Winston-Salem’s middle-inning burst downs Drive, 9-4

Allan Castro contributed two RBI knocks for the Greenville Drive (22-15, 48-55), but the Winston-Salem Dash (18-19, 49-54) exploded for seven runs across the fifth and sixth innings, en route to downing the Drive 9-4 in the series opener at Truist Stadium. The loss moved the Drive to two-games out of first place in the South Atlantic League South Division as leader Bowling Green picked up a sweep of their doubleheader with Asheville.

The Drive could not match the Dash’s explosiveness though Greenville picked up nine hits on the night including multi-hit games from Justin Riemer and Castro. However, all nine hits were singles and the Drive ultimately left 11 on base on the night.

Winston-Salem’s outburst in fifth and sixth came off reliever Cooper Adams, who ultimately tossed two frames, giving up seven runs on six hits with a pair of walks.

With the game knotted at 2-2 entering the fifth, Adams relinquished a walk and back-to-back singles to load the bases before Ryan Galanie chipped in a sac-fly and Caden Connor reached on a fielding error by Riemer to put the Dash up 4-2. Colby Smelley added the second sac-fly of the inning a batter later to extend the lead to 5-2.

Adams picked up two quick outs in the sixth before allowing single and walk. Wes Kath delivered an RBI double and Galanie knocked his seventh homer of the year to boost the lead to an insurmountable 9-2.

Prior to the seven-run best, Drive starter Elmer Rodriguez tossed a solid four innings for the Drive allowing two runs on four hits with four strikeouts and a pair of walks; the two runs coming on a pair of RBI singles.

The Drive briefly held a 2-1 lead in the early going, picking up a Ronald Rosario RBI-single in the second and Castro’s first RBI knock in the third. Connor’s single in the bottom of the third off Rodriguez knotted the game up before the Dash took over.

The Drive did muster some runs in the late innings, picking up a run on Castro’s second RBI knock in the seventh and a Juan Montero sac-fly in the eighth.

Reliever Nathan Landry tossed the final two frames for the Drive, allowing no runs on three hits with a walk and four strikeouts.

The Drive return to action on Wednesday, August 7th for game two of the six-game series with the Dash. Winston-Salem holds a 1-0 series lead.