Braves Minor League Recap: Dylan Dodd makes Triple-A Debut

Sep 26, 2022 - 2:00 PM

Gwinnett took on their last road game of the season and behind a solid debut outing from Dylan Dodd were able to squeeze out a win. Gwinnett heads home for a game on Monday night, starting a three game homestand that will mark the end of the Atlanta Braves minor league season.

(68-77) Gwinnett Stripers 6, (72-75) Memphis Redbirds 5

Box Score

• Taylor Motter, 3B: 1-2, 3 BB, RBI, .264/.368/.590
• Justyn-Henry Malloy, LF: 0-3, BB, .267/.429/.467
• Hernan Perez, CF 2-5, 2B, HR, .274/.324/.414
• Dylan Dodd, SP: 6.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 4.05 ERA
• Michael Tonkin, RP: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 3.23 ERA

Gwinnett jumped on Memphis starter Connor Thomas by scoring runs in four of the first five innings. Hernan Perez was in the thick of the early action and scored the first run of the day when he doubled in the first inning then came in to score on a single from Taylor Motter. Two innings later Perez was responsible for the second run of the game when he cranked a home run over the high left field wall and up onto the berm to put Gwinnett up 2-0. Gwinnett never trailed in this game, and it was thanks to the offense’s relentless outpour. Tyler White smacked his second hit of the game with one out in the fourth inning and this led to another Gwinnett run as he was brought around to score on an infield hit from Jake Marisnick. Motter was Gwinnett’s most active player in this game by reaching base four times, and in the fifth inning he walked to lead off the inning. After a ground out and a Pat Valaika single each moved him up a base, he came in to score on a ground out from Justyn-Henry Malloy to make it 4-1 in favor of the Stripers. Memphis’s bullpen was much more capable of holding Gwinnett’s offense at bay, but they cracked in the eighth inning to help the Stripers take a win. The Gwinnett lead at this point had been cut down to just one run, and in need of some insurance Malloy led off the eighth with a walk. Ryan Casteel delivered a single to put runners on the corners with no outs in the inning before Tyler White doubled the lead with a sacrifice fly. For the first time in the game Gwinnett managed multiple runs in an inning, as Yariel Gonzalez doubled to score Casteel for an important sixth run.

Dylan Dodd couldn’t have asked for a much better debut inning, as he sawed through the top of Memphis’s lineup. While he struggled through an eight pitch at bat with leadoff hitter and former Striper Kramer Robertson, he finally got Robertson swinging on a slider for a strikeout. He then carved up Nolan Gorman with more sliders before finishing off the inning with a strikeout of Moises Gomez. The first batter of the second inning put Dodd into the stretch with a triple, but Dodd managed to work around it by forcing two infield pop outs then ending the inning with his fourth strikeout of the game. Memphis got to Dodd in the third inning on a home run by Chase Pinder that just cleared the wall in left field, but Dodd finished off the inning with another dismantling of Gorman and a ground out from Gomez and through three innings had allowed three hits, no walks, and struck out five batters. He kept the good work rolling with perfect innings in the fourth and fifth, and though the strikeouts at this point had slowed down the RedBirds managed little in the way of hard contact.

Dodd’s sixth inning was set to be his third time through the Memphis order, and it started off with a walk of Robertson. Gorman once again came up empty and grounded out, but Gomez cracked a good pitch into the left field gap and a bad misplay by Malloy led to a double. A wild pitch then brought home a run and another hit brought Memphis within a run. Dodd settled down after this, getting a fly out and a strikeout to end the inning. Dodd retired the two batters he faced in the seventh inning before being pulled from the game for Seth Elledge. Elledge retired just one batter to end the seventh and was replaced in the eighth inning by Roel Ramirez. Ramirez struggled to get outs, allowing two hits and a walk to score two runs and bring the game back within a run. Finally Ramirez ended things with a strikeout of Delvin Perez and sent the game to the ninth inning with Gwinnett still hanging on. Michael Tonkin took the ball in the ninth inning and mowed down the bottom of the Redbirds lineup with three strikeouts to earn his 15th save of the season.

Next Game: 9/26 vs (58-89) Louisville Bats @ 7:05 PM ET