Miller’s two-run blast helps Drive edge Tourists, 3-2 in Friday thriller

It was rare for a pitcher’s duel to take place at historic McCormick Field, but that’s just what the Greenville Drive (10-15) and Asheville Tourists (10-14) delivered on Friday night as the Drive ultimately took the low-scoring thriller 3-2, thanks to a two-run homer from Tyler Miller in the seventh.

Greenville’s Luis Perales, Bryce Bonnin, and Nathan Landry held the Tourists lineup scoreless through 7.1 innings before a sac-fly to deep center off the bat of Tyler Whitaker broke the scoring drought for Asheville in the bottom of the eighth.

The Tourists nearly knotted the game on an Austin Deming single to right field two batters later with the bases loaded. Collin Price scored easily but the Drive’s Eduardo Lopez came up with the throw of the game as his seed to catcher Enderso Lira was on-point and on-time to snag the speeding Cam Fisher at the plate to end the inning and preserve the Drive’s 3-2 lead.

Reliever Zach Fogell, the benefactor of Lopez’s heroics in the eighth, put Ashevill away in-order in the ninth, earning his first save of the season. He’d allow just one hit and walk while striking out one.

Kristian Campbell continued his hot streak for the Drive, knocking an RBI-double back in the fourth, following up a Luis Ravelo double to lead off the inning. Campbell extended his hit streak to four games.

Prior to Campbell’s knock, pitching was the name of the game on Friday. Perales followed up his seven-strikeout performance in last week’s start with another seven-strikeout effort. He’d go 4.0 shutout- innings overall, allowing three hits while walking two.

On the flipside, Campbell’s and Ravelo’s doubles would account for two of the just three hits that Asheville starter James Hicks allowed. He’d ring up four in his High-A debut. Bonnin continued his stellar ways on the mound, extending his hitless and scoreless streak to five games. He tossed two innings for the Drive, ringing up one in back-to-back three-up, three-down innings. He and Perales combined to hold Asheville to just three hits through six-innings. Perales’ best work came in the fourth as he loaded the bases with two outs. He’d pick up a crucial strikeout to end the inning.

Manuel Urias did his job to keep the Tourists in it, stifling the Drive lineup with nine strikeouts, ringing just over half of the batters he faced. A Lopez walk ended his streak of five straight strikeouts, setting up the Miller home run.

Landry’s outing would be the toughest of the night for the Drive. After a 1-2-3 seventh, he allowed a Luis Baez single before loading the bases with two-straight walks. Fogell took over for Landry, giving up the two Tourists’ runs before shutting the door in the ninth.

The Greenville Drive return to action tomorrow at 6:05 p.m. at McCormick Field in Asheville for the penultimate game of the six-game series. The Drive have earned at least a series split with the Tourists and currently lead the series, 3-1.