The Gwinnett Braves took a 4-0 lead after two innings Saturday night against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, but their starting pitching and defense let the lead get away in a 7-6 loss in Lawrenceville.
In the bottom of the first inning, the G-Braves' Alvin Colina drove home Casey Kotchman, who played five innings in a minor-league rehabilitation start, with a sacrifice fly, and the next batter, Clint Sammons, drove home Brooks Conrad and Brandon Jones with a single.
In the Gwinnett second, Kotchman drove home Kody Kirkland with a sacrifice fly.
Gwinnett scored two more in the fourth — Brian Barton scoring on a wild pitch, and Van Pope scoring on a groundout by Kotchman, who had two RBIs.
However, the Yankees began their comeback with three runs in the fourth, two of the runs scoring on groundouts.
After allowing Gwinnett to score two runs in their half of the fourth, Scranton piled on four more in the fifth, three scoring on one play, a bases-loaded single and a throwing error, to take a 7-6 lead.
The G-Braves committed three errors, and starting pitcher Jonny Venters allowed five earned runs in four innings.
Gwinnett relievers Mariano Gomez and Jon Huber combined to allow one hit and one earned run over five innings, but the G-Braves' bats went nearly dormant. They had two hits over the final five innings after scoring six runs in the first four.
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