Long ball carries Catfish to victory

Two pitches did in Augusta GreenJackets starter Anthony Pannone on Monday night.

Columbus Catfish left fielder Ryan Carter ripped a fastball off the top of the first billboard just left of dead center field for a homer in the third inning. Designated hitter Chris Westervelt nailed a slider into the billboards in left center for a two-run home run in the fourth and the lead.

The homers helped the Catfish erase a two-run deficit, and they won the game 6-4 at Lake Olmstead Stadium.

"Our inability to establish the inside pitch was probably the main reason for the home runs, because they started leaning over the plate and yanking the ball a little bit," catcher Nick Conte said. "If you can't establish the inside corner they can do that without getting jammed."

Pannone (1-1) gave up four runs on three hits and struck out six in five innings.

"I went from dominating to OK," Pannone said.

The right-hander retired the first six batters he faced before Carter led off the third. Then he held the next four batters without a hit until Westervelt came up in the fourth.

Sergio Pedroza followed Westervelt's homer with a single, but that was the last hit Pannone gave up. The Catfish scored their final two runs on reliever Ben Thurmond in the eighth after a fielding error on left fielder Jon Armitage.

The GreenJackets had a few positive things happen at the plate, though. Shortstop Marcus Sanders recorded his first hit since returning from the disabled list Friday when he roped a double in the third.

Conte drove in two runs with his father, Stan - who is the head trainer for the San Francisco Giants - mother, Nancy, and sister, Alison, in attendance. And right fielder Brian Horwitz extended his hitting streak to 16 games with an eighth-inning single to right.

With the win, the Catfish (22-19) increased their lead over the GreenJackets (21-21) to 1½ games for second place in the South Atlantic League Southern Division.

Note: Center fielder Alex Requena, who had his appendix removed last week, and utility infielder Lisandro Disla were both put on the disabled list, while outfielder Mike Wagner was activated. The Giants promoted Johany Abreu to Augusta from short-season Salem-Keizer to replace Requena. Abreu was batting.189 in 22 games with Salem-Keizer.

Reach Kristy Shonka at (706) 823-3216 or kristy.shonka@augustachronicle.com.