Drive Defeat Braves 5-4 in Series Opener
Greenville, SC - The Greenville Drive got off to a flying start on Thursday night and held off a late Rome Braves rally to come away with a 5-4 victory in the opener of a four-game series at Fluor Field.
Three runs in the first two innings staked the Drive (15-17, 52-49) to an early lead. After a walk by Luis Alexander Basabe and a single by Josh Ockimey, Michael Chavis laced a double down the left-field line off Kolby Allard (0-3) to score a run, and Kyri Washington followed with a sacrifice fly.
Tate Matheny delivered a sacrifice fly of his own in the second inning to run the Drive lead to 3-0.
Roniel Raudes (9-3) held the Braves (16-16, 43-58) scoreless through the first five innings to get the win. He ran into a little trouble in the sixth, as Austin Riley and Justin Ellison struck for back-to-back homers to cut the lead to 3-2, and a single ended his night later in the inning, but Gerson Bautista stranded the runner.
The Drive answered those two runs quickly, courtesy of a Trenton Kemp two-run blast off the building beyond the Green Monster in left. The home run traveled 412 feet and was Kemp's 12th of the season.
Rome forged a comeback attempt in the late innings, as Luke Dykstra's RBI groundout in the seventh got a run back, and they loaded the bases against Jake Cosart with no outs in the ninth. Dykstra drove home a run with a one-out fielder's choice in the frame, but Cosart got Riley to fly out to end the game and earned his second save of the year.
Seven different Drive players collected one hit in the game, with Basabe's fifth-inning single extending his hitting streak to 14 games.
Friday's first pitch at Fluor Field is scheduled for 7:05 PM. The Drive will send right-hander Daniel Gonzalez (1-3, 5.17) to the mound, while the Braves will counter with right-hander Patrick Weigel (6-4, 2.83).