The Savannah Sand Gnats exploded for 17 hits Thursday night, defeating the Lakewood Blue Claws 10-3 at FirstEnergy Park. Starter Robert Whalenearned his third win, striking out seven over five innings, while every Savannah batter recorded at least one base hit.
Before tonight’s game, Savannah (12-6) hadn’t outhit an opponent in eight consecutive games. The bus must have picked up some luck in Atlantic City, as the Sand Gnats racked up a season-high 17 hits.
The Gnats struck first, scoring a run in the third inning when designated hitter Matt Oberste singled, advanced twice on two wild pitches by Lakewood starter Drew Anderson, and then finally scored from third on a Patrick Biondi single.
Third baseman Jeff McNeil led off the fourth inning with a triple, his league-leading 12th extra-base hit, and then scored by way of an L.J. Mazzilli single. The Gnats tacked on two more runs via an RBI single by Oberste and then another by catcher Jeff Glen to take a 4-0 lead.
The BlueClaws (5-14) picked up two runs of their own in the bottom of the fourth. Right fielder Dylan Cozens scored on a Jan Hernandez ground-out and then designated hitterWilmer Oberto hit an RBI single to cut the lead to 4-2.
Gnats starter Robert Whalen (3-0, 1.93 ERA) allowed just four hits while striking out seven over five innings. The righthander gave up just two walks en route to becoming the Gnats’ first three-win starter. Left-handed reliever John Mincone took over to begin the sixth and worked two scoreless inning s to earn his first hold of the season.
For an encore, the Sand Gnats came back out in the seventh inning and scored another five runs. Left fielder Stefan Sabol smacked a three-RBI double off of reliever Shane Martin. Then, right fielder Victor Cruz deposited a ball over the right-field wall for a two-run home run, putting the Gnats in the driver seat, 9-2. Cruz finished the night 3-for-4 with a double, a home run, a walk, and two runs scored. Savannah hitters now sport a .303 average against Lakewood over four games.
Savannah reliever Dawrin Frias took care of the eighth inning, allowing no base runners while striking out two hitters. Then, for the first time this season, a Savannah pitcher allowed the ball to leave the yard when reliever Tim Peterson gave up a two-out solo home run to Oberto in the ninth. Petersen recovered to force catcher Gabriel Lino to fly out, ending the game. Team press release
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