Drive fall 5-3 to Rome; take five of seven against Braves

Drive end week in second place in SAL South

Riding a four-game win streak coming into Sunday’s finale, the Greenville Drive (24-21) came up short of adding a fifth straight win, relinquishing their 3-1 lead in the fifth inning and ultimately falling to the Rome Braves (22-23), 5-3.

Despite leaving Rome with a loss on the last day, the Drive ultimately took five of seven games in Rome allowing them to move up from third place in the South Atlantic South Division to second. They now sit 2.0 games back of first place Winston-Salem.

Angel Bastardo turned in a five-inning outing, allowing three runs on three hits while walking two and picking up six strikeouts. On the offensive side, Blaze Jordan chipped in a 2-for-4 day, including a double. Marcelo Mayer, Eduardo Lopez, and Brainer Bonaci each chipped an RBI.

The Braves landed on the board early in the first after a groundout to short would bring in their leadoff hitter for a 1-0 start to the game. The Drive responded quickly in the top of the third with Max Ferguson grounding into a force-out at second but beating out the double play attempt, placing him at first. Brainer Bonaci capitalized on this opportunity to bring in Ferguson with a triple to right field before Mayer would also ground out to bring in Bonaci, giving the Drive a 2-1 lead.

Adding to their lead in the fourth, a pitching change for the Braves would allow Edison Paulino to rip a line drive triple to right field. He was plated at home by Eduardo Lopez’s line drive single to center, giving the Drive a 3-1 lead.

Bastardo allowed two runs in the bottom of the fifth after Brandon Parker shot a triple to left field with two on to knot the game at 3-3. He was relieved by Casey Cobb in the bottom of the sixth.

The Drive were quiet for the remainder of the game as the Braves found their offensive spark. Adam Zebrowski homered to right field off of Cobb to kick off the inning, giving the Braves a 4-3 lead. Cobb pitched one inning, giving up two hits, a home run, one run, and one strikeout.

Relief pitcher Alex Hoppe joined the game during the bottom of the seventh for one inning where he only allowed one hit and picked up one strikeout. Christopher Troye came in for Hoppe in the eighth where the Braves would place one last run on the board off of a line drive single with one on. Troye allowed two hits, one run, and one strikeout.

The Drive would go down in order in the ninth, giving the Braves the 5-3 lead.

The Drive (Boston Red Sox) return to action for a six-game series at Fluor Field against the Hickory Crawdads (Texas Rangers) on May 30.