The Syracuse Chiefs pummeled the Gwinnett Braves, 10-6, on Friday night from NBT Bank Stadium. Clint Robinson dominated at the plate for the Chiefs, crushing his 15th home run of the season and driving in four runs on three hits. Taylor Hill pitched well for the Chiefs in the victory,
The Syracuse Chiefs pummeled the Gwinnett Braves, 10-6, on Friday night from NBT Bank Stadium. Clint Robinson dominated at the plate for the Chiefs, crushing his 15th home run of the season and driving in four runs on three hits. Taylor Hill pitched well for the Chiefs in the victory, tossing six innings of two-run ball.
Syracuse (38-66) opened up the scoring in hitless fashion versus Luiz Gohara in the first inning. Zach Collier led off the frame with a walk. One batter later, with Brandon Snyder at the plate, Gohara attempted to pick off Collier twice. His second throw got away from the first baseman Carlos Franco, moving Collier up to second on the throwing error. In the same at-bat, Snyder chopped a ground ball toward the third baseman Rio Ruiz. Ruiz fielded the ball cleanly and threw on to first in time, but Franco's foot did not stay on the bag to complete the out, allowing Snyder to reach first and Collier to advance to third on the missed catch error. New Chief Chad Huffman then grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, but Collier scored and put the Chiefs out in front 1-0.
Gwinnett (51-53) responded to take the lead in the fourth against Taylor Hill. With two outs, Jace Peterson singled into center field. In the next at-bat, Dustin Peterson laced a double down the left-field line, scoring Jace Peterson and tying the game. One batter later, Franco singled on a line drive into left field, bringing Dustin Peterson in to score and giving the Braves a 2-1 lead.
The Chiefs retook the lead from Gohara and the Braves in the bottom half of the fourth. Huffman walked to lead off the frame and then moved up to second on a Clint Robinson single into center field, the first Chiefs hit of the game. Spencer Kieboom followed with a broken-bat single into left field that scored Huffman, tying the game at two runs apiece. In the next at-bat, Thursday night's hero Alejandro De Aza slapped a single into right-center field to load the bases. One batter later, Michael Almanzar grounded into a 4-6-3 double play. Robinson scored and put the Chiefs up 3-2.
Robinson added to the Chiefs' lead with one swing of the bat in the fifth. With Collier at first and two outs, the burly left-hander hammered a line drive over the right-field fence for a 5-2 Chiefs lead. The homer was Robinson's 15th home run of the season.
Robinson and company continued to pour it on in the seventh inning. With Enrique Burgos on the mound, Irving Falu walked to lead off the frame. After a Collier strikeout, Snyder walked to put runners at first and second for Huffman. Huffman responded by singling on a soft line drive into center field for the first hit of his Chiefs career. Robinson followed with a single into center field, plating Falu and Snyder, giving Robinson his third and fourth RBIs of the day. With the bases still loaded, Kieboom drilled a single into center to score Huffman. De Aza then singled into right field to reload the bases for Almanzar. The tall right-handed batter proceeded to smack a ground ball at shortstop Dansby Swanson. The ball took a nasty hop off the infield grass, off the glove of Swanson and into center field for a hit. Both Robinson and Kieboom scored on the play, giving the Chiefs a 10-2 lead.
The G-Braves retrieved a run in the eighth inning against Austin Adams. Ronald Acuna, the Braves' top prospect per Baseball America, tripled into the right-center-field alley to lead off the inning. Swanson then walked to put runners at the corners for Rio Ruiz. Ruiz proceeded to ground into a 6-4-3 double play that scored Acuna to cut the Chiefs' lead to 10-3.
Gwinnett pulled closer in the ninth against new Chief Neil Ramírez. Dustin Peterson led off the frame with a double into left field. After a Franco walk and a Scivicque strikeout, Matt Tuiasosopo pinch-hit for the pitcher Cruz. The right-hander made his presence felt immediately when he smacked a three-run homer over the right-field wall, slicing the lead to just 10-6. The Braves continued to keep the pressure on with back-to-back walks from Ozzie Albies and Acuna before Neal Cotts came in and struck out the final two batters to end the game
The Chiefs and G-Braves continue with the second game of a two-game series on Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. from NBT Bank Stadium. Phillips Valdez is scheduled to make a spot start for Syracuse with top pitching prospect Erick Fedde scheduled to start for the Nationals. Meanwhile, right-hander Matt Wisler is scheduled to take the hill for Gwinnett.
