Brandon Nimmo and Logan Taylor haven’t played a game in Grayson Stadium in over a month, but Tuesday night the Sand Gnat standouts were back in action helping lead Savannah to a 9-2 win over Lexington.
Nimmo, the highly touted first-round draft pick out of Cheyenne East High in Wyoming, came off the disabled list on May 28, but has been on the road since then. The center fielder started the season red hot for the Gnats but cooled off initially after his return.
He has been back in top form lately. Nimmo went 2 for 3 with two RBIs and drew a pair of walks to help key an offense that banged out 13 hits to overwhelm Lexington.
“When I came back (from hand and back injuries), I got right back in there. There wasn’t any light batting practice or anything like that,” Nimmo said. “I just needed to get back into the rhythm of the game. The day off yesterday helped, and I was feeling pretty good up there today.”
Taylor, a 6-foot-5 right-hander from Oklahoma, was called off the DL Tuesday and went right to work.
Taylor gave up a pair of runs in the first, but settled down after that — striking out five and walking one in 3 2/3 innings.
“Logan had an oblique injury, so it was nice to get him back out there,” Savannah manager Luis Rojas said. “He was a little anxious at first, but then he came back and pitched like the same old Logan, with good control.”
Taylor was on a strict pitch count and left after throwing 67 pitches with two out in the third and was not eligible for the win.
The Gnats’ bullpen was excellent.
Reliever Marco Camarena (2-0) picked up the win for the Gnats with 1 1/3 scoreless innings. Julian Hilario pitched two perfect innings, striking out three. Paul Sewald and Hunter Carnevale got the Gnats through the eighth and ninth innings, allowing one hit each.
Lexington struck first in the top of first when Ethan Chapman singled up the middle and took second when Nimmo bobbled the ball. Raul Mondesi, the son of the former Major League standout, pulled a ball down the right field line and showed off his speed by easily reaching third for a triple. Mondesi scored on a groundout.
Savannah sent 11 batters to the plate and scored six runs in the second inning. Kevin Plawecki led off with a single, Stefan Sabol walked and Eudy Pina singled to left to load the bases. Jeff Reynolds then hit a shot up the middle just past the glove of Mondesi at short to bring home a pair of runs. Later in the inning, Maikis De La Cruz and Jayce Boyd brought home runs with bases-loaded walks. Nimmo drove home another with an opposite field single to left. Plawecki took advantage of his second at bat of the inning with a sacrifice fly to right to give the Gnats a 6-2 lead.
Nimmo added an RBI single to right in the seventh.
Sabol lined a hooking shot that cleared the wall in left field for his fifth homer of the season for the Gnats in the seventh.
Pina followed with a single and Reynolds (2 for 4 with 2 RBIs) doubled down the left field line to move him to third. Yucary De La Cruz’s (3 for 4) RBI single brought Pina home to make it 9-2, although Reynolds was gunned down at the plate to end the inning.
The only negative in Rojas’ eyes was the Gnat defense, which committed five errors — including a pair on back to back plays by shortstop Phillip Evans. But the errors didn’t lead to any runs.
“We were a bit disappointed with our defense, but our pitchers showed a lot of heart and didn’t let it affect them on the mound. They kept attacking the hitters,” Rojas said. And I thought we had good tempo between from our defense to offense. We had a good approach at the plate and it led to a big inning.”
Lexington ab r h bi Savannah ab r h bi
Chapman lf 4 1 2 0 MDLCrz dh 4 1 1 1
Mondesi ss 3 1 1 1 Nimmo cf 3 0 2 2
Starling cf 4 0 1 1 Boyd 1b 4 0 1 1
Donato 1b 4 0 0 0 Plawecki c 3 1 1 1
Ford rf 4 0 0 0 Sabol lf 3 2 1 1
Antonio 3b 4 0 0 0 Pina rf 3 2 2 0
Diekroeger dh 4 0 1 0 Reynolds 3b 4 1 2 2
Arteaga 2b 3 0 0 0 Evans SS 4 0 0 0
Marquez c 4 0 0 0 YDLCrz 2b 4 2 3 1
Totals 34 2 5 2 Totals 32 9 13 9
Lexington 200 000 000 — 2
Savannah 060 001 20x — 9
E—Nimmo, Reynolds, Plawecki, Evans 2.
LOB—Lexington 8, Savannah 7. DP—Lexington 1. 2B-Reynolds. 3B-Mondesi. HR- Sabol (5). SAC—Mondesi. SF—Plawecki.
LEXINGTON IP H R ER BB SO
Stumph(L,3-4) 4 6 6 6 5 3
Williams, A. 3 7 3 3 0 5
Hall, C. 1 0 0 0 1 1
SAVANNAH IP H R ER BB SO
Taylor 3 2/3 2 2 2 1 5
Camarena(W, 2-0) 1 1/3 1 0 0 0 0
Hilario 2 0 0 0 0 3
Sewald 1 1 0 0 0 1
Carnevale 1 1 0 0 0 1
WP-A. Williams. HBP—Chapman (by Taylor), Plawecki (by A. Williams). T—2:36. A—836.