Justin Brantley Steps Up In Game Two As Cola Splits Double-Header With Rome

Rome Braves @ Columbia Fireflies

August 19, 2017

Game Two

Jon Kennedy @ Justin Brantley

Teams	1	2	3	4	5	6	7		R	H	E
Rome	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	4	0
Columbia	0	0	0	0	1	0	X		1	3	1

W: Brantley (2-1, 3.52 ERA); L: Schlosser (0-5, 7.85 ERA); Save: Blackham (5)

Boxscore

The Stats:

Pitchers

Justin Brantley (W, 2-1, 3.52 ERA) – 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 TB, 3 BB, 7 K (5 K/Sw), 2 HBP, 1 GIDP, 4 GB: 6 FB: 1 LD, 92 Pitches (55 Strikes), 11 Swinging, 13 Called, 12% SwStr, 26.2% Whiff/Swing, 15.3 Pitches/IP, 23 BF

Matt Blackham (S, 5, 1.59 ERA) – 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 TB, 2 K (2 K/Sw), 2 GB, 18 Pitches (14 Strikes), 5 Swinging, 0 Called, 27.8% SwStr, 35.7% Whiff/Swing, 18 Pitches/IP, 4 BF

Table 1 – Brantley pitch stats by inning

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	Total
Total	12	18	16	22	10	14	92
Strikes	8	10	5	16	7	9	55
Swinging*	2	3	0	2	3	1	11

*12% Swinging strike rate; 26.2% Whiff/Swing rate

Batters

DH - Gene Cone - 0-3, 6 Pitches/PA

SS - Luis Carpio - 1-3, 2.33 Pitches/PA

2B - J.J.  Franco - 1-2, 1 GIDP, 2 Pitches/PA

1B - Dash Winningham - 0-2, 2 K, 18.2% SwStr, 28.6% Whiff/Swing, 5.5 Pitches/PA

RF - Ian Strom - 1-2, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K, 5.5 Pitches/PA

3B - Reed Gamache - 0-2, 2.5 Pitches/PA

C - Brandon Brosher - 0-2, 1 K, 12.5% SwStr, 25% Whiff/Swing, 4 Pitches/PA

LF - Jay Jabs - 0-2, 1 K, 10% SwStr, 25% Whiff/Swing, 5 Pitches/PA

CF - Arnaldo Berrios - 0-2, 1 K, 3.5 Pitches/PA

Recapish

            After Rome scored eight unanswered runs for a game one win, Justin Brantley gave the Columbia Fireflies exactly what they needed in game two. Brantley bounced back from a rough outing against Hickory last week to give the Fireflies his second scoreless outing in three starts, and he needed to be scoreless to earn this win. Columbia jumped ahead 2-0 in the 1^st inning of game one, but they scored just one run on six hits over the final twelve innings of this double-header. Fortunately, that run came in game two and was enough for Cola to earn a split.

            Brantley has never been a starter in the minors (or Indy ball) before, so it’s not surprising there have been some ups-and-downs as he’s transitioned to that role out of need in the second half of this season. He started his night with two strikeouts during a perfect 1^st and he’d face the minimum in half of the innings he worked. Brantley ran into some trouble after issuing a leadoff walk in both the 2^nd and 3^rd inning, but his defense helped him through the scoring threats by erasing a base runner in both frames: on a double play in the 2^nd and on a CS in the 3^rd. The seven strikeouts were a career high for Brantley, whose previous career high was five, which he did three times (most recently on 8/7).

K #1

K #2

463

K #3

Brantley's mechanics

CS for Brosher

Berrios

Somehow not a pickoff

K #4

K #5

K #6

K #7

Unassisted double play from Dash Winningham

            Offensively, Columbia scatted just three hits, but that was enough for a 1-0 win because one left the park. J.J. Franco connected on the first hit of the game when he singled in the 1^st. Luis Carpio led off the 4^th with the next Cola hit, but he was quickly erased on the base paths after a double play. Ian Strom provided the decisive blow when he launched a solo blast to left field in the 5^th.

Franco

Carpio

Strom

            After six strong innings from Justin Brantley, Cola Manager Jose Leger was happy to hand the ball off to Matt Blackham for the save. Blackham struck out two to continue his impressive run of dominance over the SAL, and he now hasn’t allowed an earned run over his last 14 appearances: 21 IP, 33 K: 4 BB, 9 H, 1 R (0 ER), .333 OPS allowed.

K #1

K #2

            Looking ahead, the Fireflies will look to even this long series with Rome Sunday evening behind Darwin Ramos.

  

Ocean worlds are exciting candidates for life within our solar system & @NASAWebb telescope will help us study them https://t.co/NsvN5sw2pp pic.twitter.com/oQO77jlOwi

— NASA (@NASA) August 25, 2017