Thursday July 29, 2010

Savannah, GA – Andy Reichard turned in one of his finest performances in an Augusta GreenJackets uniform as the Jackets claimed the opener of a four-game series with the Savannah Sand Gnats by a 4-1 score on Thursday night.

Reichard (2-0) has now thrown six innings or more in his last seven appearances and allowed just two hits in 6.2 shutout innings in his second win of the year. One of those hits was an infield single and the first putout by an outfielder wasn’t made until the sixth inning. Reichard retired the first 11 hitters of the game and was effective despite walking four. The righty fanned seven.

The Jackets claimed an early lead as Nick Liles and Ryan Cavan hit back-to-back singles to open the game. Luke Anders’ sacrifice fly scored Liles to give Augusta the early lead. They’d add to the lead in the fourth, sending eight hitters to the plate and scoring three times on four hits and a walk. Tommy Joseph’s two-run triple to the gap in right-center was the key blow. Two hitters later, Daniel Cook’s RBI single made it a four-run lead.

The Sand Gnats got an unearned run in the eighth on Travis Ozga’s RBI single and threatened to rally in the ninth. Juan Torres hit a leadoff single but was quickly wiped off the basepaths on a double play ball hit to Jose Casilla. After a two-out single, Casilla got Wilfredo Tovar to bounce out to short to end the game. Torres’ single provided the Sand Gnats with their only baserunner all night with fewer than two outs in an inning.