The rehabbing Braves star was dynamic on the mound before the Stripers bullpen fell apart
(0-2) Gwinnett Stripers 4, (2-0) Charlotte Knights 12
- Eddy Alvarez, CF: 2-for-2, 2R, 2BB, 1.250 OPS
- Luke Waddell, SS: 3-for-5, RBI, 2K, .944 OPS
- Sandy León, C: 1-for-3, R, 1.262 OPS
- Spencer Strider, SP: 3IP 2H 1ER 1BB 6K, 3.00 ERA
- Buck Farmer, RP: 0.1IP 4H 3ER 0B 0BB 0K, 81.00 ERA
- Domingo Gonzalez, RP: 0.2IP 1H 3ER 2BB 2K, 40.50 ERAfe
The rehabbing Atlanta Braves star pitcher, Spencer Strider, took to the mound for his first rehab start with the Gwinnett Stripers and showed what he showed during Spring Training – sheer dominance. Strider allowed a pair of hits in the first, including an RBI single, but also struck out the side.
Strider would throw 60 pitches in totality, with 41 of them falling for strikes. Strider struck out the side in the first, struck out 2 of 3 in the second, and one in the third to wrap up a rather fantastic rehab start.
But now, for the rest of the game. With the Stripers down 1-0 in the third inning Eddy Alvarez would get on base with 2 outs and steal second – putting a man in scoring position for Luke Waddell who would come through on a single tying the game at 1-1.
Wander Suero would come in for the Stripers next in the fourth inning and would give up a run of his own thanks to a Greg Jones double that scored Tristan Gray who had doubled earlier in the inning. The Stripers would quickly respond in the top half of the inning on a misplay by the Charlotte Knights when a sacrifice bunt by Eddy Alvarez resulted in a pair of runs scoring due to a throwing error by the pitcher to give the Stripers a 3-2 lead. They would then tack on another run when pitcher Nick Nastrini would throw a wild pitch that led to Eddy Alvrez scoring and putting the Stripers up 4-2.
After exchanging zeroes for a single inning the Knights would jump all over the Stripers bullpen in the bottom of the seventh inning. With two outs and the bases loaded Buck Farmer would give up a two run scoring single to tie the game at 4. Chad Kuhl would come in for Farmer and face little success as he would give up two singles, a double, and another single to give the Knights a 9-4 lead before Sandy León would end the bleeding by throwing out Greg Jones to end the inning.
The Stripers failed to respond in the top half of the inning – with Cody Milligan, Luke Waddell, and Luke Williams striking out. Domingo Gonzalez would then come in for Kohl in the bottom half of the eighth and would walk the first two hitters before working back into the game and striking out the next two. With two outs, Domingo would give up a three run homer to Kyle Reel which would extend the Knights lead to a rotund 12-4 – the final score.