The Savannah Sand Gnats (19-12) dropped a wild game 12-11 in 15 innings to the Lakewood BlueClaws Sunday afternoon at FirstEnergy Park in Lakewood, NJ.
With one out in the fifteenth inning, Blueclaws DH Darin Ruf singled against Gnats reliever Michael Powers to put the winning run on. 3B Adam Buschini then hit a routine fly ball to right that Cesar Puello dropped to move Ruf up to second. RF Domingo Santana the made the second out, grounding into a fielder's choice to second, but Stephen Batts walked to load the bases and bring shortstop Jonathan Villar to the plate. Villar blooped a ball into shallow left-center that landed safely between SS Wilmer Flores, CF Juan Lagares and LF Nick Santomauro to drive home the winning run for Lakewood.
It was the first, and only Lakewood (17-14) lead Sunday.
Powers (0-2) allowed the unearned run in the fifteenth for his second loss. It was the second time in four games that Powers gave up an unearned run in extra innings in a tie game to take a tough loss. He gave up an unearned run in the bottom of the 11th inning in the Gnats 5-4 loss in Delmarva on Thursday. Jordan Ellis (2-1) pitched two scoreless innings on his second straight day of work for the win.
Neither starter lasted very long, putting a lot of pressure on each bullpen. Jarred Cosart made his second start for the BlueClaws since returning from the disabled list and was tagged for five runs over four innings. Darin Gorski had similar struggles for Savannah, allowing four runs on six hits in 3.1 innings.
With the Sand Gnats leading 2-1 after three innings, the two teams matched each other with seven runs in the fourth and fifth innings combined to leave Savannah up 9-8 after five. Savannah added an insurance run in the top of the eighth inning for a 10-8. However, the BlueClaws tied the game up at 10-10 with a two-run double off Gnats reliever John Church.
The Gnats took a 11-10 lead in the top of the 13th. Alonzo Harris doubled to center, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored when Lagares singled into right field. Harris was 4-7 with two doubles, his second game in a row with two doubles. Lagares was 5-7 with a double and four RBI. However, Lakewood tied the game at 11-11 in the bottom half to keep the game going.
The Gnats struck first in the top of the second inning. Jefry Marte launched a double deep to centerfield and then C Kai Gronauer followed by launching his second home run of the year over the right field wall to give Savannah a 2-0 lead. The BlueClaws got a run back in the bottom of the third on a leadoff home run from seldom used first baseman Aaron Batts to make the score 2-1.
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