After a 3-9 road trip to the northeast, the Hub City Spartanburgers finally returned to Fifth Third Park on Tuesday afternoon for the biggest series of their inaugural season yet. The Greenville Drive (58-56 overall, 25-23 2nd half, 1st place by 1 game in SAL South 2nd half standings) made the short trek to downtown Spartanburg for the first game of the final installment of the first I-85 Rivalry, which was in a 9-9 tie coming into this week’s monster series.
Left hander Dylan MacLean (3-7, 3.08 ERA) got the nod for the Burgers opposite Greenville righty Luis Cohen (1-0, 2.77). In the early going, it was MacLean that got the upper hand, retiring each of the first 12 batters he faced with 3 strikeouts. In the meantime, Hub City’s bats managed to pick up where they left off after a late inning rally that still resulted in a loss against Brooklyn this past Sunday.
After starting 0 for three with runners in scoring position and leaving 2 on through the first 2 innings, the Burgers struck for a three spot in the bottom of the 3rd. Dylan Dreiling led off with a walk, later forced at 2nd on a 6-4 fielder’s choice that Anthony Gutierrez reached on. A balk advanced Gutierrez into scoring position for Malcolm Moore, who singled him home. John Taylor followed that with an RBI triple over the center fielder’s head, later to score on a single from Casey Cook. After a stolen base, Cook was left at 2nd when Maxton Martin, who was just called up from Hickory Tuesday morning, popped up to the catcher in foul ground behind the plate.
The Burgers added 2 more in the next frame, cashing in a 1 out walk to Arturo Disla – who would later swipe 2nd for his 7th steal of the season. Antonis Macias followed with a single to put men on the corners for Dreiling. Dylan clutched up and kept the line moving with an RBI knock and Gutierrez lifted a sacrifice fly to shallow left to plate Macias, coupled with an errant throw from the left fielder. That throw moved Dreiling up 90 feet, but in the end he was left there as Moore flew out to center to end the inning.
MacLean finally ran into trouble for the first time in the 5th with back to back singles to designated hitter Johanfran Garcia and third baseman Freili Encarnacion. He bounced back with a fly out to center and a line drive to right, but first baseman Albert Feliz singled to put the Drive into the run column. Left Fielder Fraymi De Leon grounded into a fielder’s choice and reached as Feliz was forced out at second base 4 unassisted to retire the side with the Burgers in front 5-1.
Hub City did not waste much time in answering as Casey Cook doubled and stole 3rd with 1 out in the ensuing half inning. Rafe Perich later grounded to the first baseman, who tossed to the pitcher covering for a productive out, plating Cook. Arturo Disla later went down swinging to leave Maxton Martin on 2nd (reached on a hit by pitch).
Mailon Felix and Thomas Ireland combined to put the game on ice for Hub City. Felix tossed two scoreless, albeit not without some trouble. His first frame was clean, but in the 8th, he walked the leadoff man – the first free pass issued by Burgers’ pitching all game. He rebounded with a pair of strikeouts before surrendering a 2-bagger to Franklin Arias, but left both in scoring position by getting center fielder Nelly Taylor Jr to line to right to retire the side. Ireland sat the Drive in order quickly in the 9th, securing the 6-1 victory for Hub City to bring them into a tie for first place.
Game two of the series is slated for a 6:35 start on Wednesday night as Aidan Curry is set to face a yet-to-be-named Greenville starter.
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