Gnats Gnotes

 

 

 

The Savannah Sand Gnats, SAL affiliate of the New York Mets, play game two of aseven-game home stand and a three-game series against the Delmarva Shorebirds, SAL affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. The Lakewood BlueClaws come to Savannah Saturday through Tuesday. The Gnats’ three-game winning streak is their second-longest of 2012 after a six-game winning streak April 13-18.

Last Night: Behind six shutout innings from Alex Panteliodis, the Gnats won their third straight game by a score of 7-1. CF Travis Taijeron connected for his seventh home run of 2012, keeping him in second in the SAL. C Albert Cordero, who was 1-for-1 with a walk, two sacrifice flies and three RBI doubles his season RBI total from three to six in a single game.

Now Pitching: RHP Domingo Tapia, making his fifth start of the year for the Savannah Sand Gnats tonight, will be looking to bounce back from his worst outing of the year. In his last start in West Virginia, he allowed eight runs, all earned on eight hits and a walk in 1.1 innings of work. Eight of the first nine batters reached base safely to begin the Power’s eight-run second inning. He faced just 13 batters total. Tapia made 11 starts for the Kingsport Mets in the Appalachian League in 2011, going 5-5 with a 3.78 ERA and 30 strikeouts against 16 walks in 50 innings. After an 8.44 ERA (15 ER/16 IP) last July he improved to a 1.13 ERA (3 ER/24 IP) in August. He July, opponents hit .356 off Tapia (26 H/73 AB), but that dropped to .198 in August (17 H/86 AB). He made one start for the Brooklyn Cyclones on September 2, throwing six shutout innings with six strikeouts, five hits and no walks. Tapia is widely regarded as one of the Mets top pitching prospects. Coming into 2012, Jon Mayo for MLB.com has him ranked as the #12 prospect in the Mets system. At ESPN.com, Keith Law tabbed him as the Mets “Sleeper Prospect” for 2012.

 

TJ’s Hot Start: Infielder TJ Rivera extended his personal hitting streak to eight straight games with a seventh-inning single last night. He already has a 13-game hitting streak to his credit to start the year and has hit safely in 23 of the 25 games he has played for the Gnat this year. He is third in the SAL in batting average at .380, second in hits (38) and on-base percentage (.466) and fourth in slugging percentage (.580). He is third in total bases (58). Rivera was recently named the SALPlayer of the Week.

Toasting Taijeron: Travis Taijeron - launched his seventh home run of the year last night, and his third in his last two games. He is second in the SAL in HR/AB with one homer every 12 AB.