SAL1 Rome Emperors

Chipper Begins Rehab, Braves Fall despite Gattis' Two Homeruns

July 23, 2011 - South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Rome Emperors News Release


Rome, GA -The Kannapolis Intimidators defeated the Rome Braves 11-7 Saturday night at State Mutual Stadium before a crowd of 3,842 and put an end to the Braves four game winning streak. Atlanta Braves infielder Chipper Jones went 0-2 with a walk, strikeout and fielder's choice in his scheduled three at bats. He was in Rome on a Major League rehab assignment and will take the field again tomorrow afternoon in game two of the four game series with Kannapolis.

In the bottom of the second the surging Evan Gattis (15) put the Braves on top 1-0 with a monster solo homer to left. The lead would not last long as Kannapolis touched up Rome starter Caleb Brewer in the bottom of the third with five runs on four hits. Brewer didn't help himself as he struggled with command and walked three men in the inning. Kannapolis benefited from an RBI single off the bat of Trayce Thompson and an RBI double by Rangel Ravelo to make it a 5-1 ballgame. In the top of the fourth the Intimidators tacked on two more runs after Brady Shoemaker laced an RBI double to give Kannapolis a commanding 7-1 lead.

The Braves bats got going in the bottom of the fifth after back to back singles by Tommy La Stella and David Rohm. With runners on first and second Matt Weaver stepped to the plate and delivered an RBI single to score La Stella. Later in the inning the Braves would benefit from two defensive miscues by shortstop Marcus Semien. A missed catch on a line drive allowed David Rohm to score bringing Jones to the plate. In what would be his final at bat of the night, Jones hit into a fielder's choice that should have been an inning ending double play. However, Semien's throw to first short hoped first baseman Dan Black and allowed Weaver to score and narrow Kannapolis' lead to 7-4.

The Intimidators got two runs back in the top of the sixth on a two RBI double by Black that pushed the score to 9-4. In the bottom half of the inning the Braves edged another run after Semien committed his third error of the night and allowed Gattis to score and make it a 9-5 game. Kannapolis got two more runs in the top of the eighth to give them a six run 11-5 lead.

In the bottom of the ninth with the game seemingly out of reach, Evan Gattis (16) came to bat with a man on and blasted a two run homer to cut the lead to 11-7. The Texas native has put the Braves offense on his back as he is on a blistering tear over the first four games of the home stand going eight for seventeen with five homeruns and ten RBI thus far. Unfortunately it would be all Rome could get in the ninth and their winning streak would end at four with an 11-7 loss.

Matt Heidenreich (8-6) earns the win for Kannapolis and Caleb Brewer ( 5-8 ) takes the loss for Rome.

Game two of the four game set will be tomorrow afternoon at 2pm. For ticket information, contact the Rome Braves at 706-378-5144 or log onto www.romebraves.com.

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South Atlantic League Stories from July 23, 2011


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