The Greenville (S.C.) Drive have followed a successful formula when facing the Hickory Crawdads: keep the game close against the starting pitching and attack the bullpen.
The strategy worked well again Saturday night, as the Drive blew open a close game in the seventh inning and defeated the Crawdads 5-1 in front of 3,349 fans at L.P. Frans Stadium.
After losing the opener of the series, Greenville (44-51 overall, 18-11 second half) has won four in a row.
Hickory pitcher Kohl Drake tossed six solid innings for the Crawdads, limiting the Drive to a pair of hits and two walks. Drake dialed up seven strikeouts. Five of those strikeouts came against the first 10 hitters, as Drake was perfect until one out in the fourth.
Miguel Bleis broke the Drive’s drought with a ground-rule double. One out later, Ronald Rosario clubbed his fifth homer of the season to put Greenville up 2-0.
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Drive starter Jedixson Paez (3-0) allowed Hickory five hits and a walk over five innings. The Crawdads were held to one run, which came on Ben Blackwell’s RBI double in the fifth inning to score Yosy Galan and trim the deficit to 2-1.
During the four-game losing streak, Hickory is 5-for-40 with runners in scoring position and has stranded 31 runners.
Overall, in the four losses, the Crawdads bullpen in 16.2 innings has given up 15 earned runs on 19 hits, including four homers, and walked 17.
