Savannah 2, Rome 1
The final game of the four game series between the Savannah Sand Gnats and the Rome Braves was played in front of 1,394 fans Sunday afternoon at Grayson Stadium. For the third game in a row, Savannah faced excellent pitching, but won in the 10th inning, 2-1.
Rome took a 1-0 lead in the 7th inning when catcher Chase Anselment hit a home run, against the wind, over the right field fence. Savannah tied the score in the 8th inning, when Brandon Nimmo singled, stole second and scored on a single by Kyle Johnson.
The Sand Gnats scored the winning run in the 10th inning. Leading off the inning, Phillip Evans singled and advanced to second on a single by Nimmo. Johnson was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Cole Frenzel hit a ground ball towards the shortstop for an infield hit.
Starting pitcher for Savannah, Luis Cessa, pitched six-and-two-thirds innings while allowing one run on seven hits and a walk. He struck out 3. Paul Sewald pitched two-and-a-third innings, gave up a hit, and struck out 3. Beck Wheeler, who picked up the win, pitched a 1-2-3 tenth inning.
Savannah plays the Hickory Crawdads Monday at 7:05 pm at Grayson Stadium.
Key Stats
Brandon Nimmo: 3-for-5, 1 R, 1 SB
Nelfi Zapata: 2-for-4
Eudy Pina: 2-for-4, 1 2B
Luis Cessa: 6.2 IP, 7 H, 1 HR, 1 BB, 1 ER, 3 K
Paul Sewald: 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 ER, 3 K
Beck Wheeler: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 ER, 1 K
Good to see Nimmo break out of his funk a little.
The boy (Nimmo) has more than 2x K’s to walks. Contact please.
Of course I’d love to see Nimmo cut his K% down. People also need to realize that Nimmo is very young for the SAL. He’s playing against players 2-3 years older than him, most of them with college experience. Nimmo didn’t even play high school baseball.
As worrisome as his strikeout rate may be, I’m encouraged by his walk rate. It shows that he has some idea at the plate, which may eventually lead his K% to trend down.
Inexperience granted, so let’s start out making contact before the high # of K’s that for example, Ike D. and Jason B. considered “normal” become the rule. All-Star Wright may be a bad role model, too.