Savannah hits five homers, gets past Lexington in 12, 10-9

The Savannah Sand Gnats hit five home runs, but the winning run scored on a wild pitch in the 12th inning as the Sand Gnats edged the Lexington Legends 10-9 Monday at Whitaker Bank Ballpark.

Travis Taijeron hit a three-run homer in the first inning and a two-run shot in the second for Savannah.  The Sand Gnats also got solo homers by Cam Maron in the second inning and Brian Harrison in the third to build a 7-1 lead.

The Legends, who scored a run in the first inning on doubles by Delino DeShields, Jr. and Zach Johnson, came back with four runs in the bottom of the third.  Singles by John Hinson, Johnson and Matt Duffy loaded the bases.  Drew Muren’s sacrifice fly brought in one run, and Mike Kvasnicka followed with his first home run of the year to close the gap to two at 7-5.

T.J.  Rivera’s home run in the top of the fourth gave Savannah an 8-5 lead, and the Sand Gnats added another run in the fifth when Tillman Pugh singled, stole second and third, and came home on Brandon Brown’s base hit.

Matt Duffy’s solo homer in the bottom of the fifth left the score at 9-6.    Lexington relievers Carlos Quevedo, who entered the game in the sixth inning, and Jason Chowning each pitched three scoreless innings as the Legends bounced back again.

In the bottom of the eighth, singles by Kvasnicka and Chris Epps put runners at first and second with one out.  Jimmy Howick grounded into a force play at second, but second baseman Brandon Brown’s throw to first was wide for an error, allowing Kvasnicka to score and Howick to go to second.  Howick scored on a single by John Hinson to cut the lead to one at 9-8.

The Legends tied it in the ninth when Muren doubled, went to third on a single by Kvasnicka and scored on a sacrifice fly by Jordan Scott.

In the top of the 12th, Taijeron doubled with one out and advanced to third when Aderlin Rodriguez grounded out.   With Gregory Pron at the plate, a wild pitch by Dayan Diaz allowed Taijeron to score the tie-breaking run.  

Jeffrey Walters (1-0) who entered the game in the 11th inning , got the win.  Diaz (4-1) was the losing pitcher.

DeShields  stole three bases for the Legends, and has a South Atlantic League-leading total of 16 for the season.


Attendance 5,609
Box score at http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=t495&t=g_box&gid=2012_04_30_savafx_lexafx_1