Meisner and Becerra Reach Top Gear Against the Drive

Savannah Sand Gnats @ Greenville Drive

May 8, 2015

Casey Meisner @ Dedgar Jimenez

Teams	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Savannah	0	0	3	1	1	0	0	0	0		5	11	0
Greenville	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0		1	3	3

W: Meisner (2-1, 1.78 ERA); L: Jimenez (1-1, 3.00 ERA)

MiLB.com Boxscore

The Highlights:

Pitchers

Casey Meisner – 7 IP, 2 H, R, 9 SO, 90 Pitches (64 Strikes), 6 GO: 3 FO

Ben Griset (0.00 ERA) – 2 IP, H, 2 SO, 2 GO: 1 FO

Batters

Luis Guillorme – 1-5, R, RBI (13), SO

John Mora – 1-5, R, SO

Jon Leroux – 1-5, 2 RBI (15), 2 SO

Wuilmer Becerra – 3-4, R, 3B (2), HR (4), 2 RBI (15)

Eudor Garcia – 1-3, BB, SO, GIDP

Tomas Nido – 2-4, R, 2 SO

Jonathan Johnson – 1-4, SO

Vicente Lupo – 1-3, R, 2B (4), SO

Recap

            Casey Meisner flirted with history into the 7^th Friday night, as he retired the first 19 Drive batters of the game before allowing back-to-back singles and a run. Meisner was excellent throughout the start, but especially so early, striking out 9 of the first 16 Greenville batters, including the side in the 5^th. The offense was paced by a great game from Wuilmer Becerra, who would finish a double shy of the cycle. After Meisner finished the 7^th, new Savannah addition Ben Griset made his Mets affiliates debut, looking sharp from the left side as he finished out the game.

            Meisner hasn’t consistently shown that top of the rotation heat he’s flashed with his fastball this year, but he’s still been great for Savannah, improving his numbers to 22.3 K%: 6.6% BB% over his first 30.1 IP in the SAL. He has a nice low-70’s curve that he locates well, and is not afraid to throw in any count, and an upper-70’s/low-80’s changeup that has helped him stay effective against lefties. His fastball was reportedly sitting 86-88 MPH, touching 90 MPH early, and then 92 MPH later in the start. It may not have been mid-90’s but he was blowing it by hitters, and I think there were two main reasons for that: 1) he kept hitters off balance working quickly with his array of offspeed and breaking stuff, and 2) he’s 6’7”, so he releases the ball closer than most pitchers, and big guys often hide the ball well. He appeared to tire some by the 7^th, but his pitch count was within reason to let him look for another perfect inning in that frame, although I don’t think he would’ve seen the 8^th regardless. Start keeping an eye on Meisner, because he might not need an entire season at this level.

            Savannah heads out to Hickory for their next series, which will not be available on MiLB.tv. L

Scoring Highlights

            Luis Guillorme led off the game with a single lined into LF, but he’d be stranded at 2B.

            Eudor Garcia kept his hot streak going with a single in the 2^nd, his fourth straight PA with a hit.

            The Sand Gnats loaded the bases with nobody out on weird fashion to start the 3^rd, as Vicente Lupo reached on catcher’s interference, Guillorme reached on an error, and then Mora reached on a bunt single. After failing to score with the bases loaded in 3 innings Thursday night, Jon Leroux would come through with a two-run single that put Savannah ahead 2-0. Wuilmer Becerra followed with an RBI single.

            Tomas Nido and Jonathan Johnson led off the 4^th with back-to-back singles, and then Nido came home on a groundout off the bat of Guillorme.

            Becerra hit his 4^th homerun in the 5^th.

Could not track the ball, so I increased the quality setting a little for the swing

            Lupo hit a one-out double in the 6^th, but was stranded at 3B.

            Becerra hit a triple over the center fielder’s head in the 7^th.

            Nido picked up another single in the 8^th.

           

Meisner Coverage

K1

K2

K3

K4

K5

K6

K7

K8

K9

Dat change O_O

Ben Griset K’s

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