Mississippi Braves’ J.R. Graham throws 5 innings of no-hit ball!
By Ryan Cothran
Braves’ J.R. Graham bedazzles in debut!
In an article yesterday, I mentioned that J.R. Graham was headed back to a starting role inside the organization. Well, tonight was his first start for the 2014 season in Mississippi, and boy was it ever a B-E-A-UTY!
In 5 innings and only 63 pitches, the once former top-prospect struck out 3, walked 1, and gave up 0 hits! This was the first of a doubleheader and in the Minors, doubleheaders are only 7 innings per game. Ryne Harper pitched the 6th, giving up a hit, but no runs and struck out 2. Then, it was Shae Simmons‘ time to shine once again and he pitched a clean inning, striking out one.
The Mississippi Braves won the match 4-0 but it was actually 0-0 until the bottom of the 6th when Emerson Landoni reached on a fielder error, followed by speedster Matt Lipka getting on via bunt. The next batter, Barrett Kleinknecht sacrificed to push the runners to 2nd and 3rd then Cedric Hunter followed with a walk to load the bases. It was Seth Loman‘s turn to put his name into the hat with a “hit by pitch”, that scored the games 1st run. Kyle Kubitza‘s ground out scored run #2, then Kubitza stole second and he and Kleinknecht both scored on a David Rohm single. There’s your 4 runs! Talk about stringing it together!
Great job, J.R.! See you in Atlanta soon!