Early blasts sink R'Dogs

Cody Johnson's two hits spelled disaster for the Charleston RiverDogs as he hit a two-run homer in the first inning and a grand slam in the second to pace the Rome Braves to a 12-9 win in front of 3,065 fans at Riley Park on Thursday.

"You've got to take them when you can get them," said Johnson, who is up to 20 home runs on the season. "I was fortunate to catch them both square."

Johnson, one the Atlanta Braves' top prospects after he was selected in the first round of the 2006 draft, has turned his season around since the All-Star break. Even as he showed off some power with nine runs in the first half, he hit only .212 with 98 strikeouts. Since the break, he's hitting .312 and his season average has climbed to .252.

"I took the All-Star break off and took it easy for three days and came back with a fresh mind," he said. "I still have all the strikeouts but I can't think about that. If I go to the plate thinking about it, I'll strike out even more. I know if I put the ball in play, there's a good chance I'll get a hit."

Both home runs came against RiverDogs starting pitcher Adam Olbrychowski (5-7), whose fortunes seem to get worse with every subsequent outing. He gave up four hits and three walks in four innings while falling behind 7-0. He put himself in a jam in the second inning with two walks to load the bases before Johnson's grand slam.

Olbrychowski was 5-2 with a 3.45 ERA in the first half, but he has now given up 29 earned runs in just over 22 innings since the break.

Edgar Osuna (7-4) pitched six innings and struck out nine to earn the win.

"We didn't do a good job of making Osuna pitch," Tyson said. "We knew coming in that he threw a lot of off-speed stuff, but we still chased a lot of stuff outside of the strike zone. What crushed us too is we cut it to 7-2 and have runners on first and second and can't get anyone home. If you're going to get back in the game from a seven-run deficit, it has to be a team effort — not three or four guys getting hot."

The RiverDogs (22-23 second half, 67-48 overall) stranded 11 baserunners.

and left the bases loaded in the sixth and seventh innings. Rome (24-23, 46-70) never really lost control of the game even though Charleston made the score close in the end.

Austin Romine hit a towering three-run homer over the tall screen behind the center-field fence in the eighth inning to cut the lead to 11-6, and Justin Snyder added another three-run homer in the ninth.

Coming up

The same two teams play again with Charleston right-hander Noel Castillo (7-5, 3.48 ERA) scheduled to start for the RiverDogs. Rome hasn't declared its starter yet.

The first 1,000 fans in the park will get to participate in Bobblection 2008 and will receive a replica bobblehead doll of either John McCain or Barack Obama.

Reach Bill Henley at 937-5595 or bhenley@postandcourier.com.