Thursday’s final score: Asheville 5, Rome 2
Media release from the Rome Emperors by Gavin Booker:
Back-to-back two-out doubles in the second and Will Bush’s second home run of the series put the Emperors in an unconquerable five-run hole early in Thursday’s game.
Left-hander Riley Frey breezed through the first and two-thirds of the second, facing the minimum through five batters, but a five-pitch walk issued to Drew Vogel granted the Tourists a two-out run-scoring opportunity. One that Will Bush and Oliver Carrillo exploited on their doubles to opposite corners of the field. The Tourists hauled a 2-0 lead into the third.
Leadoff batter Joseph Sullivan continued the doubles train in the third on a sharp line drive past Patrick Clohisy in left field. Nunez’s fly ball to left field would have been scored as the fourth double of the game for the Tourists had Sullivan not missed the third base bag on his way home. But, because infielders E.J. Exposito and Ambioris caught the base running error and successfully appealed to the third base bag, Nunez was only awarded a single and not credited with an RBI. Garret Guillemette’s two-out single eventually brought home Nunez to halfway rectify the situation.
Ahead 3-0 in the fourth, Will Bush became the first batter all season to homer multiple times at AdventHealth Stadium, blasting a two-run shot 392-feet out to right field. He now owns the eighth and ninth home runs hit this year at arguably the most pitcher-friendly ballpark in professional baseball.
After Frey’s five-inning start wrapped up, Logan Samuels took over and pitched the remainder of the game, allowing just three hits and two courtesy bases over four innings.
At the plate, Lizandro Espinoza, Will Verdung, and Ambioris Tavarez accounted for six of Rome’s seven hits. All seven were singles and just one produced a run, that being Verdung’s sixth-inning screamer that brought in Espinoza. Verdung has now strung together three straight multi-hit efforts; his average climbing to .309, which is fifth-best in the South Atlantic League.
Counting Thursday night’s loss to Asheville, the Emperors are 1-8 in games in which the lineup does not produce an extra-base hit. Garrett Baumann (0-4, 4.95 ERA) looks to keep the Emperors (24-24) above .500 Friday. First pitch is set for 7:00PM ET.
