Legends blank Drive 6-0; first win for Watson

    

Nolan Watson pitched five shutout innings and earned his first victory of his professional career as the Lexington Legends blanked the Greenville Drive 6-0 Thursday night in Greenville.   

Watson (1-4), a first round pick of the Kansas City Royals in 2015, allowed three hits, walked two batters and struck out four. Jake Kalish worked two and two-thirds innings and Nik Stephenson pitched the final one and one-third. The two relievers each allowed one hit.   

The Legends took the lead in the second inning when consecutive singles by Amalani Fukofuka, Ben Johnson and Xavier Fernandez produced a run. Fukofuka's hit extended his hitting streak to 11 games.  

Lexington added a run in the third on a single by Cody Jones, who stole second, went to third on a ground out and came home on a double by Samir Duenez.     

In the fourth, Johnson led off with a bunt single, stole second and scored on a double by Marten Gasparini, giving the Legends a 3-0 lead.               

A two-run double by D.J. Burt in the seventh inning made the score 5-0, and the Legends added a final run in the ninth on a double by Jones and a single by Duenez, who had three hits and two runs batted in.   

Greenville starter Anderson Espinoza (2-4) was the losing pitcher.

Game two of the four-game series will be played Friday night at 7:05 p.m.