(Story courtesy Augusta GreenJackets)
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C – With a beleaguered bullpen from a long week, and needing a win to salvage a series split against the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, 19-year-old right-hander Garrett Baumann threw the longest outing of his career, allowing just one run in 6.2 innings for an Augusta GreenJackets’ 2-1 victory.
Coming off a rough outing against Charleston May 3, and with extra rest in tow, Baumann settled in quickly against a Pelicans lineup looking to ambush fastballs. Baumann retired 10 of the first 12 batters he faced, relying heavily on his sharp slider to induce weak contact and swings and misses.
Augusta’s offense would threaten early and often, but did not provide much in the way of support. The GreenJackets found their first run of the game in the third inning on a sac fly from Will Verdung, the only run scored against starter Alfredo Romero. Romero left after three to be replaced by Ty Johnson, who started Tuesday’s game and did not give up a hit in four frames.
Johnson was equally stingy in his second showing of the week, striking out five and allowing just two hits. The GreenJackets would double their lead in Johnson’s final inning of work, as Joe Olsavsky doubled, advanced to third on a Luis Sanchez groundball, and scored on Jace Grady’s sacrifice fly.
After Baumann worked six scoreless innings, Myrtle Beach began to threaten in the seventh, the first time Baumann has reached the seventh inning in his career. After a two-out walk to Christian Olivo, manager Wynston Sawyer took the ball from Baumann and summoned Will Silva from the bullpen. Silva got 0-2 on Leonel Espinoza, but the leadoff man yanked a slider to left-center field to score Olivo and charge a run to Baumann.
The GreenJackets found themselves unable to score in either the eighth or ninth innings against Garrett Brown and Shane Marshall despite putting a runner on third in both frames. Silva worked a routine 8th inning, setting up a tense ninth inning for closer Giomar Diaz. Diaz battled questionable control to retire the first two men he faced in the ninth, but hit Olivo with a changeup, and Olivo returned the favor by stealing second base to put the tying run in scoring position for Espinoza. After a lengthy battle at the plate, Diaz got Espinoza to chase a slider off the outside corner to end the ballgame and send the GreenJackets back home to Augusta happy.
With his win tonight, Baumann becomes the 2nd GreenJackets starter with 3 wins on the year, joining Riley Frey. Alfredo Romero falls to 0-4, while Diaz receives his 4th save in 5 tries as he solidifies himself as a key piece at the back end of Augusta’s bullpen. The GreenJackets now head home for 12 games, while the Pelicans remain at their home park for a second week in a row, and welcome the red-hot Fredericksburg Nationals to town for an interdivisional matchup.
The GreenJackets will be back home at SRP Park Tuesday, May 14 beginning a season-long 12 game homestand against the Salem Red Sox and Kannapolis Cannon Ballers.
Augusta Good News, a member of the Georgia Press Association, is a local, digital newspaper. Subscribe to the newsletter here.
