G-Braves rally past Syracuse in 10 innings

LAWRENCEVILLE - The Gwinnett Braves rallied from a 4-0 deficit to defeat the Syracuse Chiefs, 5-4, in 10 innings on Thursday night at Coolray Field.

Rusty Ryal won the game for Gwinnett with his RBI single in the 10th that scored Lyle Overbay, capping a four-hit night. With the victory, the G-Braves have now registered 60 wins in 2012, including nine in walk-off fashion and nine in extra innings.

Overbay started the 10th inning with a one-out walk, and Stefan Gartrell's single up the middle placed runners on first and second base. Jose Yepez then notched his third hit of the game with a single to left, loading the bases with one out and thus setting the stage for Ryal's heroics. Ryal laced a single to center sending Overbay home easily from third base.

Christian Garcia (1-1) was handed the loss for the Chiefs with a run on three hits over 1 1/3 innings. Cole McCurry (1-2) picked up with the win for Gwinnett with a scoreless 10th inning, keeping the game tied at 4-4. The G-Braves' bullpen as a whole allowed just two hits while striking out six over the final six innings.

Gwinnett starter Sean Gilmartin got off to a rocky start, surrendering three runs in the first frame. Carlos Rivero doubled to score Jarrett Hoffpauir, and two batters later, Zach Walters narrowly missed a grand slam to left as he doubled off the wall to plate Chris Marrero and Rivero. Gilmartin struck out opposing pitcher Zach Duke to leave the bases loaded in the first inning, but yielded another run in the second on a Marrero RBI double scoring Hoffpauir.

Gilmartin lasted four innings on a limited pitch count. He allowed four runs on six hits, walked three and struck out three in a 71-pitch outing.

Duke, a 2012 Triple-A All-Star, started for Syracuse and was stingy against the G-Braves' offense most of the night. The left-hander didn't allow his first hit of the night until the fifth, when Yepez led off with a single. Duke eventually yielded an RBI fielder's choice to Brian Friday in the inning, cutting the Syracuse lead to 4-1.

The G-Braves cut the deficit to one run in the seventh, as Ryal singled and Josh Wilson walked to set the table for Terry Tiffee. The pinch-hitter stepped to the plate for pitcher Buddy Carlyle and laced a two-run double over the head of Perez, the Syracuse left-fielder, cutting the Chiefs lead to 4-3. Duke ended the night with a strikeout of Jose Constanza, exiting with three runs on five hits over seven innings.

Erik Davis took over in relief for Syracuse in the eighth and gave up the tying run. Davis surrendered a leadoff single to Luis Durango, who was then thrown out at second as Overbay reached on a fielder's choice. Yepez singled for his second hit of the night, and Ryal tied the game at 4-4 with a single to right scoring Overbay from second.

Carlyle worked 3.0 scoreless innings in relief for Gwinnett, while Peter Moylan and Anthony Varvaro also added scoreless innings prior to McCurry's scoreless 10th.

Ryal finished 4-for-5 with two RBIs, his second four-hit game in his last four games. Tiffee also drove in two RBIs with his first pinch hit of the season. Yepez added a 3-for-5 game with a run scored. Constanza, however, went 0-for-5 to see his International League leading on-base streak snapped at 38 games.

Walters drove in two of the four Syracuse runs, finishing 1-for-4 with a double.

The Gwinnett Braves (60-73) take on the Syracuse Chiefs (63-70) in game two of the four-game series on Friday night at Coolray Field, first pitch scheduled for 7:05 p.m. The G-Braves will start right-hander Randall Delgado (4-2, 5.13) against Syracuse right-hander Yunesky Maya (11-8, 3.42).