Drive Fall to Braves in Road Finale

Rome, GA - The Greenville Drive bats went silent in the final road game of the regular season on Thursday, as the Rome Braves held them to just two hits in a 5-1 victory.
The Drive (36-30, 61-74) collected their only hits of the night in the top of the sixth inning. Charlie Madden hit a one-out ground rule double to right field, and he came home when Jarren Duran singled to left two batters later.
Rome (29-34, 69-63) scored single runs in each of the first three innings off Eduard Bazardo (1-2). Justin Dean led off the bottom of the first with a triple to center field, and AJ Graffanino followed with a sacrifice fly to get the scoring started.
A Braves runner came in to score on a wild pitch on a strikeout in the second inning, and a third inning solo homer by Jefrey Ramos pushed the lead to 3-0.
After Duran's RBI single in the top of the sixth, the Braves answered in the next half on Derian Cruz's RBI double, and Brendan Venter lifted a sacrifice fly in the eighth for an insurance run.
Freddy Tarnok (5-5) allowed just the two hits and one run in five and two-third innings to get the win, and Zach Daniels logged his first save with two scoreless innings to finish the game.
The Drive now sit three games behind the Lexington Legends in the Southern Division second half standings with four games left to play, meaning the Drive must sweep the Legends this weekend at Fluor Field to return to the South Atlantic League postseason.

First pitch for Friday's series opener at Fluor Field is at 7:05 PM, and the Drive will send left-hander Angel Padron (6-6, 3.87) to the mound.
~Greenville Drive~