Rome 4, Savannah 3

Savannah’s silent bats finally woke up late Thursday night, but an eighth-inning rally wasn’t enough in a 4-3 loss to Rome that extended the Sand Gnats’ losing streak to four games.

The three runs scored in the loss were the most the Gnats have produced in any of their last seven games — they scored six in a win over Hickory on Aug. 8. Savannah has lost all four games by one run.

Rome starter Lucas Sims shut Savannah down in seven innings of work. Sims, a 19-year-old right-hander out of Lawrenceville, improved to 9-4 and lowered his ERA to 2.83 with a dominating performance. He struck out nine, walked two and allowed just one hit — a single to lead off the game by Gnat second baseman Jorge Rivero.

But the Gnats took advantage when Sims left the game. Trailing 4-0, the Gnats finally got their offense going against reliever Rafael Briceno in the eighth.

Stefan Sabol walked to lead off the inning and Albert Cordero singled. Brandon Nimmo loaded the bases with a two-out walk. Alex Wilson came in to relieve Briceno, and gave up a two-run single to Maikis De La Cruz and another run-scoring single to Cole Frenzel before striking out Eudy Pina to end the inning.

Wilson pitched a perfect ninth to earn his sixth save of the season.

Rome scored a pair off Savannah starter Julian Hilario in the first on an RBI double by Eric Garcia and a run-scoring single by Carlos Franco.

Rome added a run in the second on a double by Ronald Luna followed by an RBI single by Kyle Wren.

The Braves scored what proved to be an important insurance run in the sixth when Franco led off with a double to left and scored on a single from Joey Meneses.

Hilario was tagged with the loss, dropping his record to 7-5. He went 5 1/3 innings, while allowing eight hits and four earned runs.

Savannah relievers Tyler Vanderheiden and Beck Wheeler pitched well — combining for 2 2/3 scoreless innings.

The Sand Gnats (68-50 overall, 25-24 in the second half) open a series at Augusta tonight with a doubleheader. The first game starts at 5:35 p.m.

Key Stats

Maikis De La Cruz: 1-for-3, 1 BB, 2 RBI

Cole Frenzel: 1-for-4, 1 RBI

Julian Hilario: 5.1 IP, 8 H, 1 BB, 4 ER, 4 K

Tyler Vanderheiden: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 ER

Beck Wheeler: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K

(Team Report)