LAWRENCEVILLE — Right-handed starter Tyrell Jenkins fired 8.0 scoreless innings and held the Durham Bulls to just two hits to lead the Gwinnett Braves to a 5-0 win on Monday at Coolray Field. The victory extended the G-Braves’ winning streak to four games.
Jenkins (W, 2-1) has yet to allow a run in 15.0 innings across two starts at Coolray Field since joining the G-Braves from Double-A Mississippi on July 8. He delivered 7.0 scoreless innings in his Triple-A debut on July 9 in a 1-0 win over the Norfolk Tides.
A double in the third inning by Luke Maile and a single by Taylor Motter to begin the seventh inning were the only hits Jenkins allowed on Monday. He also walked two batters and struck out five in his longest outing of the season, finishing with 97 pitches (55 strikes).
Durham right-handed starter Bradin Hagens (L, 1-2) nearly matched Jenkins’ effectiveness through the first four innings. The only G-Braves’ batter to reach scoring position in that stretch was Christian Bethancourt when he hit a two-out double in the second inning.
Bethancourt also led off the fifth with a double into the left-field corner. He was thrown out at third on a fielder’s choice grounder hit by Todd Cunningham, but Cunningham advanced to third on a single by Barrett Kleinknecht and scored on a sacrifice fly to left field fromMycal Jones to put Gwinnett in front 1-0.
That was the final inning of work for Hagens, who gave up the one run and four hits. He had no walks or strikeouts and ended his effort with 55 pitches (35 strikes).
Gwinnett (52-50) tagged right-handed reliever Andrew Bellatti early and often when he entered the game to pitch the sixth. Four of the first five batters he faced recorded a base hit, including a leadoff double by Jose Peraza and Bethancourt’s third double in as many at-bats. It was the first time a G-Braves’ hitter had three doubles in one game since Ernesto Mejia did so on June 1, 2013 at Lehigh Valley.
Peraza scored on a single to center field by Cedric Hunter, who came around to score on the ball Bethancourt hit into the left-field corner. The hits by Hunter and Bethancourt sandwiched a single by Sean Kazmar. He scored Gwinnett’s third run of the inning and fourth of the game on a sacrifice fly Cunningham hit to right field.
Already with his team-leading 35th multi-hit performance in hand, Peraza opened the eighth inning with his team-leading seventh triple of the season. He scored on a single to center field by Joey Terdoslavich that extended Gwinnett’s lead to 5-0 and Terdoslavich’s season-high hit streak to seven games.
All of the G-Braves’ offensive damage save their opening run came during the 2.1 innings Bellatti was on the mound. Bellatti gave up four runs on six hits with one strikeout. Left-hander Jordan Norberto took over with one down in the eighth and retired the only two batters he faced.
Right-hander Vin Mazzaro struck out one in a perfect non-save ninth to finish the win for Jenkins.
Bethancourt and Peraza both finished 3-for-4 on the night and were the only Gwinnett batters with multiple hits. Bethancourt had one RBI, and Peraza scored two runs while finishing a home run shy of the cycle.
Gwinnett and Durham (51-52) will play the middle game of their series at 6:35 p.m. on Tuesday at Coolray Field. Right-hander Mike Foltynewicz (1-6, 3.49 ERA) will start for the G-Braves against right-hander Matt Andriese (2-1, 1.84 ERA) of the Bulls. Tony Schiavone has the play-by-play call on 97.7 FM and WSBRadio.com beginning at 6 p.m.
All Infield Box and Field Box seats are two for the price of one as part of “Two-For-Tuesday” night at the stadium. To purchase tickets, call the Coolray Field Ticket Office at 678-277-0340 or visit GwinnettBraves.com/tickets.
