Brandon Beachy
photo by Tim Evearitt
Brandon Beachy made his second official rehab start this afternoon at 1 p.m. for the Rome Braves and turned in five shutout innings!
Allowing only two hits and a walk, he faced only 18 hitters over his full out and left the game with a 3-0 lead. He struck out three and reportedly got a bunch of ground balls.
Injuries and the recent ineffectiveness of supposed staff ace Tim Hudson have increased the urgency of Beachy's return from Tommy John surgery last June. He allowed only two his at Gwinnett in his first rehab start, but walked four to go with four strikeouts.
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With the eyes of the organization on Rome, tonight will be Josh Elander's biggest stage of the season.
Drafted out of TCU last June, he quickly emerged as the best hitting prospect of last year's draft, he has picked up where he left off in 2013.
Elander, moved from catcher to the outfield, currently ranks sixth in the South Atlantic League with a .328 average, and second with 41 RBIs in just 49 games. As a product of an advanced college program, it is unlikely that Elander will be in Rome an entire season.
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A hamstring injury to promising catcher Chase Anselment (hitting .309, drafted originally as an outfielder) has put the Washington product on the 7-day disabled list and reliever Brandon Rhode has been sent back to short-season Danville (1-0, 9.18 in 13 games).
Earlier in the week, infielder Eric Garcia and pitcher Blaine Sims were promoted to the roster off Danville's roster. Assigned to Danville, somewhat surprisingly, was first baseman William Beckwith from Lynchburg. The everyday first baseman with the Hillcats, Beckwith was hitting a respectible .260 with eight homers and 26 RBIs for the Hillcats (.300 in his last 10 games0, and was a solid .290 with 15 homers a year ago at Rome.
WEDNESDAY'S GAMES
CLASS AAA
Gwinnett (24-30) 10, Syracuse 1
WP: Flande (3-4) 7 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K. Cedeno 2 IP, 0 H, 2 K.
Mejia 2-5, R, HR (14th), 3 RBI; Boggs 3-5, HR (7th), RBI; Terdoslavich 3-5, 2B (21st), 3 RBI (.330); Cunningham 2-3, 2 R, 2 RBI.
CLASS AA
Montgomery 10, Mississippi (29-23) 0
SP: :Lee 3 IP, 8 H, 6 ER, 0 BB, 0 K. Kleinknecht 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K.
Salcedo 2-2, 2 BB; Martinez 1-3 (.317); La Stella 1-4.
ADVANCED CLASS A
Lynchburg (29-22) 8, Myrtle Beach 2
WP: Moore (6-4) 7 IP. 3 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K.
Hefflinger 1-3, 2 R, HR (14th), 2 RBI; Rohm 2-4, 2B, R, RBI; Skinner 1-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Lipka 2-4, 2 R, 2 2B, RBI.
CLASS A
Rome (27-23) 3, Charleston 0
WP: Beachy (1-0) 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K. Lafreniere (Save, 1) 4 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K.
Elander 2-4, 2B, R, RBI; Franco 2-4, RBI; Luna 2-4, 2B, SB; Moses 2-4; Marte 1-3, RBI.