Santos II Spins Four Scoreless in Asheville's 11-5 Win

ASHEVILLE- Alex Santos II set the tone for the Asheville Tourists on Friday night. The right-handed starting pitcher stifled the Rome Braves for four innings and Asheville’s offense provided plenty of run support. The Tourists built a 7-0 lead and cruised to an 11-5 victory over the Braves.

Asheville broke a scoreless game open with seven runs in the bottom of the third inning. Jacob Melton led off with a double and Logan Cerny walked. Two batters later, Ryan Wrobleski plated both runners with a two-run single to right.

A hit by pitch and a Tim Borden II single loaded the bases right before a costly Braves error allowed two more runs to score. Kobe Kato drove in a run with a groundout while Justin Williams and Melton added RBI doubles to cap the second seven-run inning by the Tourists this week.

Rome responded with a three-run Home Run in the top of the fifth; however, a wild pitch, a Melton RBI single, and a Ryan Clifford RBI groundout netted Asheville three runs right back in the bottom half. The Braves recorded two more in the sixth before Clifford and Wrobleski hit back-to-back doubles in the eighth.

Santos II struck out a season-high eight batters which also matched his career-high. A.J. Blubaugh worked four strong innings in relief and Carlos Calderon pitched the ninth. Wrobleski finished 3-for-4 with three RBI. Melton went 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles and two RBI.