Waters homers and goes 4-for-5 in Friday night win over BayBears

PEARL, MS - Drew Waters  finished 4-for-5 with a home run on Friday night, and the Mississippi Braves (31-35) beat the Mobile BayBears (26-39) 5-1 in front of 3,486 fans at Trustmark Park. 

On Ronald Acuña Jr. jersey giveaway night, Waters did his best impression of the 2018 NL Rookie of the Year, by recording his third four-hit game of the season and 25th multi-hit game. The 20-year-old No. 5 prospect for the Atlanta Braves extended his league-best on-base streak to 22 games and his hitting streak to ten games. The on-base streak, which began on May 23 is just two games shy of the longest this season in the Southern League. His 87 hits, 33 extra-base hits, 22 doubles, 41 runs and .335 batting average lead all of Double-A baseball.

Jasseel De La Cruz  made his fourth start for the M-Braves on Friday night, and the 21-year-old came away with a no-decision, but his third quality start. The lone run allowed by De La Cruz came across in the fifth inning on a two-out single by Angels top prospect Joe Adell, tying the game at 1-1. De La Cruz struck out five and walked just one, throwing 99 pitches. 

The Braves jumped ahead 1-0 in the third inning. Cristian Pache  and Waters collected one-out singles and then with two outs, Ryan Casteel  reached on an E6 to let Pache score the run. BayBears' starter Jason Alexander came away with a no-decision as well, surrendering just the one unearned run. 

Waters broke the 1-1 tie in the bottom of the seventh inning on a 419 foot two-run home run to left-center, giving the Braves a 3-1 advantage. The homer was Waters' first in just over a month and fourth on the season. Tyler Neslony  drew a walk from Mobile reliever Joe Gatto (L, 3-3) and then stole second base. Casteel brought home Neslony with his second hit of the game to increase the lead to 4-1. 
Tweet from @mbraves: KISS IT GOODBYE!!! 😘 pic.twitter.com/YveCdgfCzF

The Braves tacked on an additional run in the bottom of the eighth inning. Pache brought home Alejandro Salazar with a single, his second hit of the game to make it 5-1. The top prospect for the Braves leads the club and ranks sixth in the league with 35 RBI. 

Pache and Castel each finished with two hits and Waters had four of Mississippi's 11 hits on the night. 

Claudio Custodio  (W, 3-1) took over for De La Cruz and worked a perfect seventh inning, which was enough to earn the win. Custodio has retired 16-straight batters dating back to his last outing on Monday in Jackson, TN.  Josh Graham  (S, 7) pitched a scoreless eighth and ninth, with two strikeouts, to log his sixth save in eight opportunities. 

The M-Braves and BayBears will play a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 5:05 pm. The first game features LHP Dallas Keuchel  on the mound for the M-Braves. The Braves agreed to terms with the 2015 AL Cy Young award winner on a one-year contract for the remainder of the 2019 season on June 7. 

Keuchel, 31, made his first appearance in the Braves organization on Monday at Low-A Rome, tossing 7.0 shutout innings while allowing only one hit. Keuchel struck out nine and walked one. He threw 77 pitches and faced only two batters over the minimum.

Opposing Keuchel in game one for Mobile will be RHP Jeremy Beasley (3-3, 3.33). In game two, the M-Braves will send out the current strikeout leader in the Southern League RHP Ian Anderson  (4-4, 3.02) against Mobile RHP Tyler Carpenter (0-0, 5.00). First pitch is set for 5:05 pm with coverage beginning at 4:50 pm on 103.9 WYAB, TuneIn Radio, MiLB First Pitch app. and MiLB.TV (subscription required). 

Saturday's Promotions:

• Doubleheader - Enjoy two games for the price of one as the M-Brave and Mobile BayBears will play two seven-inning games. The second contest will begin 30 minutes after the conclusion of game one.
• Parrothead Night and Post-Game Fireworks - Join us as we pay tribute to Jimmy Buffett and all you Parrothead's with Parrothead Night! Stay after the second game for a Buffett themed Fireworks Show!
• Chick-fil-A Family 4 Pack - Get (4) Home Plate, Dugout, or Field Level Tickets and (4) complimentary Chick-fil-A meal coupons with purchase of this ticket plan!