Greenville Drive Defeat Charleston RiverDogs in 1-0 Shut Out - A, South Atlantic League

MLN - THE RAW FEED - www.mlntherawfeed.com – Charleston - Japanese right-hander Terumasa Matsuo fired seven innings of one-hit ball to lead the Greenville Drive to a 1-0, one-hit shutout of the Charleston RiverDogs in South Atlantic League action Wednesday night in front of 2,725 fans at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park.

The Greenville pitching has dominated the past two games of the series, each one-run victories for the visitors.  Charleston has failed to score a run in the last 18 innings (including the final nine frames of Tuesday’s 3-2, 11-inning loss), during which time the RiverDogs have collected only three hits. 

Especially frustrating for second-place Charleston is the fact that the RiverDogs’ hurlers have only allowed three runs combined in those 18 innings.  The Drive plated the game’s lone run Wednesday night in the seventh inning against reliever Jesse Hoover (2-2).

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With the victory, the Drive earns at least a series split in this four-game set with the final game set for Thursday night.  Greenville improves to 22-18 on the season while Charleston slips to 26-13.  The RiverDogs are still ½ a game behind league-leading Asheville, which lost earlier in the day at Savannah.

In earning his first win of the season, Matsuo fanned five and walked two while facing 22 batters.  In the process, the 26-year-old had nine fly outs and five groundouts.  Ryan Lawson pitched the last two frames, earning his first save of the season, as he struck out three of the six batters he faced.

In the seventh inning Yamaico Navarro led off with a double to left field and advanced to third on Mike Jones’ fly out to right.  With Navarro on third base, Luis Exposito singled through the left side to plate Navarro.

Justin Snyder broke up Matsuo’s no-hitter with a single in the fourth, which accounted for the RiverDogs’ only hit.  It left runners on the corners with one out in that inning, Charleston’s best scoring opportunity of the night, but Jesus Montero then grounded into a double play.

Greenville collected five hits on the night with Exposito recording two of them.  Che-Hsuan Lin, Ryan Kalish and Navarro had the others.

Charleston starter Jason Stephens pitched well for Charleston, going six complete frames and allowing three hits with five punchouts.  Stephens has now thrown 21 consecutive scoreless innings over his last nine appearances.

Hoover, who entered the game in the seventh, allowed one run on two hits while striking out three Drive batters.

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The game lasted 2:06, the shortest home game for Charleston this season.