Triolo, Fraizer hit homers to lead Hoppers in win

GREENVILLE, S.C. ― Jared Triolo went 3-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs, and Matthew Fraizer hit his team-leading 18th home run, leading the Greensboro Grasshoppers to an 8-2 victory over the Greenville Drive at Fluor Field on Sunday afternoon.

Blake Sabol singled twice and drove in a run, extending his hitting streak to eight games. Sabol, who had homered in each of the previous three games, is 13-for-28 (.464) with three doubles, four home runs and seven RBIs during the hitting streak.

The Hoppers (44-28) have won 15 of their last 20 games, and they won four of six in their series at Greenville. Greensboro, which went 9-3 on this two-week road trip, gets Monday off and returns home to First National Bank Field for a six-game series against the Winston-Salem Dash beginning Tuesday night.

Right-hander Will Kobos (4-2, 2.48 ERA) picked up the win in relief Sunday, facing just one batter over the minimum and striking out three in two innings. Kobos has struck out 48 in 32 2/3 innings this season, and he has held opponents to a .137 batting average.

Tahnaj Thomas, a 22-year-old right-hander rated by MLB Pipeline as the No. 6 prospect in Pittsburgh's farm system, started the game and gave up two runs on four hits in 4 1/3 innings, striking out three. It was another encouraging start for Thomas, who didn't walk a batter for the second consecutive outing after struggling with his control (20 walks in 13 innings) in his previous five games.

Liover Peguero, a shortstop rated as the Pirates' No. 4 prospect, doubled and walked, and catcher Grant Koch went 2-for-5 with an RBI.

Aaron Shackelford, Will Matthiessen, and Andres Alvarez all had RBI hits for the Hoppers, who built a 3-0 lead and then scored five unanswered runs over the last three innings to pull away.

NOTES: Nick Gonzales, a second baseman rated as Pittsburgh's top prospect, went 0-for-2 and was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the fourth inning. Gonzales, who missed a month earlier this season with a broken finger, is 13-for-35 (.371) in his last nine games. ... Second-place Greensboro trails Bowling Green by 6 games in the High-A East's South Division standings. ... Fraizer has hit safely in 23 of his last 27 games, batting .327 (37-for-113) during that stretch. He leads the league in hits (87), runs (55) and batting average (.315), and he's second in home runs (18) and on-base percentage (.399). ... Triolo has hit safely in 16 of his last 19 games, going 29-for-79 (.367) and raising his season batting average to .293.