Oxford’s Choccolocco Monsters ‘Left’ Out

Oxford, AL – 

Gwinnett Astros legion of lefties shut out Choccolocco Monsters for third time this season; Monsters still looking for first win at home

By Al Muskewitz

For the Choccolocco Monsters, when it comes to playing the Gwinnett Astros it’s a feast or famine proposition.

The Monsters have had some of their biggest offensive nights against the ‘Stros, but they’ve had some of their weakest, too.

The Monsters have been shut out four times in 16 games this season, three by the Astros, including Saturday night’s 5-0 blanking at Choccolocco Park.

The Monsters have beaten the Astros 7-6 and 12-6 this season and lost a 10-9 slugfest to them Friday night. But they’ve also lost to them 11-0 (no-hitter), 10-0 and, now, 5-0. They also were blanked by the Columbus Chatt-a-Hoots in their franchise opener 10-0.

“It’s our approach to facing left-handers, because they’re solid,” Monsters manager Steve Gillispie said. “They’re not C.C. Sabathia, but they’re solid.

“We talked about it. They’ve had five guys who have started games for them and four of them were left-handed. The one right-hander, we about run-ruled them, and weren’t going to see him. We were going to see left-handers and we needed to have that approach. There were some guys who did, but we didn’t sustain it as a team.”

When facing the Astros, you’d better be sharp against lefties. The ‘Stros have seven on their pitching staff – 25 percent of all the southpaws in the league and three more than the other two teams in their West Division combined – plus each of the first four hitters in their lineup Saturday were left-handers. Their legion of lefties has an ERA of 3.52. Their overall team ERA is a middle-of-the-pack 4.50.

Tyler Clayton, Saturday’s southpaw starter, threw six shutout innings, giving up six hits and striking out six for his first win of the season, dropping his season ERA to 0.86. He has given up only two earned runs in 21 innings this season.

Hard-throwing lefty Jeffrey Coy Martin struck out the side in the ninth after the Monsters put their first two hitters on against Luke Motter, the only right-hander of the four pitchers the Astros used.

Six of the eight pitchers the Monsters faced in Gwinnett’s three shutouts were left-handers. Of the 10 different arms they faced in the other three games, four were right-handers.

“We’re very heavy left-handed pitching and I will go with that until the end,” Astros manager Karl Garcia said. “It seems to work with these guys, at least the starters. We’ve got very good left-handed pitching and we give ourselves a chance in the later innings.

“When you play them a lot, we really take notes on who they are and so we pitch them that way. If you give us enough chances we’re going to figure you out, so we’ve got a game plan. That’s the unfortunate side of it: We get to see you a lot to figure you out so that’s why they get the lefties all the time.”

The Monsters outhit the Astros 7-5 and threatened in several innings, but just couldn’t get the timely hit when they needed it. They were 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

“We weren’t disciplined with our strike zone and we weren’t committed to handling their left-handers,” Gillispie said.

“Lefty pitchers are different type pitchers,” Monsters extra hitter Nate Shipley said. “We struggle with lefty pitchers no matter what.”

The Astros broke a scoreless tie in the third inning, reaching Monsters starter Garrett Telaga for three runs with only one hit – a leadoff single by Jacob Harper. One run scored on a bases-loaded hit batsman, another on a fielder’s choice and another on a double steal.

Back-to-back doubles by Elgin Bennett and Preston Welchel extended the lead to 4-1 in the fifth. The Astros’ final run scored on an RBI ground out by Braxton Meguiar in the seventh.

“It was one inning that got away from us,” Gillispie said.

The win kept the Astros within a half-game of the West-leading Columbus Chatt-a-Hoots, who came from behind to win a late-starting game, and dropped the Monsters three games out of first with 12 games to play. The Monsters have still not won a game at home. The Astros were in a tie for the lead as they drove back to Lawrenceville.

“It’s very neat, and that’s the goal,” Garcia said. “From day one we’re worried about our division, not everybody else. Now, after 10 games, you kind of figure out who can do what and who can play where at a high level, and that’s the key. We’re worried about our division and now we’re kind of getting our cohesiveness happening.”

MONSTERS MASH: In an effort to “maybe change the energy” and “help the baseball savvy,” manager Steve Gillispie coached tonight’s game from the third-base box. Dalton Cobb will come into the dugout to engage with players and DeWayne Crowder will work at first. Gillispie would coach from third during his days at Youngstown State when he had assistants out recruiting, but the last time he did it regularly was 2012 as an assistant at Jacksonville State … Monsters pitchers have issued a league-leading 93 walks this season; 34 of those runners have scored. They’ve issued 111 walks and HBPs; 43 of those runners have scored … The Monsters have still not won at home.  [*** read more sport’s stories]

Gwinnett             003 010 100 – 5 5 0
Choccolocco       000 000 000 – 0 7 3
WP: Tyler Clayton (1-0). LP: Garrett Telaga (0-2). 2B: Elgin Bennett (G), Preston Welchel (G).

Sunbelt Baseball League standings

Saturday’s Games
Atlanta Crackers 8, Waleska 5
Columbus 5, Brookhaven 3
Gainesville 4, Alpharetta 3
Gwinnett 5, Choccolocco 0

Tuesday’s Games
Alpharetta at Brookhaven, 5:35 p.m.
Atlanta Blues at Gainesville, 5:35 p.m.
Columbus at Atlanta Crackers, 6:05 p.m.
Waleska at Gwinnett, 6:05 p.m.

Wednesday’s Games
Atlanta Crackers at Gwinnett, 6:05 p.m.
Brookhaven at Alpharetta, 6:05 p.m.
Choccolocco at Waleska, 6:05 p.m.
Gainesville at Atlanta Blues, 6:05 p.m.

Friday’s Games
Brookhaven at Gainesville, 5:35 p.m.
Gwinnett at Atlanta Blues, 6:05 p.m.
Waleska at Atlanta Crackers, 6:05 p.m.
Columbus at Choccolocco, 7:05 p.m.

Saturday’s Games
Gwinnett at Atlanta Crackers, 1:05 p.m.
Gainesville at Brookhaven, 5:35 p.m.
Alpharetta at Waleska, 6:05 p.m.
Choccolocco at Columbus, 6:05 p.m.