Gnats' Cuan dominates in ninth victory

A bunt single in the third inning may have irked Savannah starter Angel Cuan, since the Mets prospect hardly let any Lexington batters make contact the rest of the afternoon.

Cuan struck out five straight batters following the only hit he allowed over six innings en route to picking up his ninth win in Class A Savannah's 2-0 victory Tuesday.

The left-hander did not walk a batter and struck out nine, tying a season high for a Savannah pitcher. Adam Kolarek held the Legends off the scoreboard for the final three innings to pick up his fourth save.

Ben Orloff beat out a leadoff bunt in the third. But after Bryce Lane sacrificed him over to second, Cuan amped up his focus, striking out Emilio King and Delino DeShields to end the inning. Jay Austin, Telvin Nash and Ben Heath all went down swinging in the fourth.

Cuan, who ranks third in South Atlantic League wins, worked a perfect fifth and sixth frames, catching DeShields looking to finish his ninth outing.

A New York-Penn League All-Star with Brooklyn last summer, Cuan has worked six innings in six straight starts for the Sand Gnats. He's 9-1 with a 3.02 ERA in 27 starts this year, including 5-0 with a 2.93 mark in his last 10 games.

The Gnats finally put their starter in line for the win in the sixth when Alonzo Harris hit a run-scoring triple and Rafael Fernandez followed with a two-out RBI single.

Astros farmhand Ruben Alaniz was charged with two runs on three hits over six frames to suffer his ninth loss.