Braves Win Slugfest

Rome, GA – The Rome Braves defeated the Columbus Catfish 8-6 at State Mutual Stadium in front of 2,448 fans to take game one of the four game series. It was the second win in a row for the Braves. It took Rome until April 28 last year to win two in a row.

The Catfish took the lead in the second inning when Mike McCormick walked, stole second, and scored on a Maiko Loyola double. On a hit and run, Henry Wrigley would drive in Loyola for the 2-0 lead.

Columbus would add to their lead 3-0 in the top of the third when Reid Fronk doubled to left and later scored on a fielding error by Cole Miles on a ground ball hit by Gregory Sexton. The Braves answered back in the bottom of the third when Concepcion Rodriguez singled to left. Two batters later Chris Anderson would double to left, scoring Rodriguez from first, making the score 3-1. In the fourth, Jason Heyward singled to left and Cody Johnson followed with a two run homerun (2) for the 3-3 score. Freddie Freeman then doubled to left and Yohan Silva walked. Concepcion Rodriguez then delivered a two run double through to the gap in left giving the Braves a 5-3 advantage. The Catfish scored two in the fifth to tie the game 5-5 when Wrigley doubled to right field and Omar Luna added a RBI triple. Luna would come in to score on a sacrifice fly by Emeel Salem.

The Braves took the lead for good in the bottom of the fifth Rome would add two more when Cole Miles doubled, and Jason Heyward hit the second two run homer of the game for the 7-5 lead. It was Heyward’s first home run of the season. Columbus added another run in the seventh but the Braves added an insurance run in the eighth for the 8-6 victory.

Rome reliever Tommy Palica earns the win (1-0) going two innings, striking out four, and allowing just one earned run. Columbus’s Justin Garcia picks up the loss (0-1).

The Braves and Catfish play game two of the series tomorrow night at seven. It’s 2fer Tuesday with buy one get one free box seats presented by Comcast. For ticket information, contact the Rome Braves at 706-378-5144 or log onto www.romebraves.com.