Drive Lose to Crawdads 9-2
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The Greenville Drive (8-8, 44-38) couldn’t find their groove at the plate Tuesday as the Hickory Crawdads (13-2, 40-36) continued their hot start to the second half, thumping the Drive 9-2 thanks to lively bats and shutdown pitching.
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Welcome to Greenville! https://t.co/w0yobDSRXh
— Greenville Drive (@GreenvilleDrive) July 15, 2023
The night looked like it might swing to Greenville early as the Drive chased Crawdads starter Mitch Bratt out of the game in the first inning. Back-to-back walks issued to Roman Anthony and Allan Castro (making his Drive debut), allowed Bryan Gonzalez to rip an a one-out RBI-single to right field, giving the Drive a 1-0 lead. Eddinson Paulino picked up a two-out walk to load the bases, officially ending Bratt’s night. An ensuing Eduardo Lopez walk issued by reliever Florencio Serrano brought home Castro to make it 2-0.
The All-Star Break is over, folks! We're back in action in Hickory, NC. How we're rolling out:
A new face enters the lineup and familiar one returns to it 👀
🕖 7:00 p.m.
🆚 @HickoryCrawdads
📍 L.P. Frans Stadium pic.twitter.com/csl6KCyacL— Greenville Drive (@GreenvilleDrive) July 14, 2023
The 2-0 lead would only last until the bottom of the second, as Hickory scratched across four runs to ultimately take the lead for good. Drive starter Jordan DiValerio, making his second spot start out of the bullpen this season, would fall victim to a two-out rally from Hickory. Three consecutive singles cut the lead to 2-1 before a walk brought home the tying run. The final two runs of the inning came via a run on a pop-out to second base and a steal of home plate by Yosy Galan to make it 4-2.
The Drive found little offense the rest of the way, leaving a total of 10 runners on base will going a measly 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position throughout the night. In total, three Drive players accounted for the Drive’s four hits. Despite the lackluster night at the plate, the Drive did receive a few bright spots throughout the lineup as Anthony reached base three times via walks; Paulino went 2-for-2 with two walks while Gonzalez was 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.
The night started well for the Drive as they took an early 2-0 lead but the night ultimately belonged to the Crawdads who topped the Drive, 9-2https://t.co/3arhd1pnXK
— Greenville Drive (@GreenvilleDrive) July 15, 2023
After a quiet third inning, DiValerio would be greeted in the fourth by a leadoff homer as Daniel Mateo drove the second pitch of the inning over the leftfield wall, making it 5-2. Back-to-back singles later in the inning and a stolen third base set up a Keyber Rodriguez RBI-single to make it 6-2, ending DiValerio’s night as Graham Hoffman came on in relief. DiValerio would finish the night allowing seven runs on eight hits, allowing one walk and picking up three strikeouts.
Credit milb.com/Greenville
