Bill on Baseball: Drive's Defensive Play Beats Hoppers
Greenville took a page out of the Hoppers' book Saturday night.The Drive threw out a runner at the plate in the ninth inning and beat the Hoppers 2-1. The game was odd in the respect that there were no RBIs. Two runs scored on wild pitches and another on a
Greenville took a page out of the Hoppers' book Saturday night.
The Drive threw out a runner at the plate in the ninth inning and beat the Hoppers 2-1. The game was odd in the respect that there were no RBIs. Two runs scored on wild pitches and another on a throwing error.
On Friday, the Hoppers made a key defensive play when left-fielder
This time, it was Greenville's turn.
"You've got to send (the runner) there," Pratt said, "and they've got to make the play. And they did, as we did last night."
The game was a pitcher's duel for six innings, with Greensboro's
The Hoppers broke through in the seventh against Drive reliever
Puckett continued by throwing a scoreless seventh but ran into difficulty in the eighth. With runners on second and third with one out, Puckett threw a wild pitch that hit home plate and bounced away to the right.
"He had no play (and should have held the ball)," said Pratt, a major league catcher for 14 years. "Been there, done that."
Puckett was the hard-luck loser after pitching 7 2/3 innings, the deepest by any Hoppers starter this season.
"All his stuff was working and he only threw 74 pitches through seven innings, so we had no problem sending him back out for the eighth," said pitching coach Mark DiFelice. "He was just unlucky on that wild pitch."
The Hoppers didn't muster much offense. Their biggest threat came in the fifth, when they left the bases loaded. The two red-hot hitters,
"They can't do it every night," Pratt said.
Greensboro hit several deep balls that were caught. The best play was by Cedrola in left-center field. He went above the fence to spear a drive by
The teams meet Sunday at 2 p.m. in the third game of the series.
NOTES: The Hoppers are now 10-4 in one-run games … Drive pitcher