Coffey spins six scoreless again, Drive top Hickory 4-0

Third consecutive start for Coffey with 6 scoreless IP; 8+ K

Isaac Coffey’s stat line after starts is becoming a copy-and-paste ordeal. For the third time in as many games, Coffey pitched six scoreless innings for the Drive, keeping Crawdads batters off balance throughout the night. It’d also be the third consecutive start in which he picked up 8-plus strikeouts, while he relinquished just two hits on the night as and issue a solitary walk.

The Drive chipped in the first run of the night on an RBI groundout from Bryan Gonzalez which scored Brainer Bonaci to give the Drive a 1-0 lead. The game would remain that way until the fifth as Coffey dealt from the mound, including a 1-2-3 third and fourth inning.

Tyler Miller would increase the lead in the fifth on the first pitch of the inning, sending a deep fly over the left field wall for his third home run of the year, giving the Drive a 2-0 lead. Later in the inning, Bonaci slapped an RBI single right back up the middle, giving the Drive a 3-0 lead.

Coffey spun another 1-2-3 inning in his sixth and final inning of the night before giving way to reliever Alex Hoppe. Hoppe continued Coffey’s dominance, picking up a 1-2-3 inning of his own in the seventh.

A sacrifice fly from Eddinson Paulino scored Ronald Rosario in the seventh to give the Drive a 4-0 lead before Hoppe shut the door on the Crawdads again in the eighth. Robert Kwiatkowski came on in the ninth for the Drive, accentuating his lone inning with a punch out and giving the Drive a 4-0 victory.

The Drive (Boston Red Sox) return to action tomorrow, for game four of the six-game series with the Hickory Crawdads (Texas Rangers) with first pitch slated for 7:05 p.m. at Fluor Field. The series currently sits at 2-1, in favor of the Drive.