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SAL1 Kannapolis Cannon Ballers

Intimidators vs. Sand Gnats - Game Notes - August 20, 2013

August 20, 2013 - South Atlantic League (SAL1)
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Today's Preview: Fresh off a pair of series sweeps, the Intimidators (A, White Sox) will try to run their winning streak to eight games when the 70-win Sand Gnats (A, Mets) make their second and final visit to CMC-NorthEast Stadium this season. Savannah has won six of seven games in the season series, including three of four games in Kannapolis in the First Half. The Intimidators are enjoying their hottest streak of the season, having won seven straight games since Aug. 13, the best current streak in the SAL. Adam Lopez returns to the mound after the best start of his career - tossing 7.0 scoreless innings to beat Lakewood Aug. 15. Savannah is countering with one of the league's best arms in Gabriel Ynoa, the league-leader in wins and owner of the circuit's fourth-best ERA.

Intimidating Starter: Adam Lopez, 23, makes his fifth start and third appearance against the Sand Gnats, having faced them twice out of the bullpen in May. Lopez, the team leader in strikeouts with 107, has recorded a new career-long outing in each of his first four starts. He shutout the BlueClaws over 7.0 innings on Aug. 15, earning his second straight win and his second straight quality start. The right-hander is now 2-1 with a 2.42 ERA in four starts after opening the season 1-3 with a 3.19 ERA in 25 relief appearances. As a reliever, he leads the SAL in Highest SO/9 IP Ratio at 13.65 (90 K/59.1 relief IP). In his last nine games, Lopez has a 1.60 ERA (7 ER/39.1 IP) with 45 strikeouts and seven walks, including striking out a career-high nine batters over 4.0 scoreless innings at Hickory on July 5. He opened the year 1-1 with a 4.42 ERA in 18 games in the first half but has gone 2-2 with a 1.80 ERA in 101 2nd Half games (four starts). The White Sox selected Lopez in the 21st round in the June 2012 draft out of Virginia Military Institute.

Savannah's Slinger: Gabriel Ynoa, 20, makes his 21st start and his third against Kannapolis as he looks for his fourth straight winning decision. Ynoa enters today's game leading the SAL in wins (13) and winning percentage (.765), ranking second in WHIP (1.03) and fourth in ERA (2.71). Among starters, he leads the SAL in lowest walks/9 IP ratio (1.03) and ranks second in fewest base runners/9 IP ratio (9.32). Against Kannapolis, Ynoa is 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA (4 ER/16 IP) in two starts, including the league's first 9.0-inning complete game of the season on June 2 (only Rome's West Parsons and Asheville's T.J. Oakes have also thrown 9-inning complete games in the SAL this season). Ynoa has already doubled his career win total with this year's efforts, entering 2013 with a career 12-8 record and 2.42 ERA over four seasons in the Mets system. He made his professional debut with the DSL Mets2 in 2010 at 16. Last year he went 5-2 with a 2.23 ERA in 13 games with the Short-Season NYPL's Brookiyn Cyclones.

About Last Night: Kannapolis scored three runs in the sixth inning to break a 3-3 tie on the way to a 6-3 win and a series sweep at Greensboro on Monday. Jacob May, Tim Anderson and Keon Barnum each recorded an RBI-single in the sixth. The Intimidators built an early 3-0 lead on three RBI from Jason Coats, including a two-run home run in the third inning. Frank Montas recorded his second win since joining the White Sox as part of the Jake Peavy deal, allowing three runs on three hits with three walks and six strikeouts. Relievers Ryan Bollinger and Stew Brase combined for 4.0 scoreless innings. Bollinger worked 3.0 frames, and Brase worked around a single for the save (7) in the ninth, his second of the series.

We're Going Streaking: Kannapolis has won seven straight games, the longest winning streak of the season and the longest for the Intimidators since a seven-game winning streak in June 2012 that saw Kannapolis win three straight games at Delmarva heading into the All- Star Break and sweep the Shorebirds in a four-game series to open the 2nd Half. The last time the Intimidators had a longer winning streak, the team won nine straight games from May 25 to June 3, 2012. The Intimidators had a 12-game winning streak Aug. 15-27, 2009, as the team won the 2nd Half, the last time Kannapolis made the post-season.

Barnum's Back: First baseman Keon Barnum is batting .500 (6-12) in three games since he returned from a two-week stint on the Disabled List over the weekend. Barnum was removed from an Aug. 1 game at Hagerstown after a second inning collision at home plate. Barnum is on a five-game hitting streak, batting .500 (8-15) in his last four games. After starting slow in June, batting .150 (6-40) in 11 games, Barnum has picked up the pace at the plate in July and August, batting .282 (33-117) in 32 games since.

Coats Crushes: All-Star Jason Coats hit his team-leading 12 home run of the season and drove in three on Monday. Coats now ranks third in the SAL with 77 RBI, behind Asheville's Francisco Sosa (83) and Hickory's Ryan Rua (82). Coats also ranks second in the league in at- bats (463), fourth in games (120) and fifth in doubles (32) and total bases (198).

Fresh Danish: The White Sox promoted 2013 second round pick RHP Tyler Danish to Class A Kannapolis from Advanced Rookie Bristol today. He went 1-0 with a 1.38 ERA in 13 games (1 start) in the Appalachian League. The Intimidators roster now features each of the White Sox top three picks from this June's draft, including Tim Anderson (1st round) & Jacob May (3rd).

Radio Broadcasts: Today's game can be heard at IntimidatorsBaseball.com. All 70 Intimidators home games and select road games are broadcast live with the Voice of the Intimidators, Josh Feldman. Tonight's game will feature the broadcast debut of Harrison Christian. Wednesday's game will be called by Matt Blaker.

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