Flowers blossoms in Glavine rehab start

Tyler Flowers once ate lunch in fourth grade with Chipper Jones. He was drafted by the Atlanta Braves and, three years later, drove in seven runs in a game. Yet he may have topped both those memories Monday, overshadowing a future Hall of Famer on a rare visit to South Carolina.

Flowers homered twice and had five RBIs in support of a rehabbing Tom Glavine as the Myrtle Beach Pelicans pounded the visiting Kinston Indians, 17-2.

"It was a pretty good night," Flowers said. "You couldn't help but notice how many people were there, it hits you. It was a fun atmosphere."

Flowers, who caught the Major League veteran for four innings, went 2-for-3 with a three-run homer in the fifth inning and a two-run shot in the eighth. He also walked and scored three times, raising his batting average to .284.

Calling pitches for Glavine -- a nine-time All-Star with 305 wins, two National League Cy Young Awards and a World Series Most Valuable Player trophy -- wasn't too bad either.

"I got a little nervous in the second, he uses so many pitches for different situations. When the bases were loaded with one out, I was like, 'I don't know what to call right now,'" Flowers laughed. "He kept shaking me off, but we finally got on the right page and got the out. I walked out there, I said to him, 'I didn't know what to call.' He said, 'No, you're good, you're good.' He was really supportive."

Flowers was barely able to walk around his crib when Glavine made his Major League debut in August 1987. Glavine actually began his Minor League career with the Gulf Coast Braves two years before Flowers was born.

"It's still a little surreal, I remember watching him when I was 7 years old, and now I caught him," Flowers said. "I definitely watched him growing up. I was very into pitching when I was younger, and my dad would make me take notice of him and [Greg] Maddux and [John] Smoltz."

Yet, 21 years later, the Chipola Junior College product found himself chatting with the Atlanta legend on the mound.

Could it get any better for a Minor Leaguer?

"We talked before the game, we were on the same page," Flowers said. "He's a strange pitcher in that he likes to throw changeups inside, which is kind of unheard of. But all in all, it was pretty great."

This wasn't the first time Flowers had made a Braves All-Star feel a little old.

"I had a similar experience with Chipper Jones in Spring Training," said Flowers. "Chipper came to my elementary school and talked to the kids when I was in fourth grade, and I sat next to him in lunch. I told him about it, and he actually talked about it in ESPN the Magazine, how he knew he was getting old."

Flowers had driven in five runs in his previous 10 games and hadn't homered since July 20. He's now batting .284 with 14 homers and a career-best 71 RBIs.

The Braves' 33rd-round pick in 2005, Flowers debuted with Rookie-level Danville in 2006, hitting .298 with 70 RBIs for Class A Rome last season before a promotion to Myrtle Beach, where he helped the Pelicans capture the first-half Northern Division title this spring.

He batted .293 in June, .288 in July and trails only Ernesto Mejia and Travis Jones for the team lead in RBIs through 101 games this season.

"We've had a great team all year, it's a fun team to be around," Flowers said. "Everyone gets along great. We go out there and have fun and we don't put pressure on ourselves."

Mejia had a double, a single and matched Flowers with five RBIs as the Pelicans pounded out 13 hits.

It was the biggest day at the plate for Flowers since he went yard twice and drove in a career-high seven runs on June 20 against Lynchburg. The Roswell, Ga., native has homered twice in a game three times this year.

"The second homer, I just kind of got lucky to be honest," Flowers said. "I was just trying to spoil the pitch. It was a good pitch, a slider outside, but I was able to square it up. I got enough of it to get it out."

Glavine made his first Minor League appearance in 20 years and his first rehab start since going on the the Braves' 15-day Disabled List on June 11 with a strained left elbow. The 42-year old southpaw faced 16 batters, striking out four while allowing a run on three hits and a walk over four innings.

"It's pretty evident he knows what hes doing, he going to be fine," Flowers said of Glavine. "He came out and threw real well."

Originally scheduled to make a second rehab start with Double-A Mississippi on Saturday, Glavine told MLB.com he'd be ready to rejoin the Braves' rotation next week barring any setbacks.

A franchise-record 6,599 fans turned out to see the first Minor League outing for Glavine since 1987, when the southpaw made 22 starts for Triple-A Richmond.

Recently promoted Jonathan Venters (1-0) made his second appearance for Myrtle Beach (29-13), picking up the win in relief after yielding a run on five hits over 3 1/3 frames.

Ohio native Shawn Nottingham (1-3) was reached for six runs -- four earned -- on six hits over 4 2/3 innings to take the loss for the Indians (25-18).