Gant and the Gnats Take Game One in Rome

Savannah Sand Gnats @ Rome Braves

August 29, 2014

John Gant @ Matt Marksberry

Teams	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Savannah	0	0	0	0	3	2	0	1	0		6	8	2
Rome	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	3	0		5	9	1

Win: Gant (11-5, 2.56 ERA); Loss Marksberry (5-10, 3.55 ERA); Save: Frias (4)

MiLB.com Boxscore

The Highlights:

Pitchers

John Gant – 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R (1 ER), 3 SO, HBP, 9 GO: 3 FO

Darwin Frias (2.98 ERA) – 1.2 IP, 2 SO, 3 FO, 2 IR – 0 S

Batters

Jorge Rivero – 1-5, R, HR (5), 2 RBI (31), 2 SO

Matt Oberste – 1-5, R, 2 SO

Jon Leroux – 1-4, 3 SO

Victor Cruzado – 1-3, 2 R, BB, SB (10), SO

Colton Plaia – 1-4, R, HR (4), RBI (30)

Nelfi Zapata – 2-4, RBI (12), SO

Patrick Biondi – 1-3, R, RBI (30), BB

Recap:

            John Gant was a strike-throwing machine, and the Gnats bullpen was just able to hold on Friday night in Rome. It’s likely he reached his inning limit for the start, because with only 67 pitches thrown, Gant could’ve gone another 2-3 innings easy. The Braves jumped on him for a run on two hits in the 1^st, though the RBI single was a 70-foot dribbler just out of Gant’s reach. Gant would set Rome down in order over the next two innings, but some defensive miscues in the 4^th led to another Braves run (although this one was uncharged). First, there was an error charged to the shortstop Yeixon Ruiz on a ball that deflected off the lip of the infield grass awkwardly – this may be overturned later. Later in the inning, Ruiz didn’t know where to throw a routine grounder hit his way, and everyone ended up safe with the bases loaded. The offense would finally get on the board in the 5^th, thanks to homeruns from Colton Plaia and Jorge Rivero. They’d tack on two more in the 6^th, including one on a bases loaded walk, and then add one huge insurance run in the 8^th. The Braves would make things interesting off of Ricky Knapp in the 8^th, but Darwin Frias came in to calm things down, stranding two inherited runners in the 8^th, and finishing the game with a strikeout in the 9^th.

Sand Gnats Scoring Summary           

            Plaia hit this solo homerun in the 5^th.

Plaia hits a long homerun to LF

            The Gnats would go ahead for good after this Rivero homerun later in the inning. Biondi had kept the inning going with a two out single to LF.

Biondi slaps a single into LF to keep the inning going

You can kind of see the bat flip, this was a no-doubter to deep CF

            Matt Oberste led off the 6^th with this single to CF.

Oberste drops one into CF

            Victor Cruzado singled two batters later.

Cruzado finds a hole up the middle

            Plaia would reach on a throwing error from the 3B – attempted to go to 2B for the force out and threw the ball into RF – and Oberste scored on the play. Stefan Sabol would walk to load the bases and a Patrick Biondi walk brought home Cruzado.

            In the 8^th, Cruzado led off with a walk. Cruzado would move to 2B on a groundout and come home on this Nelfi Zapata single, his second hit of the night.

This RBI hit turned out to be huge

Darwin Frias

Dropped in a breaking ball for strike 1

Threw a fastball by him on 2-1

Got him to chase the next pitch breaking ball

Got strike one over on a close call

Nice big breaking ball to make it 1-2

After a number of foul balls, the 3-2 heater gets the job done

Gant Pitch Coverage

Table 1 – Breaking down pitch count by type and inning           

Count (Strikes)	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	Total
Fastball	7 (6)	2 (2)	5 (4)	7 (6)	8 (6)	29 (24)
Change-up	5 (4)	1 (1)	2 (2)	4 (2)	2 (2)	14 (11)
Breaking Ball	2 (1)	5 (4)	5 (4)	6 (4)	6 (6)	24 (19)
Total	14 (11)	8 (7)	12 (10)	17 (12)	16 (14)	67 (54)

Table 2 – Breaking down pitch results by type

	Strike % Total Call Swi Foul	BIP% LD GB FB PU	Results AB BABIP ISO K
Fastball	82.8 27.6 3.4 20.7	22 56 22 0	10 .222 .000 1
Change-up	78.6 0.00 7.1 28.6	33 67 0 0	6 .333 .000 0
Breaking Ball	79.2 29.2 20.8 16.7	0 67 33 0	5 .000 .000 2

1^st inning

1)   Connor Oliver lined a single into RF (S9/L)

                                  i.         Fastball, belt high over the middle

2)   Connor Lien hit a groundout to Zapata with Oliver running (53/G)

                                  i.         Fastball, thigh high and outer half – foul 0-1

                                ii.         Change-up, belt high over the middle – foul tip 0-2

                               iii.         Change-up, knee high over the middle

3)   Jacob Schrader reached on a dribbler that deflected off of Gants glove for an infield single; Oliver scored from 3B (S1/G)

                                  i.         Change-up, shin high and outside – ball 1-0

                                ii.         Breaking ball, belt high and inside corner – ball 2-0

                               iii.         Fastball, knee high over the middle – called strike 2-1

*Oliver stole 3B, bad throw from Plaia nearly sailed wide foul side

                               iv.         Breaking ball, belt high and inside corner – called strike 2-2

                                v.         Change-up, knee high and outside corner

4)   Joey Meneses hit a grounder to Zapata for a force out at 2B (54/G)

                                  i.         Fastball, shin high and outside corner – ball 1-0

                                ii.         Fastball, knee high and inside corner

5)   Carlos Franco struck out swinging (K/Sw)

                                  i.         Fastball, knee high and inside corner – called strike 0-1

                                ii.         Change-up, knee high and inside – foul 0-2

                               iii.         Fastball, letter high over the middle – swinging strike 3

2^nd inning

1)   Ross Wilson flied out to Cruzado (9/F)

                                  i.         Breaking ball, knee high and outside corner – called strike 0-1 (Curveball)

                                ii.         Breaking ball, knee high and inside corner – called strike 0-2 (Curveball)

                               iii.         Fastball, letter high and outside corner

2)   Sal Giardina lined out to Cruzado (9/L)

                                  i.         Change-up, knee high over the middle

3)   Alejandro Piloto struck out swinging (K/Sw)

                                  i.         Fastball, knee high and outside corner – called strike 0-1

                                ii.         Breaking ball, knee high over the middle – swinging strike 0-2

                               iii.         Breaking ball, bounced outside – ball 1-2

                               iv.         Breaking ball, bounced outside corner – swinging strike 3

3^rd inning

1)   Reed Harper flied out to RF (9/F)

                                  i.         Fastball, thigh high over the middle

2)   Oliver hit a groundout to Rivero (43/G)

                                  i.         Fastball, belt high and outside corner – ball 1-0

                                ii.         Breaking ball, thigh high and inside corner – called strike 1-1

                               iii.         Breaking ball, shin high and inside corner – swinging strike 1-2

                               iv.         Fastball, thigh high and inside corner

3)   Lien hit a groundout to Rivera (43/G)

                                  i.         Fastball, knee high and inside corner – bunt foul 0-1

                                ii.         Breaking ball, knee high and outside – ball 1-1 (Curveball)

                               iii.         Breaking ball, belt high over the middle – foul 1-2 (Curveball)

                               iv.         Change-up, knee high and outside corner – foul 1-2

                                v.         Breaking ball, knee high over the middle – foul (Curveball) 1-2

                               vi.         Fastball, belt high and inside – foul 1-2

                             vii.         Change-up, belt high over the middle

4^th inning

1)   Schrader reached on a fielding error by Ruiz – ball deflected high off the lip of the infield grass and then bounced off of Ruiz’s left shoulder (E6/G)

                                  i.         Fastball, thigh high and outside corner – called strike 0-1

                                ii.         Breaking ball, knee high and outside corner

2)   Meneses lined out to Ruiz (6/L)

                                  i.         Fastball, thigh high and inside corner

3)   Franco lined a single into RF; Schrader to 3B (S9/L)

                                  i.         Breaking ball, shin high and outside – ball 1-0 (Curveball)

                                ii.         Change-up, shin high over the middle – ball 2-0

                               iii.         Breaking ball, shin high over the middle – swinging strike 2-1

                               iv.         Change-up, shin high and inside – ball 3-1

                                v.         Fastball, belt high over the outer half – foul 3-2

                               vi.         Change-up, thigh high over the middle

4)   Wilson hit an RBI groundout to Ruiz (63/G)

                                  i.         Fastball, thigh high and inside corner

5)   Giardina was hit by a pitch (HBP)

                                  i.         Fastball, knee high and outside corner – called strike 0-1

                                ii.         Fastball, hit him in the upper arm

6)   Piloto reached on an infield single to Ruiz – he was going to throw to 1B but didn’t for some reason, and then was going to flip to 2B but didn’t for some reason (S6/G)

                                  i.         Fastball, thigh high and outside corner

7)   Harder hit a groundout to Rivero (43/G)

                                  i.         Breaking ball, knee high and outside corner – called strike 0-1 (Curveball)

                                ii.         Breaking ball, bounced outside – ball 1-1 (Curveball)

                               iii.         Change-up, knee high and inside corner – foul 1-2

                               iv.         Breaking ball, shin high and outside (Curveball)

5^th inning

1)   Oliver hit a groundout to Ruiz (63/G)

                                  i.         Fastball, thigh high and outside corner – called strike 0-1

                                ii.         Breaking ball, thigh high and inside corner – called strike 0-2 (Curveball)

                               iii.         Fastball, knee high over the middle

2)   Lien flied out to Biondi near the warning track (8/F)

                                  i.         Fastball, thigh high and outside corner – called strike 0-1

                                ii.         Fastball, thigh high and outside – foul 0-2

                               iii.         Fastball, thigh high over the middle – foul 0-2

                               iv.         Breaking ball, thigh high and inside corner – foul 0-2 (Curveball)

                                v.         Breaking ball, knee high and outside corner

3)   Schrader reached on a fielder error from Ruiz – the ball went in and out of his glove (E6/G)

                                  i.         Fastball, knee high and outside corner – called strike 0-1

                                ii.         Change-up, knee high and outside

4)   Meneses struck out looking (K/Lo)

                                  i.         Breaking ball, shin high and outside corner – swinging strike 0-1

                                ii.         Fastball, belt high over the middle – ball 1-1

                               iii.         Change-up, shin high and outside – swinging strike 1-2 (Curveball)

                               iv.         Breaking ball, knee high and outside corner – foul (Curveball) 1-2

                                v.         Fastball, letter high and inside – ball 2-2

                               vi.         Breaking ball, knee high and inside corner – called strike 3

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