touching the bases
There is much to absorb from a busy Tuesday. Start with Charlie Morton’s brilliance against the first-place New York Mets. The former Mississippi Braves pitcher threw 6 2/3 shutout innings, yielding three hits and fanning 12, in Atlanta’s 5-0 win — its eighth straight — at Truist Park. The Braves are 3.5 games back in the National League East. … Down at High-Class A Rome, M-Braves alum Mike Soroka, on a big league rehab assignment, struck out eight batters in four scoreless innings. He hasn’t pitched in an MLB game since Aug. 3, 2020. … The Braves gave rookie sensation Michael Harris II, who started this season at Double-A Mississippi, a well-deserved new contract: $72 million over eight years. (Don’t the Braves need to find some cash to re-sign Dansby Swanson?) … The tally is now 160 (at least) of M-Braves alums who have reached the majors with the promotions of Freddy Tarnok by the Braves and Shea Langeliers by Oakland. Tarnok was 2-2 with a 4.31 ERA for the M-Braves this season before moving to Triple-A Gwinnett. Langeliers, a star on last year’s Double-A South championship club before being traded, doubled on the first pitch he saw for the A’s. He was hitting .283 with 19 homers at Triple-A Las Vegas. … Former Mississippi State star Adam Frazier had two hits, two RBIs and two runs in surging Seattle’s 8-2 win against the Los Angeles Angels. Frazier is hitting .318 in his last seven games for the American League wild card leader, which has won 35 of its last 50. … MSU alum Hunter Renfroe, on with a bunt single — yes, a bunt — in the 11th inning, scored the game-winning run for Milwaukee in a 6-5 victory vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers. Fellow former Bulldogs star Brandon Woodruff struck out eight L.A. batters in five innings. … Ole Miss product Nick Fortes homered twice and scored a third time in run-starved Miami’s 4-3 win over San Diego. Fortes is at .259 with six homers. … Ex-MSU standout Nathaniel Lowe went 3-for-4 in Texas’ loss to Oakland and is batting .400 in August, .291 on the season. … Former Ole Miss star Drew Pomeranz, moving closer (maybe) to returning to San Diego’s active roster, got two outs and gave up a three-run homer in a rehab appearance for Triple-A El Paso. The 33-year-old lefty has been on the shelf all season. … Ex-MSU star Jake Mangum, on the injured list at Triple-A Syracuse since May 23 with a back problem, went 0-for-2 in a rehab game for the Mets’ Florida Complex League club. Mangum was hitting .333 in 11 games at Syracuse. … DeSoto Central High product Blaze Jordan had a 4-for-5 game with his third homer for High-A Greenville in Boston’s system. Jordan is batting .435 in six games at his new level. … Logan Tanner, drafted out of MSU in the second round last month by Cincinnati, got his first two hits as a pro at Low-A Daytona. He is 2-for-17. … Third-round pick Dalton Rogers, a Southern Miss alum, pitched a scoreless inning in his pro debut for Boston’s rookie team in the FCL. … Ex-State standouts Jordan Westburg (in Baltimore’s system) and Justin Foscue (Texas) are ranked Nos. 80 and 82 in MLB Pipeline’s new Top 100 Prospects list.