Sand Gnats Bats Quiet In Postseason Opener Against Asehville

Savannah Sand Gnats @ Asheville Tourists

September 9, 2015

The Highlights:

Pitchers

Martires Arias – 5.1 IP, 6 H, 5 R, BB, 6 SO, 2 HR, 76 Pitches (55 Strikes), 5 GO: 2 FO

Ben Griset – 0.2 IP, BB, 1 GO: 1 FO, 2 IR – 1 S

Tim Peterson – 1.1 IP, 2 SO, 1 GO: 1 FO

Paul Paez – 0.2 IP, H, SO

Jesus Tinoco – 7.2 IP, 7 H, R, 6 SO, 98 Pitches (70 Strikes), 8 GO: 4 FO

Jerry Vasto – 1.1 IP, SO, 1 GO: 2 FO, 1 IR – 0 S

Batters

Luis Guillorme – 2-4, R

Wuilmer Becerra – 1-4, 3 SO

Eudor Garcia – 2-4, 2B (1), RBI (1)

John Mora – 1-4

Patrick Biondi – 1-3

Wes Rogers – 1-4, R, SO

Forrest Wall – 1-4, R, HR, 2 RBI, SO

Dom Nunez – 1-4, R, SO

Roberto Ramos – 3-4, R, 2B, HR, 2 RBI, SO

Josh Fuentes – 1-3, 2B

Recap

The Sand Gnats began their final postseason run as a Savannah franchise Wednesday night in Asheville with a 5-1 loss to the Tourists. Sand Gnats starter Martires Arias came out firing bullets for Savannah, but he fastballs up to a pair of lefties in the 4^th inning, and both pitches were launched for massive, game-changing homeruns. Tourists starter Jesus Tinoco matched Arias 0-for-0 over the first 3 innings, and then nearly kept up that pace for another 3.2 innings before Jerry Vasto took over and finished the game for Asheville.

This game was essentially decided by two 4^th inning homeruns against Martires Arias, which was an unlikely event. Arias had faced 485 batters during the regular season, and he allowed a homerun to just one: Jose Cardon on 5/10. He allowed 0 homeruns in 2014, and he allowed 0 homeruns to the final 76 batters he faced in 2013, which puts him at just 1 homerun allowed to the previous 784 batters he’s faced (!) entering Wednesday night’s game. Both homeruns allowed were to lefties, and both were hit well out to right-center field. The Asheville announcer described them as no-doubters off the bat, but that doesn’t guarantee they would be homeruns everywhere outside of the McCormick Field bandbox: it’s 297 feet down the RF line, 320 feet in ‘deep’ right center, and 373 feet at it’s deepest (slightly left of center field). So while it was unlikely that Arias would allow two homeruns in the same inning, he was in one of the easier places for that to happen.

Arias retired the first 9 Tourists batters while picking up his first 3 strikeouts and hitting 94-96 MPH several times. The announcer described him as looking amped up, which is not surprising considering it was a playoff start, but it might’ve led to his fading later in the start. Similarly, while Arias was brilliant down the stretch, he was on a tight pitch/innings limit, so he hadn’t pitched since 8/29, and hadn’t reached the 6^th inning since 8/2, which also might’ve led to his fading later in the start. He struck out 3 more batters in the 4^th inning, but also allowed the pair of homeruns. Josh Fuentes would hit a well-struck double off of Arias in the 5^th inning, but Arias worked around the threat to strand Fuentes at 3B. Then his control started to fade in the 6^th inning, which set Asheville up for two runs right after the Sand Gnats had finally broken through against Tinoco.

Tinoco was pretty effective against the entire Sand Gnats lineup, but he was extremely effective against the top two right-handed power bats in the lineup: Wuilmer Becerra (0-3, 3 K’s against Tinoco) and Michael Katz (0-3, 2 K’s against Tinoco). He allowed a pair of singles to Luis Guillorme, the second of which led to a run when Eudor Garcia tagged an RBI double to CF. Eudor and John Mora hit back-to-back singles with two outs in the 4^th inning, but it led to nothing for Savannah, just like the other two Sand Gnats singles. Tinoco threw mostly fastballs and sliders throughout the start, but his fastball velocity had mostly dropped several MPH’s by the end of the game (the announcer did call one pitch at 94 MPH in the 8^th).

Savannah won both the first and second half South division titles in the SAL, so they do have home field advantage in this series, but that means the final two games are played at Grayson Stadium, if both are necessary. These two teams were given Thursday to travel to Savannah, where this series continues Friday night at 7:05 PM. Ricky Knapp is scheduled to face for the home crowd opposite Carlos Polanco, hoping to keep Savannah baseball alive for at least one more game.

Pitcher Coverage

Martires Arias

Table 1 – Arias pitch stats by inning

	1^st	2^nd	3^rd	4^th	5^th	6^th	Total
Total	8	14	5	17	11	21	76
Strikes	7	9	4	14	9	12	55
Swinging*	1	3	0	2	0	1	7

*9.2% Swinging strike rate

First strikeout came on a 0-2 changeup in the dirt (swinging).

Second strikeout came on a 2-2 slider in the dirt (swinging).

Third strikeout came on a 3-2 fastball at 95 MPH (swinging).

Fourth strikeout came on a 1-2 slider (swinging).

Fifth strikeout came on a 1-2 slider on the outside corner at 88 MPH (looking).

Sixth strikeout came on a 1-2 fastball on the inside corner at 96 MPH (looking).

Jesus Tinoco

Table 2 – Tinoco pitch stats by inning

	1^st	2^nd	3^rd	4^th	5^th	6^th	7^th	8^th	Total
Total	12	13	9	18	12	12	5	17	98
Strikes	9	9	6	13	7	9	4	12	70
Swinging*	1	1	1	2	0	5	0	2	12

*12.2% Swinging strike rate

First strikeout came on a 0-2 slider (swinging).

Second strikeout came on a 1-2 slider (swinging)

Third strikeout came on a 1-2 slider on the outside corner (looking).

Fourth strikeout came on a 0-2 fastball on the outside corner (swinging).

Fifth strikeout came on a 1-2 pitch (swinging).

Sixth strikeout came on a 2-2 fastball (swinging).

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