BABIP Fairy Not Kind to Gsellman in Gnats 6-5 Loss

Savannah Sand Gnats @ Greenville Drive

August 22, 2014

Robert Gsellman @ Jamie Callahan

Teams	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Savannah	1	1	2	0	0	1	0	0	0		5	9	1
Greenville	1	0	1	4	0	0	0	0	X		6	10	1

Win: Velette (7-3, 3.04 ERA); Loss: Gsellman (9-6, 2.67 ERA); Save: Adams (4)

MiLB.com Boxscore

The Highlights:

Pitchers

Robert Gsellman – 3.2 IP, 9 H, 6 R (5 ER), 2 BB, 2 SO, 71 Pitches (45 Strikes), 3 GO: 4 FO

John Mincone – 2.1 IP, BB, 5 GO: 2 FO

Bret Mitchell (2.74 ERA) – 2 IP, H, 2 SO

Batters

Yeixon Ruiz – 1-2, R, 3 BB, SO, CS

Champ Stuart – 2-5, RBI (23), 2 SB (27), CS

Matt Oberste – 1-3, R, 2B (21), RBI (46), BB, HBP

Victor Cruzado – 1-4, R, BB, SO

Jorge Rivero – 2-4, R, HR (4), RBI (27), BB, 2 SO

Patrick Biondi – 2-3, 2B (12), BB

Recap:

            Robert Gsellman ran into some terrible luck in the 1^st and 4^th innings of Friday night’s game, as the Gnats lost the opener in Greenville 6-5. Every starter runs into games like Gsellman’s Thursday night, where every call seems to go against them and weakly hit balls keep finding holes, it’s just part of the game. Offensively, the Gnats were rolling but missing chances to score early, and were shut down by the Greenville bullpen late. Champ Stuart continued his assault on the base paths, as two more stolen bases gives him five over his last five games. John Mincone and Bret Mitchell combined for 4.1 shutout innings to finish the game.

            The Gnats scratched out a 1^st inning run for the third time in four games, as they jumped out to a 1-0 lead that could’ve been more. After Yeixon Ruiz led off with a walk, Champ Stuart lined this single into LF.

            Dominic Smith would follow by hitting a grounder to the second basemen to start a double play. Fortunately for the Gnats, Matt Oberste followed with this RBI double.

            The Drive got three straight singles off of Gsellman to start the bottom of the 1^st – a flare into CF, a grounder down the 1B line and an infield single to Jon Johnson near the 2B bag. However, the second hit appeared to be a foul ball. The ball was pulled down the line and passed 1B Dominic Smith, who had the fair side of the line covered. Even the Greenville broadcaster admitted that ball was definitely foul (he called it a foul ball initially before realizing the play was still on), but the umpire apparently saw things differently The Gnats took the lead right back in the 2^nd, as Jorge Rivero jumped on a 2-0 Fastball to lead off the inning with a solo blast to deep LF.

            After two outs were made, the Gnats picked up a Biondi walk and this Ruiz single to threaten for more, but Champ Stuart hit a weak groundout to the 3B – Stuart nearly beat the throw to 1B, and that’s with the third basemen playing the ball perfectly.

            Gsellman picked up his first strikeout of the night to start the 2^nd, getting Franklin Guzman looking.

First pitch strike 1

His first swinging strike of the night

Great location freezes Guzman on 2-2

            After a one-out walk to Oberste in the 3^rd, Victor Cruzado lined this single into CF.

            The next two batters, Rivero and Johnson, would draw walks to drive in a run, and then Colton Plaia brought home Cruzado with a sac fly to make it 4-1. Biondi followed with this two-out single up the middle, but Rivero was thrown out trying to score.

            If there was one pitch Gsellman could take back from Friday night, it would be the fastball that Jimmy Rider grooved for a double to deep CF leading off the 3^rd. Rider would come around on a sac fly to cut the lead to 4-2, but Gsellman limited further damage in the inning and struck out Sam Travis swinging to end the frame.

            Stuart picked up his second hit of the night with one out in the 4^th, and then went 1-2 on stolen base attempts, getting caught at 3B to end the inning.

            The bottom of the 4^th is when everything “went wrong” for Gsellman, as he just couldn’t find his way out of the frame. Danny Bethea and Franklin Guzman were first pitch hitting, sending flares into CF for back-to-back singles. After a sac bunt and pop out to SS, Gsellman was on the verge of getting out of the inning unharmed, but that third out would be elusive. Rider walked to load the bases and Cole Sturgeon hit one back up the middle that tied the game up. The throw came home on the play, but Guzman had beat the ball home, so Plaia stepped up to cut the ball off and throw Rider out at 3B. It appeared that Rider was out, and again even the Greenville announcer thought the player was out, but the umpire called him safe. This brought the Sand Gnats manager out of the dugout for the second time in the game, and this time he stayed until they tossed him, and then he stayed some more. At one point you could see him pointing to 1B and home plate, likely referring to the earlier missed call made by the men in blue. Gsellman was a little wild after such a long on-field delay, and Rider would score on a wild pitch with Tzu-Wei Lin batting. Lin would hit another grounder back up the middle that found its way into CF for a single, and then Gsellman would walk Wendell Rijo to end his night. What a frustrating inning. The Gnats bats only had two more hits in them Friday night, including this 6^th inning double from Biondi with Plaia on 1B.

             The Gnats would end up with the bases loaded and nobody out after Ruiz walked, but they could only get one run from a Stuart groundout. They wouldn’t pick up another hit until this one out single from Cruzado in the 9^th.

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— StarTalk (@StarTalkRadio) August 22, 2014