Bullpen dominant as Braves complete sweep
♦ Relievers combine to give up just one run as Rome wins sixth straight vs. Greenville
The Rome Braves called on its bullpen to cover all nine innings on Sunday, and the group delivered in fine fashion in a 3-1 victory to help complete a six-game sweep of the Greenville Drive at Adventhealth Stadium.
Rome (61-41, 25-11 in second half) got a stellar combined effort from five pitchers as the only run the visiting Drive (36-64, 10-24) scored was unearned. Jose Montilla (3-0) got the win for the Braves after pitching three shutout innings and allowing three hits while striking out three.
Montilla followed Dylan Spain who got the start, and the righty reliever pitched three innings while allowing one unearned run on one hit and struck out four. Alex Segal, Issrael De
La Cruz and Alec Barger came on to pitch one scoreless inning apiece following Montilla’s outing as Segal and De La Cruz each earned holds and Barger grabbed his fifth save thanks to a spotless ninth as he struck out two.
Rome took a 1-0 lead with a run in the second inning of Sunday’s contest before Greenville tied things up with one in the top of the third. The Braves’ bats immediately responded with another score in the bottom half of that inning to go up 2-1, and Cade Bunnell contributed the final run of the victory in the sixth with a solo homer.
Also contributing offensively was Willie Carter with a 2-for-4 effort with an RBI, Cal Conley with a triple, a stolen base and a run score, Jacob Pearson with two walks and two stolen bases and Caleb Durbin with an RBI.
The Braves, who now lead the South Atlantic League South Division second-half standings by 2.5 games over Bowling Green, will open up a six-game series on the road at Asheville on Tuesday night at 6:35 p.m.
In Saturday’s game between Rome and Greenville:
Rome 5, Greenville 4
A late offensive surge helped the Braves rally past Greenville for a fifth straight victory on Saturday night at Adventhealth Stadium.
Rome trailed 3-1 going to the bottom of the seventh but scored three in that inning to take the lead and added one more in the eighth. Greenville scored one in the ninth but couldn’t get any closer.
Nick Clarno let the Braves’ bats with two hits, including a double, to go with two RBIS. Jacob Pearson also had two hits, a stolen base and an RBI, Cal Conley contributed a hit and an RBI, Beau Philip added a double and scored a run and Cade Bunnell and Ethan Workinger each tallied a hit and scored a run.
Davis Schwab (1-0) earned the win in relief for Rome as he pitched two innings and gave up no runs on two hits while striking out one and walking one. Austin Smith picked up his ninth save as he pitched the ninth and allowed
one run on two hits.
JJ Niekro started on the mound and went six innings in a no decision as he gave up three runs (two earned) on four hits while striking out four and walking three.