SAL1 Charleston RiverDogs

Drive Enter Third Gear, Roar Past R'Dogs, 13-8

Published on July 28, 2011 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Charleston RiverDogs News Release


GREENVILLE, S.C. - The Greenville Drive racked up six doubles and ran wild for seven stolen bases to erase a 6-0 deficit to down the Charleston RiverDogs, 13-8, in South Atlantic League action Thursday night in front of a crowd of 5,582 fans at Fluor Field.

Greenville moved back over .500 in the second half at 17-16 and improved to 55-48 overall, while Charleston lost its third in a row to fall to 15-18 and 41-62.

Charleston's Scottie Allen and Greenville's Miguel Celestino matched zeroes for the opening two frames, until the RiverDogs erupted for five runs to break the tie in the top of the third.

Jose Mojica reached on an error to begin the merry-go-round, was pushed to second on an Eduardo Sosa walk, and came across the plate on a RBI single by Anderson Feliz. Kevin Mahoney stepped to the dish next and knocked a RBI double to right field, scoring Sosa for a 2-0 lead and chasing Feliz to third.

Gary Sanchez then provided the centerpiece of the inning, ripping his first triple of the year to the opposite field for two RBI and a 4-0 RiverDogs advantage. Ramon Flores was next, and continued the onslaught with an opposite field RBI single that dropped in front of Drive left fielder Brandon Jacobs.

The RiverDogs upped their lead to 6-0 in the fourth, as Lassiter cracked a leadoff single and tallied another marker on Feliz's two-out RBI single.

True to the form of the competitive nature of the season series between the two rivals, Greenville immediately responded with three runs in the bottom of the fourth to slice its deficit in half.

Jacobs started the surge with a double, and was batted in on Christian Vazquez's RBI single to left field. Henry Ramos followed with another two-bagger, putting two runners in scoring position with nobody out. Allen regrouped to retire Xander Bogaerts, but couldn't get past Michael Almanzar, who laced a double down the left field line to send home two runs and make the score 6-3.

Celestino entered the contest fresh off consecutive 7.0 inning gems, but lasted only 4.0 innings on this night. The lanky right-hander yielded the six runs on eight hits and a walk, while managing to mix in six strikeouts.

A new pitcher posed no obstacle to Charleston, however, as they added two more tallies against Greenville reliever Juan Rodriguez (2-4) to forge an 8-3 cushion in the top of the fifth.

Sanchez smoked his second extra-base hit of the night to start the wheels turning again, hammering a double to right field. Flores worked a walk, and Shane Brown singled to fill the sacks with no outs. A passed ball enabled Sanchez to scurry home for a 7-3 lead, and Lassiter produced an RBI groundout to cap the damage two batters later.

Once again, the Drive revved its engine to work back into the game as Allen could not push through the inning to give himself a shot at the victory.

Jacobs built on an already solid outing with a sacrifice fly to trim the Greenville hole to 8-4, and Vazquez rapped a RBI double to creep even closer. Allen then lost his command, walking a batter and hitting another before issuing a free pass to Almanzar to force in Vazquez from third.

Francisco Rondon (1-2) came on to induce a big double play, as the Drive left an opportunity to tie or take the lead on the table.

Despite being given ample run support, Allen could only weave his way through 4.1 innings. The Californian permitted the six runs on eight hits and three walks, while fanning three.

The Drive collected a third consecutive three-run inning to take a 9-8 lead in the bottom of the sixth off Rondon. Three hits and four stolen bases keyed the harm.

Wilfred Pichardo led off with a bunt single, Felix Sanchez singled and both executed a double steal to put the tying runs in scoring position. Jacobs then reached on an infield single to bring Greenville within one.

With Vazquez batting, Felix Sanchez and Jacobs forged their own double steal and an errant throw by Charleston catcher Gary Sanchez let Felix scamper the final 90 feet to knot the score. Vazquez then kept raking, ripping a RBI double to center field to give the Greenville its first advantage of the night at 9-8.

Kelvin Perez came out of the RiverDogs bullpen to relieve Rondon, but the Drive kept at it with yet another three-run rally. Two more stolen bases helped spur the latest outburst, as Sanchez drove in a run with a RBI single and Jacobs smacked a two-run double to center to plate two more for a 12-8 lead.

Mike Recchia was the final RiverDogs pitcher to be victimized by the Drive, surrendering an infield RBI single to Bogaerts to drop Charleston into a 13-8 hole in the bottom of the eighth.

The comeback earned a win for Rodriguez, despite the fact that he allowed two runs on two hits and two walks, while notching two punchouts over 2.0 frames of work.

The RiverDogs and Drive do battle again on Friday night at 7:05 p.m. Left-hander Steve Evarts (1-3, 5.33 ERA) is expected to make his return to the rotation for Charleston, while righty Kyle Stroup (2-5, 4.50 ERA) is scheduled to take the ball for Greenville.

Check out the Charleston RiverDogs Statistics

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South Atlantic League Stories from July 28, 2011


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