The Greenville Drive paid the price of six-scoreless innings, falling 7-4 in game one against the Winston-Salem Dash. The Dash improves to 25-23, while the Drive falls to 24-25 in the second-half standings.
Marcus Phillips entered as tonight’s starter, coming off a dominant four-inning outing last week in Spartanburg. His six strikeouts on Wednesday added to his now-73 total on the season, including the three he got in tonight’s game.
However, Phillip’s struggles with consistency still linger, allowing two earned runs in two innings before exiting the game due to an unknown injury. Unable to get the chance to bounce back before Joey Gartrell came to pitch the third in a scurry.
The Dash scored one off an error in the third, but Gartrell settled in to retire the next three batters in order. Matt McShane replaced Gartrell in the sixth and immediately suffered a case of déjà vu: George Wolkow blew the game open with a pair of two-run homers in the fifth and seventh innings, sinking the Drive’s already blistering-cold offense into a 7-0 hole.
Ronny Hernandez heard Greenville’s desperate calls and cracked a two-run homer of his own to right, scratching a pair of runs for the Drive to avoid a near shutout in the seventh.
A Yophery Rodriguez RBI double and a groundout by Antonio Anderson cut the lead to 7-4 in the eighth, but it wasn’t enough to complete the comeback, falling short in game one.
The Drive generated 10 hits, but those scoreless frames held them to four runs. They went a frustrating 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position, stranding 10 baserunners. Schaffner, Martin, and Rodriguez recorded multi-hit games, with Hernandez driving in a team-high two runs with his home run.
Winston-Salem finished with eight hits, led by two-hit performances from both Wolkow and Ely Brown. Wolkow’s two-homer night also gave him a game-high four RBIs for the Dash.
Phillips was charged with his seventh loss, remaining winless this season. Grant Umberger earned that nod, throwing six innings deep as the starter for the Dash. He allowed no runs on three hits and struck out three.
The Greenville Drive competes in game two against the Winston-Salem Dash tomorrow with first pitch at 6:45 PM. The Drive are bringing a taste of Bavaria to the ballpark with Oktoberfest, combining Drive baseball with plenty of German-inspired fun for fans to enjoy.