Grasshoppers 13, Sand Gants 2

A five-run sixth and a four-run seventh helped the Greensboro Grasshoppers pull away from the Sand Gnats Wednesday afternoon en route to a, 13-2, win in the series finale at NewBridge Bank Park. Sean Ratliff did hit another home run for Savannah, his third in two days, to extend his hitting streak to 15 games.

Eric Beaulac (6-6) suffered his sixth loss of the year despite not allowing a earned run. The Sand Gnats committed four errors in the game that led to the four unearned runs to the starter Beaualc. He struck out three batters and allowed four hits in five innings of work.

Ratliff’s 13th homer of the year pulled the Sand Gnats within two in the sixth when he led off the inning with the blast off reliever Brandon Todd. Greensboro then went on to score nine unanswered runs off the Sand Gnats ‘pen. John Church allowed five runs on four hits in the sixth with the big blow being Kevin Mattison’s third home run of the series. In the seventh, Tim Smith allowed the first Sand Gnats grand slam of the season to catcher Torre Langley. It’s the first slam that Savannah has allowed since August 18, 2008 when Tyler Henson of the Delmarva Shorebirds hit one in Delmarva. Josh Satin had his hitting streak snapped at eight games as he was held hitless by Grasshoppers pitching. Brad Hand (5-11) worked five innings for his fifth win of the year for Greensboro (10-22, 47-55).