Stephens’ two-run blast lifts Braves to walk-off win
♦ Rome rallies for dramatic victory in the ninth after giving up earlier lead
Landon Stephens started the scoring on Thursday night, and he ended it too.
With Rome trailing 2-1 in the ninth, Stephens stepped to the plate with a runner on first following a lead-off single by Justyn-henry Malloy and deposited the ball over the left-field fence for a tworun homer to give the Braves a thrilling 3-2 walk-off win over Winston-salem at Adventhealth Stadium.
Stephens’ blast, which was his teamleading 10th homer, followed an immaculate inning by Rome reliever Alec Barger, who struck out three batters in the top half of the ninth on nine pitches. He earned the win in relief to improve to 2-0 on the season.
“It was a weird game...we led for a while then they got a couple runs to go ahead, and we had some sloppy baserunning that hurt us,” said Rome manager Kanekoa Texeira. “But to see Justyn get the hit to start the ninth, and Landon comes up and you know you’re one swing away from winning it. Then it actually happens. Just a great walk-off win. Our first one of the year.
“(Alec) got us there with a strong top of the ninth,” added Texeira. “To have an immaculate inning is something special. It’s very rare. Hopefully he got the ball to save.”
It was the third straight win for the Braves (17-13) to open the home series against the Dash (15-14) after they dropped their final four games of their most recent road trip at Greenville.
Rome got on the board in the bottom of the first inning on a rare sacrifice-fly, foul-out by Stephens to the third baseman as he ranged over to the Braves’ dugout to catch the ball but the catcher followed and nobody was left to cover home plate. Vaughn Grissom tagged and scored from third on the play.
After struggling to put anything together against Rome starting pitcher Luis De Avila, Winston-salem finally did some damage against the Braves’ bullpen as they tied the game up in the top of the seventh when Luis Curbelo crushed a solo homer off the scoreboard in left field to make it 1-1. They then took the lead in the eighth on an RBI single by Moises Castillo to drive home Duke Ellis who had walked and then stolen second base to start the inning.
De Avila pitched very well but got a no decision after the bullpen gave up a couple runs after his exit in the sixth. In total, the lefty starter went six innings of scoreless ball and gave up four hits while striking out six and walking one.
“Luis pitched great tonight...he commanded his pitches and got early contact,’ said Texeira. “I would’ve liked to put him back out there and let him go because he was cruising, but we had to get our bullpen some work tonight.”
Trey Riley followed De Avila and allowed one run on one hit in one inning
of relief. Dylan Spain then followed with an inning of relief as well as he also gave up a run on two hits and struck out two before Barger’s dominant ninth.
Offensively, Stephens had all three RBIS for Rome in the win. Cody Milligan added a triple, Malloy had a hit and a run scored as well as drawing two walks and Bryson Horne contributed a hit.
Along with Curbelo and Castillo’s big hits for Winston-salem, Tyler Osik also finished with two hits.
Vince Vannelle took the loss for the Dash as he gave up two runs
on three hits with one strikeout in one inning of relief. Jordan Mikel got a no decision after starting and pitching four innings as he allowed one run on one hit while striking out three. Wilber Perez, Cooper Bradford and Fraser Ellard all worked in relief as well with none of the three allowing a run.
The Braves will look to continue their home success on Friday night when they once again host Winston-salem at 7 p.m. for “Strike Out Stroke Night” as they team up with Adventhealth for stroke education.
Texeira said he is looking for his team to continue the momentum they have built in their home stadium over the last three days following a tough road trip.
“It feels great right now. Even after our first win of the series on Tuesday, it felt like we got some energy back,” said Texeira. “I think we kind of got anxious on the road and tried to do a little too much. We feel at home here. We can just go play our game, hit it gap to gap, and it has showed the last three games.”
NOTES: Attendance for Thursday night’s contest at Adventhealth Stadium was 902. …The newlyrenovated terrace area was open for the first time this season on Thursday night as fans 21 and older could visit for a refreshing beverage. …Horne got his money’s worth in his fifth-inning at-bat as he saw 14 pitches total with nine foul balls before eventually lining out to right field.