Stellar Starts from Bragg, Forret Lead Way for IronBirds in Series with Cyclones

Sports stats



SAL Aberdeen IronBirds

Stellar Starts from Bragg, Forret Lead Way for IronBirds in Series with Cyclones

April 21, 2025 - South Atlantic League (SAL)
Aberdeen IronBirds News Release


In their first six-game homestand of the season last week, the Aberdeen IronBirds lost four out of six games to the Brooklyn Cyclones, the High-A affiliate of the New York Mets. After 15 games, the IronBirds are 7-8 with a +11 run differential and in 4th place in the South Atlantic League North Division standings.

Although the IronBirds lost the series, two of their losses were by one run and they held the Cyclones to five runs or less in five of the six games. The Cyclones won the series opener before the IronBirds answered with a win in the second game to even the series. Brooklyn followed by winning the next three games, then Aberdeen won the series finale on Easter Sunday.

Starting pitching dominated the series for the IronBirds. From Wednesday through Saturday, four IronBirds starters combined for a 2.04 ERA, allowing just five earned runs in 22 innings, with a 26/3 K/BB ratio and only seven hits allowed. Braxton Bragg tossed a career-high seven shutout innings with seven strikeouts and no walks in Wednesday's 2-1 win. Michael Forret followed on Thursday with five no-hit innings and nine strikeouts and Nestor German pitched a career-high five and two-thirds innings with five strikeouts and no walks on Saturday. Both Forret and German retired 11 consecutive batters at one point during their outings.

The strong pitching theme continued in the IronBirds' 5-2 win on Sunday, when Orioles right-hander Kyle Gibson started for Aberdeen. Gibson allowed just one earned run on one hit with five strikeouts and two walks in five innings. This was the third minor-league ramp-up start (the other two were with Triple-A Norfolk) for Gibson, a 2021 American League All-Star and member of the 2023 Orioles' 101-win AL East championship team. He has been pitching in the minor leagues because he signed so late during Spring Training and needs to build up his arm before joining the Orioles' pitching staff, which is expected to happen soon.

It wasn't a big week for the bats, but a few IronBirds made some noise. Griff O'Ferrall hit his first career home run in the first inning of Saturday's game off MLB rehabber Paul Blackburn and then hit a leadoff homer in the first on Sunday as well. Anderson De Los Santos had three extra-base hits in the series, including a towering game-tying, two-run home run in the seventh inning on Saturday. De Los Santos reached base safely in all five of his games against Brooklyn to extend his season-high on-base streak to nine games. Leandro Arias reached base safely eight times in six games, Aron Estrada had his first three-hit game of the season, Ryan Stafford had three RBI in the series, and Jake Cunningham hit his second homer of the season on Sunday while also robbing a home run on Friday.

The IronBirds are on the road this week for a six-game series against the Wilmington Blue Rocks, then they'll return home to host the Bowling Green Hot Rods for a six-game series from Tuesday, April 29 through Sunday, May 4. Tuesday's series opener is scheduled for 11:05 am. To purchase tickets and for more information about tickets or upcoming promotions, visit goironbirds.com.

Check out the Aberdeen IronBirds Statistics

• Discuss this story on the South Atlantic League message board...

South Atlantic League Stories from April 21, 2025


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central