Charleston jumped out to a 3-1 lead after the first inning, but went hitless over the next six frames, as Savannah’s offense caught fire in a 7-4 win over the RiverDogs in front of 3,064 fans in South Atlantic League action at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park on Monday night.
With the victory Savannah wins three-straight for the first time since July 7-10 and improves to 19-26, 60-54 overall. With the loss the, Charleston finds themselves in a three-game skid for the first time since July 22-24 and falls back to .500 at 22-22, 53-60 overall.
Charleston drops to 4.5 games out of first place in the Southern Division standings with 26 games to play, and has now given up double-digit hits in four consecutive games for the second time this season, having previously done so from May 16-19 vs. Rome.
Savannah struck first, when Nick Santomauro’s RBI single scored Matt Den Dekker from third for a 1-0 lead. Santomauro increased his hitting streak to a career-best nine games in the process.
The RiverDogs bit back in a big way, topping their run total and tying their hit total from Sunday’s game in the bottom of the first. Rob Lyerly’s RBI single against John Church to right plated Kevin Mahoney from third, knotting the game up at 1-1. Mahoney doubled to reach base and moved to third on J.R. Murphy’s infield single. Luke Murton’s bloop single to left brought Murphy home from third to give Charleston a 2-1 lead.
The big inning continued with DeAngelo Mack’s RBI single that scored Lyerly from third, bringing the score to a 3-1 Charleston advantage going into the second inning.
Church (6-1) still hung on for the win after not allowing a hit or a run past the first inning. The Lake Wales, Fla. native finished the game surrendering five hits and three earned runs with a season-high seven punchouts in 5.0 innings of work.
After Juan Torres popped out to open the second, Jose Ramirez walked Jet Butler and gave up back-to-back singles to James Schroeder and Wilfredo Tovar to load the bases for Den Dekker.
With the bags full and Den Dekker at the plate, a wild pitch from Ramirez allowed Butler to come home from third, cutting the RiverDogs’ lead to 3-2 Charleston. Den Dekker’s RBI groundout plated Schroeder to square the game at 3-3 going into the bottom of the second.
The 3-3 stalwart lasted until the top of the fourth, when Tovar’s two-out single to center brought Torres home from second, giving Savannah a 4-3 lead going into the bottom of the fourth. Torres was beamed to open the frame and moved into scoring position on a passed ball.
Ramirez (6-5) takes the loss, his first since June 4, after giving up eight hits and a season-high five earned runs, with five strikeouts, in 5.1 innings on the mound.
Torres and Butler ripped off back-to-back doubles to open the sixth for Savannah, with Butler’s fourth two-base hit of the year scoring Torres to boost the Savannah lead to two runs, 5-3. Den Dekker knocked his first SAL double deep to the right field corner off reliever Jairo Heredia to bring Butler home from third to give the Sand Gnats a 6-3 lead going into the bottom of the sixth.
Cesar Puello scored after a Travis Ozga single to right in the seventh, upping the Savannah cushion to 7-3.
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