Savannah Sand-Gnats ace, Gabriel Ynoa, is set to take the mound on Thursday against the Hagerstown Suns at Grayson Stadium. In Ynoa’s last start, he threw 7.2 innings, gave up 7 hits, 2 ER, walked 1 and struck out 4 in a playoff victory over the Rome Braves on September 4.
After an impressive performance by Steven Matz to close out the series, the Gnats advanced to the SAL championship matchup. Since then the Sand Gnats dropped game one (6-1) and tied the series after winning game two (6-2) of their five game competition.
Now, with one of the most decisive games of the season on the line, the Gnats have chosen to send in Ynoa in hopes of securing game three. Prior to the playoffs, Ynoa was 15-4, amounting the most wins in the league. He pitched his way to a 2.72 ERA, good enough for fourth, and a WHIP of 1.02, good enough for second. Ynoa ended the season 5-0 in his last 6 starts with a 2.41 ERA, while allowing only one home run.
On Thursday, Ynoa will go up against the Hagerstown Suns and LHP Kylin Turnbull.
Turnbull is seeking his second playoff win of the year.
After a rough start to the season, Turnbull was sent down to the CAR on April 7 for only 5 starts. After being moved around quite a bit more, Turnbull finally settled down with the Suns on July 7. Since then, in 11 appearances, Trunbull has pitched his way to a 4-3 record, 2.90 ERA and allowed 4 home runs while walking 11. The recent stint raises his SAL stats to 6-5 with a 3.58 ERA, 1.361 WHIP with 10 home runs, 16 walks and 67 strike outs.
Ynoa has showed up ready to play all season. His stats speak for themselves that this kid has some serious talent. This year, he was announced the SAL Mid-Season All-star, as well as the SAL Most Outstanding Pitcher.
Win or lose, the Sand Gnats will send out Steven Matz on Friday, September 13th for what could be the final game of their season. I like where the Sand Gnats are right now. Ynoa is a stud and has all that it takes pitch yet another gem, and Matz certainly has the potential to close things out and wrap up the series.
This is the first time I paid attention to minor league ball, it’s been good and you guys have covered it well.
I’d love to see (read) Savannah win a championship. It would send a good message and, really, the Mets have a nice wave of good talent heading to A+ next year in Matz, Herra, Yona, Nimmo, Wheeler and others regardless of how the finishes.
Good all around and I’m looking forward to next year’s versions of the minor league affiliates.
Thanks for the nice comments, Vin. We’re glad you’re enjoying following the Mets Minors with us, and we’re certainly happy about a SAL Championship for the Gnats! We have a lot to look forward to next year.