Sand Gnats Game Notes

Tonight: The Gnats, SAL affiliate of the New York Mets, play game two of their four-game series against the Rome Braves, SAL affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. The Gnats have won four of their last five games and nine of their last 13.






Last Night: The Gnats used a four-run first inning and seven strong innings from starter Erik Goeddel to beat the Rome Braves 5-1. Two extra-base hits plated all four runs in the first, a two-run double from RF Cory Vaughn and a two-run homer from DH Aderlin Rodriguez.



Now Pitching: RHP Gonzalez Germen is scheduled to make his seventh appearance and his fifth start tonight. Germen shutout the Hickory Crawdads for seven innings with two walks and seven strikeouts in his last start. In his last two starts since the end of the piggy-back starter program, Germen has given up two runs on 10 hits and four walks while striking out 13 in 12 innings. Germen spent most of the 2010 season with Kingsport in the Appalachian League where he was 2-5 with a 3.69 ERA in 61 innings over 10 starts. He struck out 54 and walked 11 for a healthy K/BB ratio of 4.9. He made two starts with Savannah to finish out the year. On August 27th, in his Savannah debut, in game two of a double-header, he took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and a shutout into the seventh. The Gnats are 0-3 when Germen starts and have supported him with 2.33 runs per game, the lowest mark among any starter who has made three or more starts.



Vicious Vaughn: Cory Vaughn leads the SAL in on-base percentage (.472) and is 12th in batting average (.336) and 11th OPS (.912).



Pitching to the Top of the Charts: The Gnats lead the SAL in ERA (3.27) and WHIP (1.26). The Gnats’ 278 strikeouts are fourth most, and their 101 walks are tied for the fourth fewest in the League. The Gnats have not allowed more than two runs in any of their last nine wins and seven times in their last 13 games have held their opponents to one run.



May I Have Another: Twelve games into May, the Gnats have already equaled their April win total. Savannah is 8-4 in May after going 8-14 in April. After a 4.64 ERA in April, Savannah pitchers have a miniscule 0.89 ERA in May.



Aderlin Road-riguez: Aderlin Rodriguez hit his sixth home run of the year last night and his fifth on the road. In 17 games on the road, he’s collected eight extra-base hits, compared to just four extra-base knocks in 16 games at home. He’s slugging .470 on the road compared to .308 at home with an isolated slugging percentage (SLG-AVG) of .273 on the road and 0.93 at home.



Strong Starting: In their last 14 games, Savannah starters are 7-1 with a 1.01 ERA (9 ER/80 IP) with 63 strikeouts, 19 walks and 58 hits allowed. In those 14 games, Gnats starters have a strikeout to walk ratio of 3.32 and have given up as many as two runs just twice. Seven times Gnats starters have held their opponents without a run and five times they have held their opponent to one run.