Eyewitness Report: 7/28/13 Greeneville 10 - Pulaski 1 - How A Pitchers Duel Turned Into A Blow Out

When you get to the game and the starters ERAs are 1.83 and 1.59 respectively, you settle in for a pitchers duel.  That is how the game played out for the first five innings.  But then Greeneville's bats exploded for 10 runs in their last three at bats to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 10-1 victory.  Here are more observations from the game.

On The Mound
Jandel Gustave only allowed one hit in six innings but he walked six batters.  The walks came in pairs, with two each in the first, third and fifth innings. He wasn't wild, just missing by little bits.  I had his pitch count at 75 with only 35 for strikes. Despite his control issues, he still fanned four batter and only allowed one of his walks to score.  He left after five innings down 1-0.

Chris Munnelly made his Greeneville debut pitching two innings of no hit, shut out ball. He struck out two hitters and walked one.  The only other runner reached on an error when the ball was knocked out of a glove on a tag play at first.  Munnelly's curve ball appeared to be his best pitch tonight.

Krishawn Holley closed out the game with an effective inning, allowing just one hit.

It was quite an outing from the pitching staff.

At The Plate
The Astros bats were kept in check for the first five innings.  Pulaski starter, Eddie Campbell, used effective location of multiple pitches.

In the first five innings, the Astros batters were 3 for 15 with one walk and five strike outs.
In the final three at bats, the G-Stros batters were 11 for 18 with three walks, four strike outs and 10 runs scored - all earned.

Chase McDonald reached base in each of his four plate appearances.  He had a single, a double, two walks, two RBI and two runs scored.

Brian Holberton hit his first HR at Pioneer Park; a two run blast in the sixth that gave Greeneville the lead 2-1.  He also singled and scored in the 8th.

Brett Phillips laid down one of the sweetest bunt hits I have seen for one of his two singles on the night.  Phillips pushed a bunt past the pitchers out stretched glove and no play at first was made.  He later scored two runs after reaching via a walk and single.

Three other G-Stros had two hits.  Tanner Mathis and Thomas Lindauer both produced a single and a double and Juan Santana had two singles.

Only Edwin Gomez didn't join the hit parade for Greeneville.  He went 0 for 4 with 4 Ks.  The part of that that concerned me was that he only saw 13 pitches on the night.  The first pitch he saw of the night was a ball, after that it was twelve straight strikes and four straight Ks.  Obviously something is wrong there.

In The Field
Mathis gets the Oscar for selling a sliding short hop grab as a catch in the second inning.  From my vantage point, it appeared the ball bounced into his glove.  The Pulaski manager and bench agreed with me.  But Mathis raised his glove high and the home plate ump signaled out.

Lindauer started a nice 6-4-3 double play in the fifth inning.  The ball was hit to his right.  He ranged over, grabbed the ball and threw across his body to start the double play.  Juan Santana made a nice quick turn to complete the twin killing.

The other nice play was made by McDonald at first on a high pop fly in foul territory.  He adjusted to the ball at the last minute making a lunge to his right to secure the ball to end the sixth inning.

The only error of the game was charged to McDonald.  He was playing in anticipating a bunt from the speedy Aaron Barbosa.  Barbosa didn't bunt.  He chopped a ball down the first baseline that McDonald had to retreat to retrieve.  When he did, Munnelly had not made it in time to cover first.  McDonald made an attempt to tag Barbosa before he reached the bag safely but the ball was knocked out of McDonalds glove during the attempt.  Heck of an effort but charged with the error none the less.

Overall
Nice team win for the G-Stros.  The pitching was very good, the offense produced late in the game and the defense was solid.  They end the series against a very good Pulaski team two games in front of the streaking Kingsport Mets.  They start a three game series against the Burlington Royals (17-19) tomorrow.

G-Stros Pitching Leads Way

The 2013 Greeneville Astros got off to a 1-5 start.  During that stretch, they allowed 40 runs. That is averaging giving up 6.67 runs per game.  In the 27 games since then, the G-Stros are 22-5 and have only given up 67 runs.  That is an average of 2.48 runs per game.  That is a dramatic difference and points to the strength of this edition of the Greeneville Astros.  Pitching.  Let's look closer at the team pitching stats.

Leading The League As A Team
Team ERA is 2.51, which leads the league by a comfortable half a run margin.

They are tied for the most shutouts with four.

The bullpen has the most saves with 14 and the most holds with 13.

They are second in the league allowing just 233 hits and tied for the fewest walks with 89.  But together, they lead the league with the lowest WHIP with 1.11.

They lead the league with 312 strikeouts.

They have allowed the second fewest HR with 9.

They have given up the second fewest runs with 107 but have given up the fewest earned runs with 81.

The only area they are not in first or second is in hit batters.  They have hit 17 batters which is the fifth most.

Individual Leaders
Despite leading the league as a team in ERA by a large margin, only Frederick Tiburcio is listed in the league leaders for ERA.  He is 2nd with a 1.09 ERA.

Only Chris Lee is in the top 10 for strike outs.  He is tied for 5th with 32 Ks.  Tiburcio is 11th with 30.

Gonzalo Sanudo and J.D. Osborne are tied for second in saves with six each.  Osborne has already been promoted.

Tyler Brunnemann is in second with three holds, while Krishawn Holley and Austin Chrismon are tied for third with two each.

There is no G-Stro in the top 22 for hits allowed!

Team Effort
The domination of the pitching staff with the relatively light representation on the individual leader board shows that this is definitely a team effort.  

Nine pitchers have more strike outs than innings pitched. 

Fourteen pitchers have a WHIP under 1.20.

Ten pitchers have an ERA below 3.00.

Jordan Mills highlights this team effort.  He has appeared in eight games with four of them being starts.  He has a hold and a save as well.  In 25 innings pitched, he has a 1.08 ERA, a 0.92 WHIP and 26 strikeouts.  Whatever he has been asked to do for this team he has done it and done it well.

Definitely a fun pitching staff to watch.