Infante's 9th-inning Single Lifts G-Braves
SYRACUSE, NY - Omar Infante's two-out, two-RBI single in the top of the ninth inning propelled the Gwinnett Braves (42-56) to a 3-2 win over the Syracuse Chiefs (46-51) Wednesday afternoon in the finale of the three-game series at NBT Bank Stadium.
With the win, the G-Braves ended a season high eight-game losing streak.
Gwinnett went into the ninth trailing 2-1, but took the lead off reliever Erik Davis out of the Syracuse bullpen. Blake Lalli led off the inning with a walk and was replaced by pinch-runner Sean Kazmar Jr. After pinch-hitter Rio Ruiz struck out, Daniel Castro singled to right to put runners on first and third. Reid Brignac was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out.
Emilio Bonifacio then grounded to first, forcing Kazmar Jr. at home for the second out, but reloading the bases. Infante then stepped up and dropped a 0-1 pitch from Davis into left field for the eventual game-winning hit.
The bottom of the ninth had plenty of drama as the Chiefs loaded the bases with one out against G-Braves' reliever Jose Ramirez, but the right-hander got Caleb Ramsey to hit into a 4-3 double play to end the game.
Syracuse had taken early lead off Gwinnett starter Chris Ellis as former Georgia Tech star Matt Skole led off the fourth with a solo home run, his 13th of the season, to break a scoreless tie. The Chiefs plated another run in the fourth on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to right by Jhonatan Solano.
Trailing 2-0, Gwinnett scored its first run in top of the sixth when Mel Rojas, Jr. crushed a one-out, solo homer to right to make it 2-1. It was Rojas Jr.'s sixth home run with Gwinnett, all of which have come in his last 13 games played.
Ellis allowed two runs on four hits and three walks over 5.0 innings while striking out three. Brandon Cunniff worked 2.0 innings of relief with a strikeout. Matt Marksberry (W, 3-2) struck out one over an inning to pick up his third win of the season and Ramirez yielded three baserunners in the ninth to earn his sixth save.
Hill yielded only one run over 7.0 innings for the Chiefs, while giving up five hits and a walk. He struck out three. Matt Grace (H, 4) held the G-Braves' in the 8th inning before Davis (BS, 3) (L, 6-4) blew the save and suffered the loss in the 9th.
At the plate, the G-Braves were led by Bonifacio who was 2-for-5. Infante's lone hit was his two-RBI single and Rojas' only hit was his homer.
The Chiefs were paced by Matt den Dekker who was 2-for-3 with a run.
The G-Braves road trip continues Thursday night in Buffalo, NY, with the first of a four-game series at Coca-Cola Field. Right-hander Aaron Blair (3-3, 4.84) will start for Gwinnett against lefty Scott Diamond (6-9, 3.62) for Buffalo. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. and Tony Schiavone will have the broadcast of the game beginning at 6:35 p.m. on 97.7 FM.
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The Gwinnett Braves are the Triple-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. Follow the G-Braves at GwinnettBraves.com, facebook.com/GwinnettBraves1 and twitter.com/GwinnettBraves. Tickets are on sale now at the Coolray Field Ticket Office, call 678-277-0340 or visit GwinnettBraves.com/tickets.