Ritchie Throws a Maddux, Los Pingüinos Ganan

ROME, Ga – J.R. put the finishing touches on his nine-inning, 95-pitch, shutout masterpiece Saturday night, complete with nine strikeouts.

Ritchie, the Braves’ 35th overall pick in the 2022 draft and no.7 prospect, gave up just one hit to Franklin Arias on the second pitch of the game. From that point forward Greenville hitters went 0-for-27 against Ritchie, whose longest career outing coming into the night was his seven-inning performance just last Tuesday against Hub City. Over his last three starts, the right-hander from the state of Washington is 2-0 with 0.58 WHIP, having not allowed an earned run in 20.2 innings.

“I just tried to go out and be efficient and get a lot of groundballs, especially with runners on”, Ritchie said. “In the seventh inning, I looked up and said, oh, shoot. My pitch count is still pretty low... it's definitely a good feeling and good to get a Maddux."

Greenville’s starting pitcher, Payton Tolle, was effective through four innings but ran into trouble in the fifth after giving up a leadoff single to Dylan Shockley and issuing a walk to Harry Owen. Jace Grady’s flyout to right field moved Shockley from second to third for Joe Olsavsky, whose line drive to left field put the Emperors ahead, 1-0.

In the eighth, Patrick Clohisy took four straight balls from the new right-hander, Isaac Stebens and stole second a few pitches later. The last of Titus Dumitru’s three singles brought Clohisy home, providing a big insurance run for the Emperors.

Lizandro Espinoza, Will Verdung, and Dylan Shockley all turned in multi-hit efforts. With the Emperors now ensured a series split with Greenville, Brett Sears sets his sights on a series win on Sunday.

First pitch is set for 1:00PM ET.