Greenville Spoils Bird's Big Night

GREENVILLE, SC -   Charleston RiverDogs first baseman Greg Bird continued his dominance over the Greenville Drive, however it wasn't enough as the Drive rallied late for a 7-5 win at Fluor Field at the West End in South Atlantic League action.

With the loss, the RiverDogs fall to 3-4 in the second half and overall Charleston's record sits at 42-33. With the victory, Greenville improves to 4-3 in the second half and 26-50 overall. The season series between Charleston and Greenville is now in the Drive's favor at 11-10.

Greenville  scored a run in the third inning, two in the fifth inning, two in the seventh and two in the eighth. The bulk of the offensive production for the Drive came off of the bats of their one and two hitters, Mookie Betts and Jose Vinicio. Betts finished his evening 4-for-4 with three singles, a double, a walk, a stolen base, two RBI's and three runs scored in the leadoff spot. Vinicio was 3-for-5 with two doubles, a single, two RBI's, a run scored and a stolen base.

Drive starter Frank Montas struggled Wednesday as the righty went five innings that saw him allow five runs, four earned on six hits and he recorded five strikeouts to go along with a pair of walks. Montas was relieved by Yunior Ortega to start the sixth inning. Ortega (2-2) picked up the victory with a final line of three innings as he allowed just one hit. Picking up his second save of the season was Kyle Kraus who pitched a perfect ninth to close out the game.

Greg Bird had a memorable game Wednesday for the RiverDogs as the lefty went 3-for-4 at the plate with a RBI double, a RBI single and a three-run homer. Bird ended the game driving in all five runs for Charleston and extended his season best hitting streak to 10 games. His hitting streak is tied for the team lead this season with both Dante Bichette, Jr. and Peter O'Brien whom both had 10-game hitting streaks of their own earlier this season. Bird has also knocked in 15 of Charleston's 29 runs scored in the second half.

Charleston  was led by their 1-2-3 hitters of Jake Cave, Cito Culver and Greg Bird. Cave finished his evening 1-for-5 with two runs scored while Culver went 2-for-4 at the dish with two runs scored and a stolen base.

RiverDogs starter Vicente Campos looked strong yet again on the bump. The big righty went four innings and allowed a run on five hits and struckout six. Campos was relieved by Brett Gerritse (6-5) who ended up taking the loss. Gerritse's final line was 3.2 innings and he allowed six runs on seven hits to go along with five strikeouts and a walk. Gerritse was relieved by Derek Varnadore in the bottom of the eighth and faced one batter who he got to fly out.

After starting the second half on the road for seven games, the RiverDogs will now return to The Joe for the first time since Father's Day. Charleston welcomes the Hickory Crawdads to town for four games starting Thursday evening at 7:05pm. The RiverDogs will send RHP Luis Niebla (3-4, 6.63 ERA) to the mound as Hickory counters with LHP Frank Lopez (2-1, 5.28 ERA). You can listen to the game locally on ESPN 910 AM or online at  www.riverdogs.com.  Tickets still remain for all seven games during the upcoming homestand and can be purchased by calling  (843) 577-3747 or by visiting   www.riverdogs.com.

 

--RIVERDOGS-