Small ball produces 13-run inning

The Greenville Drive played small ball to produce the biggest inning in team history.

Red-hot Michael Jones hit a pair of RBI singles in a 13-run seventh inning Sunday as the Drive pulled away for a 19-7 rout of the Augusta GreenJackets at Lake Olmstead Stadium.

In establishing a South Atlantic League season high for runs, Greenville (11-7) produced only two extra-base hits. Yamaico Navarro finished 4-for-6 with two RBIs and Aaron Reza, who had three plate appearances in the seventh, went 3-for-6 with four RBIs and three runs scored.

Reza started the seventh by getting hit by a pitch and ended by flying out to center field. In between, 17 more Drive players came to the plate.

"It was just a combination of things," Reza said. "We had a lot of good at-bats, had some luck in there, but that's what you need in a big inning. Guys were just going up there with a good approach."

The Drive seem to have the right approach this season, as they rank second in the league with a .285 team batting average. Against Augusta, they parlayed nine singles and five walks into 13 runs.

"I think we did a good job of not making outs that inning," Reza said. "We did a good job of laying off pitches and waiting for the right one and doing something with it."

The first eight batters reached safely in the seventh before Che-Hsuan Lin struck out. Augusta made three pitching changes as the Drive broke open a 5-5 game. Jones extended his hitting streak to 12 games, although his league-leading batting average slipped to .414.

Manny Arambarris, Anthony Rizzo, Luis Exposito and Reza also singled home runs in the seventh. Rizzo is batting .397 and has an 11-game hitting streak after going 3-for-6 with two RBIs and two runs scored.

"It was fun," Reza said. "It's always good to score runs. You never how many you know are you are going to get in an inning.

"We got a couple of bloop hits, one infield hit. We were finding the holes. Thankfully, things fell for us that inning. We just have to keep the approach we have. Hopefully, it'll stay successful for us."

Reliever Bryson Cox (1-0) got the win, despite giving up two runs on two hits and a walk with three strikeouts in 1 2/3 innings.

GreenJackets reliever Daniel Turpen (1-1) was charged with three runs on three hits and a walk, striking out two, in two frames.

Nick Noonan hit a solo homer, giving him six RBIs in his last two games, and Charlie Culberson also went deep for Augusta (9-9).