Duvall Homers Again as Stripers Beat Charlotte
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - When the Atlanta Braves sent long-time major league outfielder Adam Duvall to
Triple-A Gwinnett to start the season, they hoped Duvall could regain the power he showed during his career in Cincinnati.
It appears that Duvall is well on his way to doing that.
Duvall extended his homer streak to five games, Rafael Ortega hit his fourth leadoff home run of the season, and Sean Newcomb spun 6.0 one-run innings as the Gwinnett Stripers (14-10) defeated the Charlotte Knights (15-10) on Monday night at BB&T Ballpark.
Scoring Recap: Ortega (7) opened the game with a line drive homer over the right field fence off Jordan Stephens. Later in the inning, Duvall (8) added a two-run blast to left-center off Stephens. An RBI single by Ortega and RBI triple by Duvall extended the lead to 5-0 in the second, and an RBI double by Ryan LaMarre made it 6-0 Stripers in the third. Charlotte cut the lead to 6-1 on a sacrifice fly by Danny Mendick in the fourth, but LaMarre answered with an RBI single to make it 7-1 in the fifth. Gwinnett tacked on two more runs in the ninth as Raffy Lopez laced an RBI single and Pedro Florimon drew a bases-loaded walk. The Knights scored once in the bottom of the ninth on a sacrifice fly by Preston Tucker.
Stripers Stats: Newcomb (W, 2-1) turned in his second consecutive quality start, holding Charlotte to a run on four hits over 6.0 innings while walking none and striking out three. Atlanta Braves left-hander Jonny Venters tossed a scoreless seventh inning in his third rehab outing, and Wes Parsons allowed an unearned run over the final 2.0 frames. Duvall went 2-for-4 with a triple, homer and three RBIs, Ortega went 2-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs, and LaMarre went 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs.
Postgame Notes: Ortega’s four leadoff homers are the most by a Gwinnett player since Ozzie Albies had four in 2017. Duvall matched the Gwinnett record for consecutive games with a homer, set by Joey Terdoslavich (five games from August 17-21, 2014). Andres Blanco doubled to extend his on-base streak to 18 games.
Next Game (Tuesday, April 30): Gwinnett at Charlotte, 7:04 p.m. at BB&T Balllpark. RHP Bryse Wilson (0-2, 5.40 ERA) for the Stripers vs. RHP Dylan Cease (2-1, 3.44 ERA) for the Knights.