Gnats Game Notes: Tuesday, July 27 at Lexington
Published on July 27, 2010 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Savannah Sand Gnats News Release
Savannah Sand Gnats (13-18/55-46, 7th, Southern) @ Lexington Legends (15-16/50-51, 4th, Southern)
Game #102 - Road Game #53 - Tuesday - 7:05
RHP Taylor Whitenton (5-5, 4.15) vs. RHP Jose Cisnero (5-5, 4.06)
Applebee's Park, Lexington, KY
Radio: WBMQ News/Talk 630, sandgnats.com
Tonight: The first-half-champion Gnats finish up their four-game series in Lexington, KY and their eight-game road trip to West Virginia and Lexington. The Gnats, who have thrown back-to-back shutouts, are 3-4 on the trip and have a chance to split with a win tonight. Savannah starts a four-game series at home against Augusta on Thursday, July 29.
Last Night: Darin Gorski shutout the Legends on three hits and a two walks through 6.2 innings. Guillaume Leduc relieved Gorski with two men on base and two outs in the seventh, and after walking a man to load the bases, escaped unscathed to preserve Savannah's 1-0 lead. , Marcos Tabata worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his first Savannah save. RF Cesar Puello drove home the Gnats' first run in the first, and scored the team's second run after stealing his 37th base in the top of the eighth.
Now Pitching: Taylor Whitenton will make his eleventh start of the year this evening. He gave up six runs on six hits and three walks in 2.2 innings in the Gnats' 8-4 loss to West Virginia last Wednesday. Whitenton's 45 walks are tied for the fourth-most in the SAL. In his five starts since returning to the rotation over the All-Star Break, Whitenton is 2-3 with a 5.32 ERA (14 ER/23.2 IP) and 18 strikeouts against 14 walks. For the year, Whitenton has struck out 8.75 batters per nine innings, but walked 5.5 batters per nine. The Gnats are 4-6 when Whitenton starts and have supported him with 4.0 runs per game, the third-lowest support of any Gnats starter. Last year, Whitenton threw five scoreless innings over four games in the Gulf Coast League, striking out seven, walking five and yielding just one hit. The Mets drafted Whitenton in the 39th round of the 2009 draft out of Darton (GA) College.
Back-to-Back: Savannah pitchers have tossed back-to-back shutouts, totaling 18 consecutive scoreless innings. The longest the Gnats' staff has gone this year without allowing a run was a 22-inning scoreless streak from April 8-April 10 against West Virginia in games 1-3 of the 2010 season.
Puello Power: Cesar Puello is hitting .330/.425/.429 (AVG/OBP/SLG) in July. In the second half, Puello's OBP of .410 is ninth in the SAL. He's hit safely in six straight and 14 of his last 15 games during which time he's raised his batting average by 17 points from .258 on July 10 to .275 today. Puello is part of a three-way tie for third in the SAL with 37 stolen bases, three behind Jeremy Hazelbaker of Greenville who leads the league with 40.
More Shutouts: Savannah pitching is second in the league with 11 shutouts, trailing only Hickory (13). The Gnats' offense has been blanked 11 times, the most of any team in the league ahead of Greenville, Rome and Lexington who have all been shutout nine times.
New Half: In the first half, while going 42-28, Gnats' pitching allowed just 3.31 runs per game while the offense scored 4.7 runs per contest. In the second half, the team's scoring is down to 4.06 runs per game, while Savannah pitching is allowing more runs, an average of 4.23 runs per game.
Armed and Dangerous: The Gnats lead the SAL in ERA (2.76), strikeouts (867) and innings pitched (937.1).
Vs. Lexington: The Gnats are 6-1 against Lexington, 4-0 at home and 2-1 in Lexington in 2010. The Gnats swept four games from the Legends at Historic Grayson Stadium, April 28-May 1, by a combined score of 20-7.
Playoffs: By virtue of winning the first half, the Gnats will have home-field advantage in the Southern Division Championship Series. The second half winner will host game one on Wednesday, September 8 before the series returns to Savannah for game two on Friday, September 10 and game three, if necessary, on Saturday, September 11.
South Atlantic League Stories from July 27, 2010
- Legends Score Early, Beat Savannah 13-6 - Lexington Legends
- May Mystifies Shorebirds in 9-0 Lakewood Win - Delmarva Shorebirds
- May Strikes out 14, Claws Crush Birds 9-0 - Jersey Shore BlueClaws
- Behind Ruiz, Drive Shutout Braves 4-0 in Game One - Greenville Drive
- Series Finale in Augusta Rained Out - Hickory Crawdads
- Weather Claims Jackets, Crawdads Finale - Augusta GreenJackets
- RiverDogs Salvage Series Split, Snip Greensboro, 7-6 - Charleston RiverDogs
- Gnats Game Notes: Tuesday, July 27 at Lexington - Savannah Sand Gnats
- Shorebirds Game Notes - Delmarva Shorebirds
- Ramirez Walk off Gives Suns Victory - Hagerstown Suns
- Intimidators Roll to Series Win 12-2 - Kannapolis Cannon Ballers
- Charleston Baseball Hall of Fame to Induct Four New Members on August 6 - Charleston RiverDogs
- Brewer Placed on Dl - Rome Emperors
- West Virginia and Hagerstown Split A Twinbill - Charleston Dirty Birds
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