Bonaci’s late-game heroics give Drive 7-6 victory over Braves

Brainer Bonaci, the upstart shortstop, played hero Thursday night with a two-out, two run homer in the bottom of the eighth to give the Greenville Drive (6-6, 42-36) a 7-6 come-from-behind victory over the Rome Braves (6-6, 36-42).

The night was marked by a back-and-forth affair, albeit one that started off slowly in terms of scoring. The Drive would draw first blood in the bottom of the fourth, after two straight singles set up an Eduardo Lopez sacrifice fly to give the Drive a 1-0 lead. After a walk issued to Alex Erro, Nick Decker slashed a single through the infield plating Tyler Miller to boost the lead to 2-0.

Drive starter Angel Bastardo dished out 4.2 hitless innings, finally allowing a hit on an Adam Zebrowski single in the top of the fifth. Two consecutive singles by the Braves scored both runners to knot the game at 2-2. Bastardo recovered in the sixth, getting three straight groundouts to set the Drive up for a prosperous bottom half of the inning. Bastardo finished the night allowing just three hits, two runs, three walks and picked up six strikeouts.

Karson Simas put the Drive back in front in the bottom of the sixth with a single to right field that was enough to score Alex Erro from second. The Drive would hold the 3-2 lead thanks to reliever Jordan DiValerio until the eighth as a two-out triple from Kevin Kilpatrick set up an Ignacio Alvarez single to knot the game at 3-3. Two batters later, David McCabe put the Braves up 5-3 with a single to center field, seemingly flipping the momentum. DiValerio exited the night allowing three hits and three runs while picking up four strikeouts.

But the Drive proved resilient in their half of the inning as Lopez and Erro chipped in back-to-back singles. After two outs put the inning in jeopardy, Eddinson Paulino flared a single to centerfield to score both runners, knotting the game at 5-5. Bonaci would play hero on the next pitch, sending the first pitch he saw deep into the night, in what could only be described as a moonshot of a homer as it traveled a towering 427 feet. His homer put the Drive up 7-5 and it would be a lead the Drive did not relinquish.

Alex Hoppe picked up the save for the Drive in the ninth, allowing one run on two hits while ringing up two to give the Drive a 7-6win.

The Greenville Drive (Boston Red Sox) return to action tomorrow at 7:05 p.m. for the fourth game of the six-game series at Fluor Field against the Rome Braves (Atlanta Braves.) The series currently favors the Braves, 2-1.