Coffey homers for fourth game in a row and Mullins Ks 10 in Drive’s 8-5 win over Asheville

The Greenville Drive (23-37) rebounded from back-to-back losses as Cutter Coffey knocked his fourth homer in as many games and Allan Castro added two RBI as Greenville downed the Asheville Tourists 8-5 Thursday night at Fluor Field.

Hayden Mullins picked up his second win of the season, tossing five solid innings for the Drive, holding Asheville hitless through three before allowing a homer on the first pitch of the fourth to Austin Deming. He allowed three hits on the night with two runs and 10 strikeouts – a career high for the lefty out of Auburn University.

The Drive met Tourists’ starter Nic Swanson with a three-run first inning. Ahbram Liendo knocked a leadoff single and stole second before Miguel Bleis notched an RBI-single; his first hit since being called up to Greenville on Tuesday. He followed it up with his first stolen bag before Cutter Coffey walked. Back-to-back RBI-singles from Miguel Ugeito and Juan Chacon made it 3-0.

Greenville continued their barrage on Swanson in the second inning, as Enderso Lira tagged a leadoff double and Liedno added his second single in as many innings. Coffey knocked his big fly, tying the Greenville Drive record for most consecutive games with a home run, with a three-run shot to boost the lead to 6-0.

Asheville’s Garret Guillemette added an RBI-double in the fourth making it 6-2.

After back-to-back nights of defensive miscues, the Drive found an extra gear in the field though they did end the night with two errors. Allan Castro made a leaping grab at the center field wall to deny extra bases and Bleis threw a runner out advancing to third with a seed on a single hit to right field that ended the inning. Bleis also tracked down a fly ball into the right field gap making a leaping grab on the warning track.

Castro put the Drive up 8-2 in the sixth, slashing a grounder into center field that scored Lira and Bleis.

But the Tourists didn’t go quietly, cutting the lead to three with a three-run seventh inning, the runs coming off reliever Jeremy Wu-Yelland who struggled after a scoreless sixth. He’d pick up one out before loading the bases and being pulled in favor of Adam Smith.

Smith walked in Logan Cerny, hit Deming with a pitch and John Garcia grounded into a force out that added on the Tourists final run. Smith recovered however, relinquishing just one hit in the final two frames, preserving the Drive’s 8-5 victory.

The Greenville Drive return to action on Friday, June 14 at 7:05 p.m. at Fluor Field for game four of a six-game homestand with Asheville. The Tourists lead the series, 2-1.