Game 128: Jumbo Shrimp vs Stripers

Matt Present

Published in

Shrimp & Grits

3 min readOct 1, 2021

Friday, October 1, 2021–7:05 p.m. ET

Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (74–53, 5–2) vs. Gwinnett Stripers (69–57, 1–6)

CoolRay Field — Lawrenceville, Ga.

LAST TIME OUT:

Lorenzo Quintana homered, doubled, and drove in four, helping the Jumbo Shrimp to a 7–5 victory over the Stripers. Jacksonville finished with 14 hits in the contest, including a four-hit performance from Brian Miller. Isan Diaz also homered for Jacksonville. Jason Alexander tossed five scoreless innings, allowing just four hits and striking out five to earn his first win in a Jumbo Shrimp uniform.

Lorenzo Quintana drove in season-high five runs for Jacksonville in their 7–5 win over Gwinnett on Thursday (Bill Moll/Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp)

GAME INFO:

The Jumbo Shrimp and Stripers play game three of a five-game series tonight at 7:05 p.m. The Jumbo Shrimp must win to stay alive in the Final Stretch, as they effectively trail the Durham Bulls (7–0) by three games, given the fact that Durham owns the tiebreaker by virtue of a regular-season title. Jacksonville is 6–2 this season against the Stripers.

MEET THE STRIPERS:

Gwinnett is the Triple-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. The Stripers finished the regular season 68–51, third in the Southeast Division, just behind the Shrimp.

Gwinnett is managed by Matt Tuiasosopo. This is just Tuiasosopo’s second season as a manager in minor league baseball, and his first season with the Gwinnett Stripers. In 2019, he managed the Rome Braves, the High-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves, and won the Bobby Cox award for best manager in the Atlanta farm system.

Gwinnett is home to eight of the top 30 prospects in Atlanta’s farm system, including each of the top three prospects (Cristian Pache, Shea Langeliers, and Drew Waters). Langeliers was named the Hank Aaron Braves Minor Leauge Player of the Year, hitting 22 home runs in 92 games with the Mississippi Braves. Travis Demeritte has also hit 21 home runs this year for the Stripers, becoming the third Gwinnett player ever to hit 20+ homers in back-to-back seasons.

PITCHING MATCHUP:

RHP Max Meyer (0–0, 1.80 ERA)

Max Meyer makes his second start at the Triple-A level tonight against Gwinnett. In his debut against Memphis, he struck out a career-high 10 batters, giving up just one run on two hits in five innings of work. Meyer was drafted third overall by the Marlins in 2020 out of the University of Minnesota, where he went 3–1 with a 1.95 ERA, 0.83 WHIP and 46 strikeouts in 27.2 innings pitched during his junior year, before the season was cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic. Meyer was a two-way player for the Gophers. He was previously drafted out of high school by the Minnesota Twins but did not sign. Meyer this season represented the Marlins and the U.S. in the Futures Game at Coors Field. The righty features a fastball, slider, and changeup.

LHP Kyle Muller (5–4, 3.40 ERA)

Kyle Muller will make his 17th start of the season for the Stripers, in addition to nine outings (eight starts) this season at the Major League level for the Braves. In Triple-A, he has struck out 85 in 76.2 innings, with opponents hitting .219 against him. Muller was Atlanta’s second-round selection in 2016, passing on a commitment to Texas to ink a deal with the Braves. The 23-year old made his Major League debut on June 16, 2021 in a relief outing against the Boston Red Sox. He features a fastball, slider, curveball, and changeup.

LINEUP