Tuesday night’s affair between the Greenville Drive (2-4) and the Lexington Legends (4-2) moved much quicker than Monday’s, but it ended in the same result for the Drive.
The Legends picked up a 5-3 win to clinch a victory of the three-game series.
With the game tied at three in the top of the eighth, Wander Franco untied things when he smacked a single up the middle against Williams Jerez (0-1) to score Humberto Arteaga, who walked to begin the frame, and Samir Duenez, who doubled.
That spoiled a quality start from Drive right-hander Ty Buttrey, who allowed three runs and seven hits in six innings with four strikeouts. He has now thrown 10 innings without a walk in 2015.
The Legends tagged Buttrey for a pair of homers to account for all three runs against him, as Ryan O’Hearn cranked a solo homer over the batter’s eye in the first inning and Corey Toups lined a two-run shot over the Green Monster in the fifth.
The Drive got a home run of their own in the bottom of the second courtesy of Nick Longhi, who went deep for the second night in a row when he drove a Torey Deshazier offering over the wall in center.
Against Pedro Fernandez (1-0) in the seventh, the Drive knotted the game up at three when Carlos Mesa lined a sharp single to center to score Jordan Procyshen and Rafael Devers. Fernandez settled down from there and retired the final seven hitters in a row from there to seal the win.
Chad Johnson led Lexington with a three-hit night, and Duenez, Franco and Alfredo Escalera chipped in with two hits apiece.
The Drive will send RH Jamie Callahan (0-1, 11.57 ERA) to the mound on Wednesday night at 7:05 to try and avoid the sweep. The Legends will counter with LH Matt Tenuta (1-0, 0.00 ERA).
(Photograph: Mike Burton.)