Greenville, SC - One big inning doomed the Greenville Drive on Friday night at Fluor Field, as the Rome Braves used a six-run sixth inning to come away with a 10-6 victory in game two of the four-game series.
Greenville, SC - One big inning doomed the Greenville Drive on Friday night at Fluor Field, as the Rome Braves used a six-run sixth inning to come away with a 10-6 victory in game two of the four-game series.
The first six batters in the sixth reached base for the Braves (5-4). A Drive (3-6) error began the frame, and that was followed by five consecutive hits, only two of which left the infield. Garrison Schwartz lined an RBI single to right to score the first run, and Isranel Wilson followed with a bunt single for another run. Two batters later, Drew Waters smacked a two-run double that chased Hunter Haworth (0-1) from the game. Jefrey Ramos added a two-run single in the inning to cap Rome's scoring.
The Braves offense got going early as well. Waters began the evening with a triple off the wall in center field, and he scored on a groundout by Riley Delgado. They scored twice in the second on Schwartz's RBI double and another RBI hit from Waters to go up 3-0.
The Drive began trading runs with Rome in the bottom of the second. Everlouis Lozada began the inning with a single to right, and he came in when Juan Barriento grounded an RBI hit to right in his first at-bat with the club.
Kurt Hoekstra added a run for the Braves with a solo homer over the Green Monster in the top of the third.
Two more runs came home for Greenville in the bottom of the third as Rome starter Huascar Ynoa fought his control. Michael Osinski drew a bases loaded walk in the frame, and Marino Campana was hit by a pitch to plate another run.
Kervin Suarez was responsible for tying the game at four in the fourth. He drew a leadoff walk, swiped second, moved to third on a groundout and came in to score when a wild pitch bounced just a few feet away from home plate.
Following Rome's big inning, the Drive scored twice more in the seventh on an RBI groundout by Campana and another RBI single by Barriento.
Drew Harrington (1-0) got the win with three and one-third innings of relief for Rome. The Drive received three strong innings of work from Angel Padron out of the bullpen, as the southpaw allowed just one hit with four strikeouts.
Barriento went 2-4 with two RBI in his Greenville debut, and Pedro Castellanos went 2-5 with a pair of runs. Waters paced the Rome offense with three hits and three RBI, while Schwartz and Jean Carlos Encarnacion added two hits each.
The series continues on Saturday night with a 7:05 PM first pitch at Fluor Field. The Drive will send right-hander Nick Duron (0-1, 18.00) to the mound.
~Greenville Drive~
