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Greenville Drive

Walks Doom Drive in 9-4 Loss to Sand Gnats

August 2, 2013 - South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Greenville Drive News Release


"Why run when you can walk?" probably served as the motto for the Savannah Sand Gnats (20-17, 63-43) on Friday night, as they took advantage of 11 free passes by the Greenville Drive (20-19, 42-66) pitching staff and walked away with a 9-4 victory at Fluor Field. With the Drive leading 3-1 in the top of the fifth, the Drive pitching staff lost the strike zone and issued five walks and a hit-by-pitch in the frame, allowing Savannah to score six runs. Cody Kukuk began the inning by allowing a single and a walk before giving way to Jack McGeary (1-1), who struggled mightily after not giving up a run in his first nine innings with the Drive. He pitched to nine batters in the frame and only retired two, giving up two hits and walking four. There was a scary moment in the bottom of the second, as Mario Martinez led off the inning with a line drive that hit Sand Gnats starter Matt Koch in the head. Koch remained down for a few minutes and was forced to leave the game, although he did walk off the field under his own power. Julian Hilario (6-4) came on in relief and hurled four innings to pick up the victory despite allowing six hits and three runs. Savannah took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on an RBI groundout by Brian Harrison.

The Drive scored a pair of runs against Hilario in the third to go up 2-1. Reed Gragnani singled with two outs and came in on Jose Vinicio's RBI triple to right-center. Vinicio would later score on a wild pitch.

Aneury Tavarez led off the fourth with an infield single to second. Jesus Loya followed with a beautiful bunt single, and a throwing error by third baseman Jeff Reynolds allowed Tavarez to come all the way in to score to push the lead to 3-1.

With a 7-3 lead, the Sand Gnats scored a pair of runs in the seventh against Manuel Rivera on a wild pitch and an RBI fielder's choice by Brandon Nimmo.

An RBI single by Tavarez in the bottom of the eighth gave the Drive their fourth and final run of the game.

Gragnani had three hits and two runs for Greenville. Tavarez added two hits for his 32nd multi-hit game of the year, and Martinez had two hits of his own. Albert Cordero collected three knocks for Savannah, with Reynolds and Jorge Rivero each adding a pair of hits.

Game three of the four-game set at Fluor Field begins at 7:05 on Saturday night, with the ZOOperstars making their return to Greenville! RHP Justin Haley (6-8, 3.81) will start for the Drive, and LHP Steven Matz (4-4, 2.33) gets the start for the Sand Gnats.

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