Meisner and Roseboom Excellent, but Charleston Pitching Slightly Better

Savannah Sand Gnats @ Charleston River Dogs

April 24, 2015

Casey Meisner @ Luis Cedeno

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

W: Cedeno (1-0, 0.00 ERA); L: Meisner (1-1, 2.12 ERA); S: Harvey (3)

MiLB.com Boxscore

The Highlights:

Pitchers

Casey Meisner – 6 IP, 5 H, R, 2 BB, 5 SO, 92 Pitches (60 Strikes), 5 GO: 3 FO

David Roseboom (1.04 ERA) – 2 IP, 5 SO, 1 GO: 1 FO

Batters

Stefan Sabol – 1-4

Tomas Nido – 1-3, BB, SO, CS

Jonathan Johnson – 1-2, BB

Recap

            The Dogs used their speed to edge the Gnats in a great pitcher’s duel down in Charleston Friday night. Savannah righty Casey Meisner was fantastic for Savannah, allowing only the 4^th inning run, which was manufactured by Charleston’s always-running offense (they average nearly 3 stolen bases per game so far). But Charleston starter Luis Cedeno was even better, allowing only two walks over his 5 innings, and handing a no-hitter off to the bullpen. The no-hitter wouldn’t last long, but the Gnats could only muster 3 singles and a pair of walks against the Charleston bullpen. David Roseboom came in to relieve Meisner in the 7^th, and he struck out the first 5 batters he faced, making Charleston batters look really uncomfortable in the process. There isn’t much offense to check out, but there is plenty on the two Savannah pitchers below.

Scoring Highlights

            Jonathan Johnson picked up the Sand Gnats first hit with this single in the 6^th, and he’d also be the first of the base runners to advance as far as 2B Friday night.

            Tomas Nido led off the 8^th inning with a single dropped in just beyond the reach of a diving Gosuke Katoh.

There's been a lot to like about Nido's start to 2015 with Savannah

            Stefan Sabol flared a one-out single in the 9^th to move Luis Guillorme to 2B.

Pitcher Coverage

Casey Meisner

            Meisner looked very good facing this Charleston lineup for the 2^nd time in a week. His fastball ranged from 88-94 MPH throughout the start, although it dropped down to 86 for a pitch during the 6^th inning. He was working high in the zone with his heater, and mostly used a fastball/changeup combo the first time through the order. His changeup was coming in at 77-80 MPH, and he was throwing it to both lefties and righties. He started mixing in a slow curve (73-74 MPH) more as the start went on, and it was mostly an effective pitch for him, getting some pop outs and a few swinging strikes. Outside of the 4^th, he generally had good command of his pitches, but he’d randomly miss by a lot – a lot of those pitches were fastballs with too much arm side run. The Dogs scored their only run against Meisner in the 4^th thanks to the legs of Dustin Fowler. Fowler led off with a single, then stole 2B and ended up on 3B when Gnats catcher Tyler Moore’s throw skipped into CF, and then came home on a sac fly. After clearing the bases, Meisner would walk two of the next three batters before picking up his third K to end the frame – he’d throw 10 of 17 pitches out of the zone during that stretch. Overall it was a great start for Meisner, who lowered his ERA to 2.12, with a 24 K%: 9.8 BB% through 17 IP in the SAL. The only knock on his season so far is that his walks are up, but it’s early enough not to be too concerned, especially considering his track record of improving throughout the summer in a league. Considering his birthday is in late May, I wonder how long he’ll be a 20-year old in the SAL, as consistent starts like this will have him pushing his way into the St. Lucie rotation around mid-season.

Connor Spencer struck out swinging to end the 1^st inning.

Allen Valerio was caught looking leading off the 3^rd inning.

J.C. Rodriguez made a nice diving stop at 3B, and then used his gun to nail the runner at 1B to end the 3^rd.

Valerio would go down looking to end a long 4^th inning that resulted in the game’s only run.

Brandon Thomas was frozen on this third strike call leading off the 5^th.

Made it 2-1

Thomas didn't think it was strike 3

Gosuke Katoh was the last batter Meisner would face, and he went down swinging.

Bonus

77 MPH Changeup to Jorge Mateo

78 MPH Changeup

74 MPH Curveball

David Roseboom

            In comes the BOOM! Wow, Roseboom had the Charleston batters looking bad with his nice fastball/slider combo. He doesn’t throw that hard, topping out at about 91 MPH Friday, but this southpaw has been eating up SAL batters from the Gnats pen, with 12 K: 2 BB in his first 8.2 IP, and only 4 hits allowed. Also, he’s been a strike machine, throwing 77.5% of pitches for strikes over his last four appearances – the pitch data for his first two appearances doesn’t appear to be available.

Austin Aune was the first of 5 straight strikeout victims against Roseboom to start his night.

Valerio went down swinging for the second out of the 7^th inning.

Roseboom made it a perfect inning when he got Thomas swinging.

He kept the streak going against Abiatal Avelino to start the 8^th.

The last strikeout of the streak came against Jorge Mateo, who was the only batter to go down without a swing.

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