Rome pitchers strike out 20 in Hoppers loss

Greensboro hitters strike out 36 times in back-to-back losses

Hoppers relief pitcher Garrett Leonard. (Jak Kerley/Greensboro Grasshoppers)

By Jeff Mills

April 30, 2022

ROME, Ga. ― Four Braves pitchers combined for 20 strikeouts, and prized prospect Vaughn Grissom doubled, singled and drove in three runs to lead Rome to a 10-6 victory over the Greensboro Grasshoppers at AdventHealth Stadium on Friday night. Grissom, a shortstop rated by MLB Pipeline as the No. 7

ROME, Ga. ― Four Braves pitchers combined for 20 strikeouts, and prized prospect Vaughn Grissom doubled, singled and drove in three runs to lead Rome to a 10-6 victory over the Greensboro Grasshoppers at AdventHealth Stadium on Friday night.

Grissom, a shortstop rated by MLB Pipeline as the No. 7 prospect in Atlanta's farm system, is the son of former big-league center fielder Marquis Grissom.

Winning pitcher Jake McSteen (3-0) picked up the win in relief. The 26-year-old left-hander struck out six in 1 2/3 innings of relief. Left-hander Luis DeAvila started and gave up five runs in 4 1/3 innings, striking out eight. Lefty Lisandro Santos struck out five in two scoreless innings, and Austin Smith notched the 20th strikeout in a scoreless ninth.

Henry Davis and Matt Gorski hit back-to-back home runs in the fifth inning to give the Hoppers a 6-3 lead.

Davis, the No. 1 overall pick in last year's amateur draft, went 1-for-3 with a three-run shot, his third of the season. Davis leads the Hoppers and ranks eighth in the South Atlantic League with a .328 batting average.

Gorski went 3-for-5 with a home run, two RBIs, two runs scored and two stolen bases. Gorski, who has hit safely in 11 of his last 14 starts, connected for his fifth home run of the season, a solo shot over the wall in right-center field.

Right-hander Garrett Leonard (0-1) took the loss, giving up four runs in two innings of middle relief to surrender the lead.

Hoppers pitchers quietly struck out 14 batters. Starter Jared Jones fanned nine, Leonard three and Eddy Yean two.

Braves 11, Hoppers 0

Right-hander Tanner Gordon (3-1) walked none and struck out 10 in six scoreless innings, lowering his ERA to 1.64 and leading Rome to a victory Thursday night.

Gordon and three Rome relievers combined to strike out 16 Hoppers in a six-hit shutout.

Landon Stephens went 3-for-5 with his sixth homer of the season, and Grissom hit his first homer and drove in four runs.

Yoyner Fajardo went 2-for-4 with two stolen bases to lead Greensboro, and Endy Rodriguez doubled for the Hoppers' only extra-base hit. Greensboro left eight runners on base and went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

NOTES: Greensboro (7-12) has lost back-to-back games and three out of four so far this series at Rome (12-7). ... Henry Davis, the No. 2 prospect in Pittsburgh's farm system according to MLB Pipeline, has hits in 13 of the 17 games he's played so far. He has seven multi-hit games and ranks fifth in the Sally League with a .461 on-base percentage. Davis has reached base in 11 consecutive games, and 16 of 17 games played. ... Matt Gorski went 0-for-4 with a groundout and three strikeouts Thursday, failing to reach base for the first time this season, snapping a 16-game on-base streak.

In his career at the News & Record, journalist Jeff Mills won 10 national and 12 state writing awards from the Associated Press Sports Editors, the Society for Features Journalism, and the N.C. Press Association.