Tourists blast Drive, 13-1

A night after a 3-2 pitcher’s duel went the Greenville Drive’s (10-16) way, Saturday would be anything but, as the Asheville Tourists (11-14) scored 10 runs in the seventh to blow the game open and set up a potential series split on Sunday as they downed the Drive, 13-1.

Greenville’s only hits would come via Kristian Campbell’s single in the third and a Juan Chacon single in the second as the Asheville duo of Jose Guedez and Joey Mancini locked down the Drive’s offense. Campbell’s hit extended his hitting streak to five games.

Greenville’s only run would come via a passed ball to score Ahbram Liendo in the third.

Drive starter David Sandlin and Tourists starter Guedez managed the game well early, cruising through five innings allowing just a run and two hits apiece. Sandlin would go 5.0 innings while allowing a walk but picking up seven strikeouts. On the flipside, Guedez allowed one walk and picked up five strikeouts in his five innings.

Dalton Rogers piggybacking Sandlin would have a rough outing, allowing six hits, five runs and two walks though he struck out two. Back-to-back singles and a passed ball put two Tourists on before a Pascanel Ferreras single broke the 1-1 tie. A wild pitch moved Ferraras to second before a John Garcia reach on a fielding error made it 3-1.

It would get worse for the Drive from there.

Logan Cerny doubled, Ryan Johnson walked, Jeron Williams singled and Ferraras singled to make it 5-1 before the Drive relieved Rogers in favor of Caleb Bolden. Bolden recently returned from Portland after being called up on April 30th and his welcome back would be anything but fruitful.

Three pitches into his outing, Luis Baez knocked a two run homer to left to make it 7-1. The Tourists would get another four-runs on a Narbe Cruz grand slam. Back-to-back doubles from Williams and Ferraras later in the inning would scratch across the Tourists final two runs to make it 13-1 before Bolden would be pulled in favor of Cade Feeney.

Bolden’s night would officially go down as 0.1 innings pitched, allowing seven runs, all earned, with two walks and one strikeout.

Feeney would capture the final 1.1 for the Drive, holding the Tourists hitless, while punching out two.

The Drive and Tourists resume action tomorrow at 1:05 p.m. for the series finale at McCormick Field. The Drive have already secured at least a split of the series and currently lead the series 3-2. A win tomorrow would give Greenville their first series win of 2024.