The Braves scored four in the eighth for the second night in a row on Thursday to complete their sweep of the Hens.
The Braves scored four in the eighth for the second night in a row on Thursday to complete their sweep of the Hens.
Gwinnett took their third straight from Toledo on Thursday, thus completing the sweep as they continue to give the Hens trouble in 2017. Kyle Kubitza drove in four of the Braves' eight runs while starter Matt Wisler held the Hens to just three runs on three hits through six innings of work.
Toledo starter Anthony Vasquez worked quickly through the first and just as quickly through the second, but Gwinnett managed two squeeze two quick runs in before the second frame's close. With two down, Anthony Recker singled to center. He was brought in on a first-pitch homer by Kubitza - the first of two two-runners he hit Thursday.
The Braves tacked on two more in the fourth. Vasquez allowed Carlos Franco to reach on a one-out walk and almost got out of it by getting Recker to fly out. Kubitza's bat was heating up, though, as he hammered a 2-1 pitch over the fence for his second in two innings. He finished with three hits and four runs batted in.
Michael Almanzar was home-run happy, too. Jason Krizan's two-out walk found Almanzar licking his chops as he belted a two-run home run to left to make it 4-2. Almanzar has hit four home runs in three days and now ties Steven Moya as the team leader with seven. The third baseman has recorded 12 hits in his last nine games.
Tyler Collins provided some extra reinforcements in the fifth when he knocked a solo shot to left off of Wisler. Since joining the team on June 6, Collins has homered four times and driven in eight runs.
Gwinnett, silent since the fourth, recorded four more runs in the eighth to make it 6-3 and put the game well out of reach for a Hens offense who has scored more than four runs just once in the last seven games. With a team earned run average of 3.78, winning games without doing that becomes difficult.
The Hens welcome the Durham Bulls for a three-game weekend tilt beginning Friday. First pitch will be at 7:05 p.m.
