Drive bats stifled again in 6-2 loss to Aberdeen

For the fourth time in the last five games, the Greenville Drive (24-19, 50-59) failed to surpass the two-run mark, falling 6-2 to the Aberdeen IronBirds (23-20, 57-52) on Tuesday in the series opener at Leidos Field at Ripken Stadium.

Prior to the series, two catalysts for the Drive offense, Allan Castro and Jhostynxon Garcia, were promoted to AA Portland as part of a slew of moves that also sent top prospects and Drive alumni, Marcelo Mayer, Roman Anthony, and Kyle Teel to AAA Worcester. Castro and Garcia’s departure left the Drive with an offensive hole to fill, having to replace a combined 85 RBI and 30 home runs in the lineup.

The loss moved the Drive to four games out of a potential playoff spot as the Bowling Green Hot Rods continued to roll, adding a 8-1 victory over the Greensboro Grasshoppers.

Greenville collected just five hits on the night while striking out 10 times over the course of the night. Bryan Gonzalez accounted for two of those hits in a 2-for-4 effort at the plate while Fraymi De Leon and Zach Ehrhard each knocked a double, the latter an RBI double in the eighth.

Miguel Bleis accounted for the other hit, a single in the opening frame. He would pick up the Drive’s only other RBI on the night on a groundout in the third that scored De Leon from third after De Leon doubled and reached third on a wild pitch.

Bleis’ run cut the lead in half at 2-1, but it’d be the closest the Drive would come all night.

Elmer Rodriguez tossed a rough start for the Drive, lasting just 1 ⅔ innings thanks to four walks in the second inning. Rodriguez spun a three up, three down inning in the opening frame but proceeded to give up a leadoff walk, an RBI-single, and three two-out walks.

Jake Cunningham, who accounted for the RBI-single, later scored on a steal of home as Anderson De Los Santos and Cunnigham executed a double steal in the inning for a 2-0 lead.

Nathan Landry took over for Rodriguez, tossing 2 ⅓ innings, allowing two hits and a walk with a strikeout.

It remained a one-run game until the bottom of the sixth. After Bryce Bonnin tossed a three up, three down fifth inning, he gave up a leadoff single and back-to-back, two-out RBI hits in the sixth to push the lead to 4-1.

Greenville cut the lead to 4-2 in the eighth with a Justin Riemer walk and Ehrhard’s RBI double. But any momentum was quickly erased in the bottom of the eighth.

Reliever Jeremy Wu-Yelland allowed a leadoff walk, a single, and hit Anderson De Los Santos with a pitch to load the bases. He walked Adam Retzbach to bring in a run and a picked up a double play though a run scored to make it 6-2.

The Drive went down in the ninth in succession.

The Drive return to action tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. for game two of the six-game series with Aberdeen. The IronBirds hold a 1-0 series lead.