Game #88 - Road Game #42 - Tuesday - 7:05
RHP Taylor Whitenton (4-1, 2.69) vs. LHP Alex Sogard (1-3, 4.40)
Whitaker Bank Ballpark, Lexington, KY
Radio: News/Talk 630 and sandgnats.com
Today: The first-half champion Gnats begin a seven-game road trip and a four-game series against the Lexington Legends, SAL affiliate of the Houston Astros. The Legends are the northernmost member of the SAL Southern Division. The Gnats are 7-0 on the road in the second half and 21-20 for the year. Savannah holds the best record in League at 52-35, half a game in front of the Hickory Crawdads (51-35), who won the first half title in the Northern Division.
Sunday: The Greensboro Grasshoppers scored twice in the top of the 9th inning off reliever Ronny Morla to defeat the Savannah Sand Gnats 3-1 and take three of four games in the series. Aderlin Rodriguez homered, his 10th of the year, to provide the Gnats’ run.
Now Pitching: RHP Taylor Whitenton, who is fifth in the SAL in ERA (2.69), is scheduled to make his 14th start of the year today. Whitenton leads the SAL in batting average against (.183), twenty points lower than West Virginia’s Colton Cain. Whitenton is tied for 9th in the SAL in strikeouts (81). In his last 28 innings over five starts, he owns a 0.96 ERA (3 ER/28 IP) with 16 walks, 21 strikeouts and 13 hits for an opponents’ batting average of .131 (13 H/99 AB). In 2010 with the Gnats, Whitenton walked 5.7 batters/9 IP (68 BB/108.1 IP). This year, he’s walked 4.3 BB/9 (35 BB/73.2 IP). Last year with Savannah, Whitenton was 8-9 with a 4.57 ERA in 18 starts and eight relief appearances with the Gnats. He fanned 113 batters and walked 68, the second-most in the SAL, in 108.1 innings. In 2009, Whitenton threw five scoreless innings over four games in the Gulf Coast League, striking out seven, walking five and yielding just one hit. The Mets drafted Whitenton in the 39th round of the 2009 draft out of Darton (GA) College. The Gnats are 9-4 when Whitenton starts and have supported him with 3.5 runs per game.
Forsythe Feeling It: C Blake Forsythe has hit in a personal-best six straight games. In his last eight games, he is 9-for-26 (.346) with three doubles, a triple, a home run and eight walks against five strikeouts for a .615 slugging percentage.
Vs Southpaws: The Gnats are scheduled to face two left-handed pitchers in the series against Lexington. Savannah is 18-6 against southpaws in 2011, 9-2 at home and 9-4 on the road.
Close Calls: Despite falling 3-1 on Sunday, the Gnats have been very successful in close games in 2011, going 33-16 in games decided by two runs or fewer, 31-15 at home and 7-10 on the road.
Walk This Way: The Gnats are tied for fifth in the SAL in walks drawn (297). As a result, despite a virtual tie with Augusta for the lowest batting average (.242), the Gnats are 12th in on-base percentage (.322). As a Mets’ affiliate, the Gnats have never finished higher than ninth in the SAL in walks, and were dead last in the then 16-team league in 2007 and 2008.
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