Rosario, Castro knock two-run homers as Drive lock up series over Hickory in 5-1 win

Ronald Rosario and Allan Castro powered two-run homers in the fourth and seventh respectively and Jedixson Paez and Noah Dean combined to strikeout 11 as the Greenville Drive (18-11, 44-51) downed the Hickory Crawdads (14-15, 42-53), 5-1 Saturday evening at L.P. Frans Stadium.

Hickory’s Kohl Drake held the Drive hitless through 3 ⅓ innings before Miguel Bleis knocked a ground-rule double. With two-away and Bleis on second, Rosario barreled up the third pitch of his at-bat over the left center field wall for a 2-0 lead.

Drake ultimately tossed six innings, allowing three runs on two hits with two walks and seven strikeouts. Drake was pulled in the seventh after issuing a leadoff walk to Rosario. Castro promptly greeted reliever Gavin Collyer with his two-run blast over the right field wall to boost the Drive lead to 4-1.

Paez continued his strong play on the mound, allowing five hits but just one run in his five innings of work. The only blemish came on back-top-back hits for the Crawdads, as Yosy Galan singled with one away and Benjamin Blackwell doubled to cut the lead to 2-1. Paez finished with four strikeouts.

Dean, called up to Greenville earlier in the week after an impressive season for Single-A Salem, frustrated the Crawdads over the final four innings, picking up seven striekouts on the night. Dean struckout the first batter he faced on four pitches and issued a walk and a wild pitch to put a runner in scoring position with one out.

But Dean picked up a flyout before giving up a single to put runners on the corner before striking out Anthony Gutierrez to keep the lead at 2-1.

Dean retired all but one batter he faced over the last three innings, issuing a walk to Yeison Morrobel in the bottom of the ninth before picking up two strikeouts and a fly out to preserve the win.

Mikey Romero walked in the seventh to score Miguel Ugueto with the bases loaded, with two outs to round out the scoring at 5-1.

Cutter Coffey was traded during the game by the Boston Red Sox to the Toronto Blue Jays in a package that sent Blue Jays catcher Danny Jansen to the Red Sox. Miguel Bleis started the game at DH for the Drive but was pulled after two at-bats in what some speculated was a trade. However, the plan was for Bleis to have two at-bats and split the day with newcomer Justin Riemer who joined the Drive after a rehab assignment in Salem.

The Drive return to action Saturday, July 28th at 2:00 p.m. for the finale of the six-game series with the Crawdads. The Drive hold a 4-1 series and have already clinched the series.