Sand Gnats Bats Quiet In Postseason Opener Against Asehville

Savannah Sand Gnats @ Asheville Tourists

September 9, 2015

Martires Arias @ Jesus Tinoco

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

W: Tinoco; L: Arias

MiLB.com Boxscore

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.

2015 Monday Morning Mets Minors Players of the Week

Image from MetsMerized

July 27-August 2, 2015

            Keeping track of the hottest minor leaguers in the Mets farm system, I will be rotating through the lower level teams covered here.

Hitter of the Week: Gavin Cecchini continues to rake as a 21-year old in AA, and he’s been making good plays at shortstop all season. Also, I had him as the Mets minor league batter of the month for July.

Starting Pitcher of the Week: Martires Arias was in control during both starts for Savannah last week, needing just 73 pitches for 6 scoreless in his first start, and then just 70 over 6 innings Sunday.

Relief Pitcher of the Week: Witt Haggard struck out 9 of 12 batters faced last week.

Team of the Week: The Sand Gnats were not effected by promotions or trades this past week, and they were perfect until Sunday.

Previous weeks: 4/9-19, 4/20-26, 4/27-5/3, 5/4-10, 5/11-17, 5/18-24, 5/25-31, 6/1-7, 6/8-14, 6/15-21, 6/22-28, 6/29-7/5, 7/6-12, 7/13-19, 7/20-26

Sand Gnats Lose On A 9th Inning Walkoff

Savannah Sand Gnats @ Lexington Legends

July 8, 2015

Martires Arias @ Scott Blewett

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

W: Beal (2-1, 1.91 ERA); L: Duff (2-2, 2.95 ERA)

MiLB.com Boxscore

The Highlights:

Pitchers

Martires Arias (3.08 ERA) – 6 IP, 4 H, R, 3 BB, 3 SO, 10 GO: 1 FO

Paul Paez (2.10 ERA) – 2 IP, H, SO, 4 GO

Jimmy Duff – 0.2 IP, 2 H, R, BB, 2 SO

Batters

Luis Guillorme – 2-3, 2B (7), SO, CS/PO

Eudor Garcia – 1-4, SO

John Mora – 1-4, R

Jean Rodriguez – 1-4

Recap

            The Sand Gnats lost a close game in the opener of their 6-game series against the Legends Wednesday night, as they just couldn’t get any offense going. This was originally supposed to be a 5-game series, but the two teams were unable to make a rainout earlier in the season, so we get an extra game on MiLB.tv. The Sand Gnats had one of their few chances to score when the first two reached in the 1^st inning, but the next three Savannah batters would be retired in order to end any threat. Lexington was able to capitalize on their 1^st inning scoring opportunity, taking a 1-0 lead that would last until the 7^th inning. Arias would end up having a great start over his 6 innings, and then Paul Paez was the first out of the pen with two scoreless innings. Savannah had their chance to take a lead in the 9^th, getting Eudor Garcia to 3B in the frame, but they were once again unable to capitalize. James Duff came out of the Savannah pen for the 9^th inning and started off great, striking out the first two batters before the trouble started. He’d allow a two out walk in the inning, and the DonAndre Clark reached on an infield single to 2B – it was a bang-bang play at 1B, but it looked like he was safe. Luis Valenzuela followed with the walk off hit for Lexington, lining a single into the LF corner to bring home the winning run from 2B.

            This series continues with a double-header scheduled to start at 5:05 PM Thursday evening. The Sand Gnats are scheduled to send Scarlyn Reyes to the mound for game one, and Michael Gibbons (who is currently listed on the Brooklyn roster) for game two.

Mets Minors MiLB.tv Series Preview: Savannah Sand Gnats @ Rome Braves

Dates: May 21-24, 2015

Current Record: 16-22, Last, 6.5 Games behind Greenville

Probables

All times are EST

More guesses than certainties at time of posting

Thursday at 7:00 PM

Casey Meisner (2-1, 2.31 ERA, 3.36 FIP, 21.5 K%: 6.3 BB%, 0.51 HR9/)

@ Alec Grosser (2-1, 5.35 ERA, 4.99 FIP, 11.3 K%: 12 BB%, 0.27 HR/9)

Friday at 5:00 PM

Game One

Josh Prevost (1-4, 4.74 ERA, 2.71 FIP, 18 K%: 4.4 BB%, 0 HR/9)

@ Chad Sobotka (1-1, 5.06 ERA, 3.54 FIP, 14.3 K%: 8.2 BB%, 0 HR/9)

Game Two

Martires Arias (2-2, 2.87 ERA, 3.31 FIP, 19.6 K%: 5.2 BB%, 0.24 HR/9)

@ Seth Webster (0-1, 10.80 ERA, 4.45 FIP, 30.4 K%: 8.7 BB%, 1.8 HR/9)

Saturday at 6:00 PM

Scarlyn Reyes (3-3, 3.56 ERA, 3.28 FIP, 16.3 K%: 7.4 BB%, 0 HR/9)

@ Caleb Beech (3-2, 2.57 ERA, 3.70 FIP, 15.1 K%: 7.6 BB%, 0.32 HR/9)

Sunday at 2:00 PM

Corey Oswalt (3-0, 4.46 ERA, 2.87 FIP, 21.6 K%: 4.2 BB%, 0.47 HR/9)

@ Max Povse (1-1, 2.19 ERA, 3.20 FIP, 21.1 KR: 7.4 BB%, 0.36 HR/9)

Last series for Savannah Sand Gnats

Swept Augusta at home: W 4-3, W 4-0, W 2-0

Top prospects for the Atlanta Braves with Rome

Organizational rankings are from the 2015 Baseball America Prospect Handbook

Arias In Control in Charleston

Savannah Sand Gnats @ Charleston River Dogs

April 26, 2015

Martires Arias @ Home

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

W: Arias (2-0, 2.12 ERA); L: Kamplain (1-2, 3.58 ERA); Save: Bay (1, 1.80 ERA)

MiLB.com Boxscore

The Highlights:

Pitchers

Martires Arias – 7 IP, 4 H, 5 SO, 2 HBP, 91 Pitches (62 Strikes)

Cameron Griffin (H, 2, 6.00 ERA) – 1 IP, H, 2 R, BB, 1 FO

Shane Bay – 1 IP, H, SO, 1 GO: 1 FO

Batters

John Mora – 1-4, 2B (2), RBI (9), 2 SO

Wuilmer Becerra – 1-4, 2 SO

Stefan Sabol – 1-3, R, 2B (5), BB, SO

Jon Leroux – 1-4, R, HR (1), 2 RBI (11)

Tomas Nido – 1-4, R, 2B (4)

Vicente Lupo – 1-4, SO

Pedro Perez – 2-4, R, 2 2B (4), RBI (2), SO

Recap

            Martires Arias was in control from the start, and the Sand Gnats bats provided enough punch to hold off Charleston in the series final Sunday evening. Of the 4 hits Arias allowed, three were doubles, although Dustin Fowler was eliminated trying to stretch his first double into a triple. Still, despite getting a few runners to 3B against Arias over the first 6 innings, it never seemed like Arias was in trouble. That change when the first three batters reached in the 7^th, loading the bases with the 6-7-8 batters due up. Arias would recover by striking out Austin Aune, who had doubled off of him in the 5^th, and then getting a groundball to second baseman Jonathan Johnson to start an inning ending 4-3 double play. The River Dogs finally broke through for 2 runs against Cameron Griffin in the 8^th, but Shane Bay came in and shut the door with a strong 9^th. Pedro Perez had a big day for the Gnats, but no one else in the lineup had more than one hit, which made runs harder to come by. But they would be aided by five extra base hits in the game, which you can check out in the highlights below.

Scoring Highlights

Gnats Win Rain Shortened Opener in Rome

Savannah Sand Gnats @ Rome Braves

April 13, 2015

Martires Arias @ Chad Sobotka

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

W: Arias (1-0, 3.60 ERA); L: Sobotka (0-1, 11.25 ERA)

MiLB.com Boxscore

The Highlights:

Pitchers

Martires Arias – 5 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 4 BB, 6 SO, 74 Pitches (44 Strikes), 4 GO: 2 FO

Batters

John Mora – 1-3, R, SO

Luis Guillorme – 1-2, R, SAC

Wuilmer Becerra – 1-2, 2 R, GIDP

Jon Leroux – 2-2, R, 2B (1), 3 RBI (4), BB

Tomas Nido – 2-3, 2B (2), 2 RBI (3)

Pedro Perez – 1-2, 2B (1)

Recap:

            In the opener of a three game series in Rome, the Sand Gnats came away with a rain-shortened victory that Mother Nature nearly robbed them of. After trading leads over the first 3 innings, the Gnats would add three runs in the top of the 5^th as the rain started. As the top half of the 5^th ended, the rain had intensified to the point that it was clear a delay was coming, but the umpire were set on making this game official – as were the Gnats. After a long 26-pitch 2^nd inning during which Martires Arias could barely find the strike zone, Arias would need only 17 pitches combined to work through the 3^rd and 4^th innings unscathed, which definitely helped them complete 5 innings to beat the rain. Aside from his brief bout of wildness in the 2^nd, the tall (6’7”) and lanky Arias looked very good against the Braves – a 24-year old is expected to look good in the SAL, but his stuff was pretty electric (see below for more). The Sand Gnats finish their first turn through the rotation Tuesday night at 7 PM, as Scarlyn Reyes makes his 2015 and Savannah debut in game 2 of the series. Reyes (23), another late bloomer, was mostly a starter for the Brooklyn Cyclones in 2014, where he had great season – 2.39 ERA/2.89 FIP over 49 IP with 23.9 K%: 8.6 BB% and only 1 homerun allowed.

Scoring Highlights