G-Braves Game Notes for 5.18.12 at Buffalo

The Gwinnett Braves play their final regular-season game against the Buffalo Bisons at Coca-Cola Field tonight, looking to salvage a series that started off well, but has since seen the Bisons win back-to-back games.  After the firepower both sides displayed on Wednesday night, last night’s contest was fairly pedestrian.  The G-Braves scored twice in the top of the first only to see right-hander Julio Teheran give the runs right back in the bottom of the first.  Teheran struggled with control over 2.2 innings, allowing four runs on seven hits and walking a season-high five.  Stefan Gartrell and Ernesto Mejia both went 2-for-4 as Gwinnett out-hit Buffalo 10-7, but Bisons’ starter Chris Schwinden and three relievers were able to avoid major damage to take a 2-1 series lead.

Eric Junge has thrown five-straight quality starts for the G-Braves and has worked at least 5.0 innings in all seven of his outings thus far. (Kyle Hess / Gwinnett Braves)

 A split of the four-game series is within reach for Dave Brundage’s crew, and they’ll have their quality man on the mound tonight.  Right-hander Eric Junge rides a five-game quality start streak entering his eighth start of the year.  He’s 3-3 with a solid 3.07 ERA and will be looking to avenge a quality loss to the Bisons from back on May 8.  Buffalo, meanwhile, sends prospect arm Matt Harvey to the hill.  Harvey pitched 6.0 scoreless, five-hit innings on May 8 to best Junge the last time he faced Gwinnett.

More on Teheran, Gartrell, Mejia, Junge and others in tonight’s G-Braves Game Notes:  5.18.12 GBraves Game Notes

We’ll see if it’s offense or pitching that plays the storyline tonight.  Whichever, hopefully it benefits the G-Braves as they wrap up the first leg of this eight-game road trip.  First pitch is up at 7:05 PM, listen to the broadcast with Tony Schiavone on WDUN 550 AM / 102.9 FM and WDUN.com.

-DL