A strong Coffey energizes Drive to 6-2 victory over Rome

Coffey tosses six scoreless, Ks 11; Mayer chips in 3 RBI

Isaac Coffey struck out 11 batters for the second time in as many starts, and Marcelo Mayer chipped in three RBIs on the night, helping the Greenville Drive (22-20) secure their third victory over the Rome Braves (21-21) this week; this time by a score of 6-2.

Tonight also marked the third time that Coffey fanned 11 batters in a game as he did so as well, back on April 29 against Hudson Valley. Furthermore, he leads the South Atlantic League in strikeouts with 61 across his eight starts.

In tonight’s matchup Coffey was especially efficient from the mound, as 64 of his 87 pitches were strikes, while he garnered at least two strikeouts in four of the six innings he tossed and struck out the side in the fifth inning.

While Coffey was lights-out from the mound, the Drive found their offensive stride early, scratching across four runs after five innings. Kier Meredith was the first runner to cross the plate for the Drive as he scored on a wild pitch from Braves starter, Ian Mejia in the third inning.

In the fourth inning, Eduardo Lopez’s grounder to second plated Blaze Jordan to give the Drive a 2-0 lead. Max Ferguson got the fifth inning started for the Drive as he singled to lead off the inning before he swiped second. He’d move to third on Brainer Bonaci groundout allowing Mayer to bring him in as Mayer slapped a hard grounder to second but the baseman’s throw to home was not in time allowing Ferguson to score and make it 3-0.

Mayer moved up to second on a balk and Tyler Esplin would do the rest as his grounder dipped under the glove of the second baseman scoring Mayer. The play would be ruled an error, but nonetheless the Drive took a 4-0 lead.

Coffey was relieved by Jordan DiValerio in seventh, who allowed just one hit and picked up a strikeout, preserving the Drive’s 4-0 cushion. The eighting inning, however, would get a little hairy for the Drive as reliever Nathan Landry walked three straight to open the inning before giving up a single off the bat of Geraldo Quintero, scoring two runners to cut the lead in half, 4-2.He’d be relieved with two outs by Alex Hoppe who promptly picked up a groundout to end the inning.

But the Braves momentum wouldn’t last long as consecutive two-out singles from Ferguson and Bonaci in the top of the ninth put two on for Mayer. On the second pitch of the at bat, Mayer turned on the pitch sending a sharp liner down the right field line for a double, clearing the bases and giving the Drive a 6-2 lead.

Hoppe came on to close out the game for the Drive but he wouldn’t close the door without a little fanfare from the Braves as two runners reached base with one out. Hoppe would get a double play however from Mayer, Bonaci, and Esplin to secure the Drive’s 6-2 win.

The Drive (Boston Red Sox) return to action tomorrow, for game five of the seven game series with the Rome Braves (Atlanta Braves) with first pitch slated for 7:00 p.m. The Drive currently hold a 3-1 series lead.