Bellinger, Buehler among top prospect performers Saturday

Led by left-hander Max Fried and third baseman Austin Riley, Class A Rome defeated Charleston, 4-1, on Saturday night to advance to the South Atlantic League finals.

After recording exactly 10 strikeouts in each of his final two regular-season starts, Fried, the Braves’ No. 11 prospect, fanned a career-high 11 hitters in 7 2/3 innings, also a career high, in Game 3 of the semifinals. The 22-year-old left-hander allowed one earned run on three hits, walking one and hitting another, while throwing 74 of his 108 pitches for strikes.

“I get butterflies before I pitch every time, it’s just part of my thing,” Fried told MiLB.com. “I love the game and playing so much, I’m always going to get nervous going out there. But seeing the confidence of my teammates, seeing how confident they were in me in going out there tonight, it eased everything.”

Riley, meanwhile, paced Rome’s offense by going 2-for-4 with three RBIs to finish the series with a .300 average. The Braves’ No. 13 prospect drove in Rome’s first run with an RBI single in the top of the third and then extended his club’s lead with a two-run double in the fifth.

“He’s been extremely huge for us the whole second half,” Fried said about Riley. “Talk about a guy who’s been putting in the hard work every day, he came in the second half kind of a new person. Just went out there and started literally smashing baseballs every day. He’s been a huge catalyst to our offense and we know that if we have guys in scoring position and he’s up, there’s a good chance he’s going to get them in.”

The rest of the best performances from top prospects Saturday

• No. 34 overall prospect Cody Bellinger (Dodgers’ No. 1) went yard in Triple-A Oklahoma City’s Game 4 win over Nashville, setting the stage for a winner-take-all Game 5 on Sunday night. The 21-year-old first baseman has hit four homers in seven games since being promoted to the Minors’ highest level ahead of the Pacific Coast League playoffs.

• Nos. 28 and 43 overall prospects Manny Margot and Hunter Renfroe went a combined 5-for-8 with three extra-base hits to help Triple-A El Paso defeat Tacoma, 5-4, and advance to the Pacific Coast League finals. Renfroe (Padres’ No. 3) …

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