for a .387 batting average since July 19.
Only seven other hitters in the league have a better average than Gimenez in that span. On Friday, the lefty slashed a pair of singles, walked, was hit by a pitch and stole a base.
Columbia (14-19, 54-47) found itself trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the second before Brandon Brosher tied the game up. For a second straight night, the slugger drilled a two-run home run. It left the bat with an exit velocity of 111 miles per hour and soared over the right-field wall. Brosher now has nine homers this season.
Justin Brantley - making just his third professional start - surrendered two Augusta (14-20, 37-62) runs in the top of the third. Skylar Ewing sacrifice fly scored one, while Jose Vizcaino Jr. drove in the second with a single. Vizcaino Jr. finished with two RBIs, bringing his total in the first two games of the series to five. Brantley then settled down with a clean fourth.
The Fireflies still found themselves trailing by two heading to the bottom of the sixth. Gimenez started the frame with a single and promptly swiped second. Luis Carpio drove him in with a well-struck double down the left-field line. Next, Jacob Zanon singled and moments later the home team had two runners in scoring position after Dan Rizzie's sacrifice bunt. Augusta's reliever, Jose Morel, then hurled two wild pitches to the backstop that enabled both Carpio and Zanon to score. Columbia went from trailing by a run to leading by a run in a span of six pitches.
In the top of the ninth, though, the visitors squeaked across two runs and took a lead for good.
Columbia out-hit Augusta on Friday, 9-8, and received tremendous work from a few relievers. Keaton Aldridge , Joe Zanghi and Matt Blackham combined for four scoreless frames.
The Southern Division foes clash again on Saturday at 7:05 p.m. Manager Jose Leger plans to start right-hander Harol Gonzalez (7-7, 3.90). He's scheduled to duel with GreenJackets lefty Domenic Mazza (6-8, 3.35).
You can listen to the action on ESPN Columbia 94.9 FM and 1230 AM, ColumbiaFireflies.com and the TuneIn Radio app starting at 6:45 p.m. You can also watch the game live on MiLB.tv.
