Braves continue their strong homestand with complete win
If there was a hypothetical checklist for best ways to win a baseball game, the Rome Braves checked almost every box during their 6-0 victory over Asheville on Thursday night at AdventHealth Stadium.
Rome (44-34, 8-4 in second half) took the early lead thanks to some timely hits from their lineup, got a dominant outing from starting pitcher Royber Salinas, had three relievers combine for three shutout innings and added multiple insurance runs late to earn a pretty complete win against the visiting Tourists to improve to 3-0 on the homestand.
“We just kept it rolling tonight,” said Rome manager Kanekoa Texeira. “The bats strung together some hits early, our pitchers did their thing throwing up zeros on the board and we had timely hitting to get add-on runs in the last few innings. It was really a good night and great team win for us.”
The Braves grabbed the momentum in the bottom of the second as they sent seven batters to the plate and scored three runs. Bryson Horne came home for the first one on a wild pitch after walking to lead off the inning, and several batters later Drew Campbell connected for a two-run triple to right field to make it 3-0.
They didn’t know at the time, but that was all the run support that would be needed as Salinas was dominant on the mound with six scoreless innings as he allowed
just two hits, struck out nine and walked two to earn the win and improve to 3-5 on the season.
The bullpen picked up right where Salinas left off as Jose Montilla, who recently was activated from the 60-day IL following Tommy John Surgery last year, tossed a scoreless seventh while giving up two hits, striking out one and walking one to earn a hold. After that, Issrael De La Cruz and Austin Smith each had
strong innings to close out the game with De La Cruz throwing a scoreless eighth, not allowing a hit, striking out one and walking one and Smith finishing the game off with a scoreless ninth, not allowing a hit, striking out two and walking one.
“Salinas pitched great...he had everything working tonight,” said Texeira. “His slider and curveball were both good and he had an overpowering fastball. He just threw it where he wanted all night and gave us a dominant performance.
“Our bullpen came in and threw up more zeros after that. It was good to see Montilla back after his injury and Tommy John. He got some ground balls and soft contact tonight which is what he does on the mound. And the other two guys came in and got outs. We’ve got several guys in the bullpen that can come in and get outs for us so we just try to rotate them and use them all as much as we can. They can all do the job.”
The offense wasn’t done scoring after the three early runs as they added two more in the seventh and one in the eighth. Vaughn Grissom drove home two on a hustle double in the seventh and Christian Robinson drove in one with a double in the eighth.
Campbell led the way at the plate with two hits, including a triple, a double and two RBIs. Robinson contributed a two-hit effort as well with a double, an RBI and a run scored, and Javier Valdes also had a two-hit night with a double and a run scored. Grissom’s double and two RBIs and Brian Klein’s hit, two walks and two runs scored highlighted the offensive showings as well.
Cole McDonald took the loss for Asheville (31-45, 5-6) to fall to 1-4 on the season as the starter lasted just 1 2/3 innings and gave up three runs on two hits while walking three and striking out two.
The Tourists’ bats only accounted for four hits total, and no batter in the lineup had more than one.
NOTES: It was a special night at the ballpark on Thursday as former Atlanta Brave Sid Bream made an appearance. Bream, which is most well-known to Braves’ fans for his game-winning slide into home plate to defeat the Pittsburgh Pirates in Game 7 of the 1992 NL Championship Series, threw out the ceremonial first pitch prior to the game between Rome and Asheville and also stuck around to sign autographs, take pictures and have a meet-and-greet with fans at AdventHealth Stadium. Bream’s alumni appearance was the first of three consecutive special promotional nights as the Rome Braves will host giveaways on Friday and Saturday night to the first 1,000 fans through the gate. On Friday, the featured giveaway was Atlanta Braves World Series Championship Ring Replicas, and that will be followed by Max Fried Bobblehead Night on Saturday . ... Attendance for Thursday’s game was 1,657.