8/3/2015 MONDAY MINORS FINAL ... Lowdown on Thurman; G-Braves win 9th of 10
MOVES:
LHP Mitch Lambson goes on Gwinnett DL
Danville adds Juan Yepez, Justin Ellison from GCL
Leudys Baez promoted from Danville to Rome
From MiLB:
After a month of caution, Andrew Thurman finally got a chance to turn himself loose Sunday. The Braves' No. 20 prospect (MILB.com) retired 21 batters in a row, allowing one hit while striking out seven over a season-high seven innings in Class A Advanced Carolina's 6-0 blanking of Wilmington. After allowing a leadoff double to Carlos Garcia, the 23-year-old kept the Blue Rocks off the basepaths for the remainder of the game to improve to 5-3.
Thurman had been unable to go more than four innings in three starts since coming off the disabled list. The right-hander missed much of May and all of June after being one of six Mudcats players to head to the disabled list after a May 15 bus accident.
"The bus accident happened, and then coming back, my pitch count was a little bit lower then, which allowed me not too really go too far into games," Thurman said. "But tonight I was getting ahead and getting guys out pretty quickly, so I was able to go a little bit later in the game. It's a blast. Pitching deep into ball games is always fun. Just to come away with a win, especially when we're trying to make a run for a playoff spot here. I think we've won six or seven in a row, so we're rolling right now."
One of three prospects sent to Atlanta in the trade that moved outfielder Evan Gattis to Houston, Thurman utilizes a four-pitch mix -- fastball, slider, curveball and changeup -- and noted he felt confident throwing all four Sunday.
"My defense played great behind me and I was able to just work quick and efficiently," Thurman said. "Changeup was working well. I was using that pretty much in any different count. Late in the count, both my breaking balls were working well. I was getting ahead with the fastball most often, so I was throwing a lot of strikes and that really helped out a lot."
One of those pitches in particular caught the attention of Wilmington manager Brian Buchanan.
"He had a decent curveball," Buchanan said. "He could throw it for strikes when he wanted to and kind of bury it when he wanted a strikeout or an out. He threw the ball well."
The UC Irvine product was 4-2 with a 2.51 ERA before going down with the injury. He struggled initially after returning, posting a 7.50 ERA in his first three starts spanning 12 innings back with the team.
"If I have a rough start or a rough inning, I move past it pretty quickly," Thurman said. "After tonight, I'm just looking forward to my next start and working toward that for the next five or six days."
Even so, Sunday's start felt pretty good for the California native and his Carolina teammates, who have won six straight.
"Everything feels good," said Thurman. "My arms feels good, ribs feel good. Just ready to keep this kind of rolling. This start, I feel good about it. I feel good and we're feeling good as a team right now."
Mudcats first baseman Jacob Schrader went 3-for-4 with a double and three runs scored. Leadoff man Keith Curcio added two hits and two RBIs.
MONDAY SCHEDULE
ALL TIMES EDT
CLASS AAA
Gwinnett 3, Rochester 1
Gwinnett wins 9th in 10 games.
WP: V. Mateo (1-0) 6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K. (AAA debut)
Moylan (Save, 3) 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K.
Bethancourt 2-3, 2B, HR (3rd), 2 RBI; Hunter 2-4, 2 R, HR (8th), RBI; Terdoslavich 0-4, 3 K.
CLASS AA
Montgomery 1, Mississippi 0 (12)
Official Box said it was 100 degrees at gametime.
M-Braves: only 3 hits over 12 innings.
SP: Bird 5.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 2 K. (Braves debut)
Barbosa 3.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K.
T. Jones 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K.
LP: Reyes (6-6) 1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER 0 BB, 1 K.
Landoni 1-5, Kennelly 1-3, BB.
ADVANCED CLASS A
Carolina, idle.
CLASS A
Savannah 7, Rome 4
LP: Gil (1-5) 6.2 IP, 10 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 2 K.
Albies 0-1, SAC (left game for PH in 4th)
Tellor 3-4, RBI; Baez 1-4, R; Murphy 1-3, R, RBI.
Gil a combined 2-13 in 2015.
SHORT-SEASON
GCL Braves (14-19) @ GCL Phillies, ppd.
DSL Braves 7, DSL Marlins 3
SP: Henry 3 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K.
WP: A. Sanchez (4-0) 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K.
Pantoja (Save, 2) 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K.
Ventura 2-5, 2 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI (.329); Michel 2-5, 2 RBI, OF assist; Concepcion 2-4, 2 RBI, SB; Fernandez 3-4, R; Boeldak 2-5, 3B, 2 R, RBI.
Danville, idle.
GCL Braves have been rained out seven times since July 16.
