The Greenville Drive scored in the bottom of the ninth inning for a walk-off 3-2 win Thursday night at Fluor Field in Greenville, SC, snapping the Savannah Sand Gnats’ eight-game winning streak.
Lucas LeBlanc singled home Xander Bogaerts with one out in the ninth inning of Savannah reliever Gabriel Zavala to cap a 3-2 defeat of the first half Southern Division Champion Savannah Sand Gnats (39-27). Bogaerts started the ninth inning rally for the Drive (35-32) by crushing a one-out double off the center field fence. LeBlanc followed with a short single to left driving home Bogaerts.
The rally made a victor of Drive reliever Charle Rosario, who improves to 4-0. Zavala (1-4) took the loss for Savannah. The rally also overshadowed the work of both starting pitchers. Manuel Rivera pitched 6.0 shutout innings for Greenville, allowing just three hits and one walk while striking out five. Taylor Whitenton settled in after a rocky first frame to pitch six solid innings with five strikeouts.
Whitenton walked three Drive hitters in the first, and two of them scored when Henry Ramos snuck a single through the right side. It was the only hit allowed by Whitenton on the evening, who allowed just one more baserunner in his six innings.
The Sand Gnats picked up single runs in the seventh and eighth innings against Drive reliever Tyler Lockwood. In the seventh, a sacrifice bunt by Albert Cordero advanced Aderlin Rodriguez, who walked to lead off the frame, and Blake Forsythe, who singled. Rodriguez scored on a Sam Honeck groundout to first. The Gnats knotted up the game in the eighth when Drive catcher Christian Vasquez threw a ball into right field on a fielder's choice to score Wilfredo Tovar. Tovar was 1-3 and has hit safely in 14 of his last 15 games.
from team press release
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