Wikelman Gonzalez strikes out 12 as Drive win 3-1 over Rome

For the third consecutive night a Greenville Drive (24-20) starting pitcher collected double-digit strikeouts as Wikelman Gonzalez picked up a career-high 12 strikeouts in his 5.1 innings of work to boost the Drive to a 3-1 victory over the Rome Braves (21-23) on Saturday night. The Drive’s fifth victory of the week also marked their fifth game of series in which they held Rome to two runs or less, and their ninth win in the last 10 games.

Gonzalez continued his recent streak of strong starts, having gone at least five innings in four of his last five games. He also picked up his third win in May, and after starting the month with a 15.58 ERA he’s commanded his pitching well reducing his ERA to 6.19. For the month of May his ERA sits at 2.70.

For only the second time this series the Drive fell behind early thanks to a RBI single from Drake Baldwin that gave the Braves a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third. But the Drive responded quickly, getting the run back in the top of the fourth.

With two outs, Bryan Gonzalez singled to reach first before Tyler Esplin slapped a single to right field and a fielding error allowed Gonzalez to score from first and get Esplin to third, knotting the game at 1-1.

In the bottom of the fourth Gonzalez found himself in a jam as he loaded the bases thanks to hitting the lead off man with a pitch and giving up back-to-back singles. But he’d gather himself and string together three-straight strikeouts to get out of the jam.

Gonzalez would cruise through 1.1 more innings before being relieved by Maceo Campbell. Campbell worked 1.2 innings himself, allowing two walks, no hits and picking up four strikeouts.

With Gonzalez and Campbell cruising, the Drive turned the tide on their struggles at the plate in the top of the eighth. Nick Decker and Max Ferguson reach on back-to-back singles before Brainer Bonaci chipped in the third single, plating Decker to make 2-1.

Blaze Jordan hit a sacrifice fly during the ensuing at-bat to score Ferguson and give the Drive a two-run lead.

Robert Kwiatkowski entered for Maceo Campbell with no outs in the eighth and two-men on base. He’d pick up a quick out before loading the bases on an ensuing walk. With the go-ahead runners on base, Kwiatkowski picked up a strikeout and a line out to hold the game.

In the ninth, Kwiatkowski stayed on for the save attempt where he’d get a pop-out, a strikeout on an automatic strike call, and a ground out to earn his third save of the year, and finalize the Drive’s 3-1 win.

The Drive (Boston Red Sox) return to action tomorrow, for the finale of the seven game series with the Rome Braves (Atlanta Braves) with first pitch slated for 1:00 p.m. The Drive currently hold a 5-1 series lead.