Miller Debuts, Guerra Clutches Up in Rome's Sixth-Straight Win 

Asheville, NC – With Rome five outs shy of yet another shutout, the Tourists banded together for a run in the eighth but dropped the series opener, 3-1, giving Rome its longest win streak since June 1st of last season.

Now only 3.5 games out of first place (7.5 games back on August 12th), the Emperors (21-27, 50-63) won their series opener with the Asheville Tourists (19-29, 48-65) on Tuesday, establishing a six-game win streak, something this franchise has done just 22 other times in its 22-year history. If Rome wins its seventh consecutive game tonight, it would be just the eleventh such occurrence.

Luke Sinnard gave Rome his first scoreless start since May 21st, when he was still an Augusta GreenJacket, going five innings last night and striking out eight in the process. Just when it looked like his toil on the mound was going to be rewarded with a no-decision, Rome’s offense came through in the top of the sixth.

After Cody Miller’s leadoff single and first knock as an Emperor, Isaiah Drake’s line drive to first baseman Drew Vogel resulted in an unassisted double play, clearing the bases. Logan Braunschweig then reached on a throwing error by second baseman Yamal Encarnacion, a mistake that developed into an unearned run two batters later after Mason Guerra’s first of two RBI singles.

In the eighth, three more two-out base hits brought in two more Emperors to make it 3-0. Isaac Gallegos, who recorded two saves last week against Bowling Green, was called upon again for his seventh of 2025 on nine chances.

The Emperors and Tourists square off in game two of the series Wednesday at 6:35PM ET. Rome’s Adam Maier (4-10, 5.71) and Asheville’s Andrew Taylor (2-3, 3.42) are the probable starters.