Preview: Hoppers to battle Braves

Today's Preview: The Grasshoppers (A, Marlins) face the Rome Braves (A, Atlanta Braves) for a 3-game series beginning on Monday at State Mutual Stadium in the only series between the two teams this season. Greensboro is coming off four straight wins, including a series sweep over Hickory, with a chance to match their longest winning streak of the season (five games, June 15-23). Rome is coming off a series loss at Lexington, 2-games-to-1, however the Braves have won 10 of their last 14 games dating back to July 15.
Hoppers Hurler: Colton Hock, 22, makes his sixth start and 26th appearance of the season as he faces a Braves affiliate for the first time. He is coming off a rough loss at Lakewood on July 25, allowing six runs on seven hits over 6.1 innings, striking out four and walking none, his first loss since May 11. He is now second in the South Atlantic League in wins (9) after being passed recently by Greenville's Denyi Reyes (10). Hock is 1-1 with a 5.82 ERA (14 ER/21.2 IP) in five starts compared to 8-3 with a 2.33 ERA (12 ER/46.1 IP) and 48 strikeouts in 20 relief outings. After serving as a spot-starter during the first half, Hock is making his third straight start since July 14. He is coming off a no decision at Delmarva on July 20, allowing two runs on six hits over 4.2 innings. The Marlins selected Hock in the fourth round of the June 2017 First-Year Player Draft after he worked as a reliever at Stanford for three seasons.
About Last Night:Trevor Rogers took a no-hitter two outs into the eighth inning in the longest start of his career, and the Grasshoppers rallied in the bottom of the ninth for a walk-off win, 2-1, over the Crawdads on Sunday. With the game tied 1-1 in the bottom of the ninth, Chris Torres led off with a base hit, and Tristan Pompey followed with a walk. Two batters later, Isael Soto laced his second double of the day to score Torres. The Grasshoppers poured out of the dugout and chased after Soto with multiple water jugs into shallow center field, dumping the orange coolers on ninth inning hero. Soto finished 2-for-4 with two RBI and two doubles. Rogers took no decision in limiting Hickory to one base runner over the first seven innings, a leadoff walk by Tyreque Reed in the second. Following the free pass, the left hander retired the next 20 batters to record the first two outs of the eighth inning. He finished with 12 strikeouts in 7.2 innings. With two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Rogers walked Yohel Pozo, and Miguel Aparicio followed with a flare over the shortstop into shallow left-center field, breaking up the no-hitter. Greensboro manager Todd Pratt removed Rogers from the game after the single, and the Hoppers hurler left the mound to a proud ovation from the hometown fans. Greensboro supported Rogers with a run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Tristan Pompey -- on the heels of a 4-hit game on Saturday night -- walked and stole second base, and Isael Soto followed with a 2-out RBI-double for a 1-0 lead. Hickory tied the game in the top of the ninth against Greensboro reliever Michael Mertz. Bubba Thompson reached base on a Gunner Schubert error to open the inning, and Yonny Hernandez followed with a walk. After stolen bases by Thompson and Hernandez moved both men into scoring position, Tyreque Reed grounded out to first base, driving in a run to tie the game, 1-1.
Who's Your Crawdaddy: Trevor Rogers struck out a career-high 12 batters to shatter his previous high watermark of eight as Greensboro completed a sweep of Hickory on Sunday. He threw 95 pitches (67 strikes) to match his career-high for pitches set in his previous start on July 23 at Lakewood. The left-hander worked 7.2 innings, working around two walks and allowing one hit after carrying a no-hitter two outs into the eighth inning. Rogers completed the month of July with a 1-2 record and 2.67 ERA (10 ER/33.2 IP) and 41 strikeouts in six games (six starts) after he went 0-2 with a 9.15 ERA (21 ER/20.2 IP) in his first six starts. The Marlins selected Rogers in the first round of the June 2017 draft.
Rockin' Rogers: Trevor Rogers' 12 strikeouts on Sunday set a new season-high by a Grasshoppers pitcher, surpassing the 10 strikeouts by Dustin Beggs on June 12 vs. Hickory in Game 1 of a doubleheader. That day, Beggs fanned 10 over 5.0 innings of work - the only other Grasshoppers pitcher with a double-digit strikeout game this season. Rogers also matched the longest outing by a Greensboro pitching in 2018, working 7.2 innings to equal Brady Puckett's 7.2 innings of work on May 5 vs. Greenville.
One-Hitter: The Grasshoppers limited the Crawdads to one hit on Sunday, the second time Greensboro has thrown a 1-hitter in 2018. Trevor Rogers allowed one hit over 7.2 innings, and Michael Mertz worked 1.1 innings without giving up a hit. Greensboro last allowed one hit on April 16 at Lakewood as part of a 1-0 win over the BlueClaws.
Lucky 13: Greensboro pitchers matched the team's season-high with 13 strikeouts for the second straight game in Sunday's 2-1 win over Hickory. This is the ninth time the Grasshoppers have fanned 13 batters in a game in 2018.
4/9 vs. Augusta
5/10 at Asheville
6/5 at Delmarva
6/29 vs. Delmarva
7/5 vs. Lakewood
7/17 vs. Asheville
7/23 at Lakewood
7/28 vs. Hickory
7/29 vs. Hickory
Walked Off: The Grasshoppers scored their fifth walk-off win of the season and their first since July 13. The team recently suffered three walk-off losses in the span of four games July 20-23 before Greensboro rallied in the bottom of the ninth for a win Sunday. The Hoppers are now 5-5 in walk-off games in 2018 (wins in bold).
Date Opp Result Notes
4/14, @HAG L, 4-5: Juan Soto hits walk-off single to cap 2-run 9th
4/17, @LWD L, 4-5: (10) Colby Fitch hits 2-out walk-off single in 10th
4/19, CSC W, 3-2: Eric Gutierrez hits game-winner with 2 outs
5/2, HAG W, 10-8: Michael Hernandez GW-HR caps GBO's 4-HR day
5/4, GVL W, 9-8: Zach Sullivan's GW completes 6-run comeback
7/13, KAN W, 5-4 (10): Will Allen's GW infield chopper scores Jones
7/20, @DEL L, 2-3: Zach Jarrett RBI-single scores Mason McCoy
7/22-2, @DEL L, 3-4: Shorebirds score 3 in Bot 7 as Jarrett drives in GW again
7/23, @LWD L, 6-7 (10): BlueClaws rallied for 3 in 8th to tie before winning in 10th
7/29, HIC W, 2-1: Rogers takes no-no 7.2 IP, Soto hits GW RBI-2B