Chiefs Double Up G-Braves 4-2 on Lawrenceville Night

After dropping Wednesday's game 12-4 to the Syracuse Chiefs, the opened the game hoping to even the homestand at 4-4  on Lawrenceville Night at Thursday night. Taking the first two games of the series gave the Braves hopes of having either a winning or even homestand. But righthander Craig Stammen baffled the Gwinnett Braves on five hits and the Chiefs doubled up the Gwinnett Braves 4-2. Gwinnett went 3-5 on the eight game homestand.

The Chiefs took a 1-0 lead in the third inning when the visitors strung together three hits and a fielder's choice by Jesus Valdez. The Chiefs then took a 2-0 lead when Jesus Flores hit a line shot back through the middle that glanced off pitcher Eric cordier's right ear and knocked him out for over 10 minutes. He had to be carried off on a stretcher and taken to the hospital. He had a contusion behind the right ear and was in stable condition while waiting evaluation from Gwinnett Medical Center.

Syracuse added to the lead when Steve Lombardozzi led off the ninth with a double and when Matt Antonelli tried to sacrifice, Gwinnett catcher J.C. Boscan was charged with obstruction allowing Antonelli to get first base. Valdez walked and Chris Marrero singled in one run to give Syracuse a 3-0 lead. Tug Hulet singled in another run but Valdez got thrown out at the plate for the first out. Gwinnett was able to get out of the inning unscathed with no more damage.

Stammen (6-3) gave up two hits after one out in the bottom of the ninth. Matt Young singled and was going to third on a Stefan Gartrell single but scored when the throw to third eluded the third baseman moving Gartrell all the way around to third. Josh Wilkie came on and Mauro Gomez greeted him with a broken bat single to score Gartrell and cut the lead in half at 4-2. But Wilkie got the final outs to preserve the win for the Chiefs and record his sixth save.

Gwinnett (38-35) will travel to play Columbus at 7 p.m. on Friday night. "I've seen my share (of bad hits). I have seen enough to last me a lifetime," said Manager Dave Brundage. "After seeing what happened during Spring Training, with Rodrigo and now tonight, I was pleased to know when I got to the mound he was conscious, alert and talking." Brundage was in Spring Training when Brian McCann lined a foul ball that knocked tout he eye of single-A coach Luis Salazar and another pitch that hit former Gwinnett Brave Rodrigo Lopez before seeing this incident hit Eric Cordier.

As far as the game, Brundage praised the way Stammen pitched. "Stammen threw the ball well," he said. "He kept us off balance with sinker and slider. He threw a lot of strikes and showed a lot of patience until our bats got going in the ninth inning but by then it was too late."

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