Gnats Game Notes: Saturday, July 17 vs. Greenville - 6:05 pm

from press release:
Savannah Sand Gnats  vs. Greenville Drive 

Game #93 - Home Game #48 - Saturday – 6:05

RHP Armando Rodriguez (5-5, 3.03) vs. RHP Kendal Volz (5-3, 4.11)

Historic Grayson Stadium, Savannah, GA

Radio: WBMQ News/Talk 630, http://www.sandgnats.com/


Tonight: The first-half champion Gnats look to make it three wins in a row in game four of their five-game series against the Greenville Drive, the Boston Red Sox SAL affiliate.



Last Night: No-hit through four innings, and trailing 3-0, Savannah 1B Travis Ozga’s leadoff single ignited a five-run rally in the fifth inning. Savannah added four more runs in the sixth inning to run away with a 9-3 victory. All nine of Savannah’s hits and all nine of the team’s runs came in the fifth and sixth innings.



Now Pitching: Armando Rodriguez is scheduled to make his team-leading 19th start for Savannah. Since May 1, Rodriguez is 4-2 with a 2.62 ERA (20 ER/68.2 IP) and has allowed opponents to hit just .199 (50 H/251 AB). For the year, Rodriguez’s opponents’ batting average of .210 is the second-best in the SAL. In his last start, Rodriguez held Asheville to three runs, two earned, in five innings in a game Savannah won 5-3. The Gnats are 10-8 when Rodriguez throws and have supported him with 4.78 runs per game, tied for the fourth-most among the eight pitchers who have started for Savannah in 2010. With Kingsport a year ago, he was 3-1 with a 2.96 ERA with 36 strikeouts and 20 walks in 45.2 innings. Promoted to Savannah on August 27th, he finished the year with a dominant three-start performance in which he allowed just five hits in 16.2 innings and struck out 24. The Mets signed Rodriguez as a non-drafted free agent June 6, 2007.



Cesar Puello was 1-4 with an RBI last night and has now hit safely in six straight games - a span in which he’s hitting .304 (7-23). At the conclusion of May, Puello was hitting .234/.316/.280 (AVG/OBP/SLG) with eight doubles in 47 games. Since June 1, he is hitting .300/.395/.369 with nine doubles in 37 games. In April and May, he struck out in 21% of his plate appearances, a rate that has dropped to 15% in June and July.

 Wilfredo Tovar was 2-4 with a double last night, the fourth time in the last five games he’s had two hits in a contest. In those five games, he’s hitting .400 (8 H/20 AB) and overall, he’s hitting .355/.410/.447 for Savannah with seven doubles and six walks and six strikeouts in 22 games. Honor Roll.