Atlanta Braves farm: Ryan Casteel hits 3 homers for Mississippi

Mississippi Braves unleash a flurry of hits and runs on Wednesday night. Ryan Casteel achieves Mississippi history.

It was a crazy night on Wednesday at multiple levels… and the Atlanta Braves didn’t score the most runs among all of their teams as they took out Philadelphia.

After 3 hours and 32 minutes the Double-A dust finally settled, though the Mississippi Braves unfortunately couldn’t outlast Pensacola during their shootout of a game, thanks in large part to a 7-run 7th by the home team.

The Braves and Blue Wahoos combined for 27 runs from 36 hits Wednesday night, and 1st baseman Ryan Casteel had the game of his life. Casteel hit 3 home runs and a double, resulting in 5 RBI and a 4-for-5 finish. The Chattanooga native also scored 4 runs himself.

As you can interpret from the high score, Casteel wasn’t the only M-Braves batter to go off Wednesday night:

• (LF) Cristian Pache: 3-for-6, 2 2B, 2 R
• (CF) Drew Waters: 2-for-5, 3B, 2B, 2 RBI
• (RF) Tyler Neslony: 3-for-4, HR, 2B, 4 RBI
• (DH) Greyson Jenista: 1-4, HR, 2 RBI

The Braves finished with 5 homers, a triple and 7 doubles in their one-run loss… 13 extra-base hits among their 15 whacks.  The teams combined for 9 home runs, as Pensacola finished with four themselves.

Ian Anderson started the game on the mound, but after just one inning of work he was relieved. Anderson allowed three hits with no strikeouts or walks and no earned runs.

This game was used a ‘tune-up’ for Anderson before he heads to Cleveland for the Futures Game.

The 3-homer performance by Casteel was the first homer-hat trick in Mississippi Braves history, and moves him to 4th place in the Southern League in home runs for the season.

https://twitter.com/mbraves/status/1146596728994500608

Casteel was on Cloud 9 after his historic performance:

“I can’t really describe the feeling,” he said. “It’s just one of those nights where you don’t want it to end.”

A long-time minor leaguer, the 28-year-old Casteel is now hitting .298 for Mississippi with 13 doubles, 14 homers, and a .907 OPS this season after being plucked from the independent Atlantic League where he spent most of 2018.

Despite the bats heating up for Mississippi, the Blue Wahoos swept the M-Braves in their 4-game series, pushing Mississippi into a tie for 3rd place in the Southern League, at 6-8 (three games back from 1st place).

The M-Braves start their series with Biloxi today 7:35 p.m. (EST). Lefty Kyle Muller will take the mound, carrying a 5-5 record with a 3.49 ERA so far this season.