Atlanta Braves' No. 9 prospect Drue Hackenberg turned in his third-straight quality start but received little run support as the Gwinnett Stripers (34-32) only managed solo home runs from Drake Baldwin and J.P. Martinez in a 3-2 to the Buffalo Bisons (28-37) on Thursday night at Coolray Field.
Decisive Plays: Baldwin hit a towering home run (12) to right field to open the scoring in the fourth inning. The Bisons tied the game at 1-1 on an RBI single from Alan Roden in the sixth. A solo blast by Martinez (5) gave the Stripers their second lead of the night in the bottom of the inning. Buffalo drew even again with an RBI sacrifice fly from Damiano Palmegiani in the seventh and took the lead with a solo home run by Roden in the eighth.
Key Contributors: Hackenberg (6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 SO) was masterful on the mound for Gwinnett while Baldwin (1-for-4, HR, RBI) and Martinez (1-for-4, HR, RBI) supplied the offense. For Buffalo, Roden (2-for-4, HR, 2 RBI) had the best offensive night and Paolo Espino (6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO) kept Gwinnett in check.
Noteworthy: Martinez has homered twice in this series after not homering since May 9 vs. Charlotte. The Stripers fell to 23-23 on the season in 1-run games. Andrew Velazquez recorded a double in his first at bat of the night and has hit safely in 15 of his last 16 games.
Next Game (Friday, September 13): Gwinnett vs. Buffalo, 7:05 p.m. ET at Coolray Field. Broadcast: 6:50 p.m. ET on MyCountry993.com. It's Fan Appreciation Night and the last Fireworks Friday of the season at Coolray Field.
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