Charlotte Knights 6, Nashville Sounds 1
The Knights jumped out to a 2-0 lead before the home crowd had even settled. Rikuu Nishida slapped a leadoff single, Austin Hays grounded out, Michael Turner whiffed, and then Ryan Galanie launched his 15th bomb.
Charlotte poured it on in the fourth when Junior Perez doubled, Korey Lee coaxed a walk, Mario Camilletti flied out, Andy Weber poked a single, and Nishida dropped a sac bunt. Hays then uncorked a three-run shot, and suddenly it was 6-0, Knights.
Starter José Urquidy, fresh off the Pirates scrap heap, spun five scoreless, scattering two hits and a walk, fanning one. Urquidy’s strong debut could put him in the conversation for a promotion to Chicago. The Charlotte bullpen kept the contest tidy. Hagen Smith fired a clean, hitless frame with a strikeout. Mason Adams tossed three innings and tried to make it interesting in the ninth, loading the bases with one out, but he wriggled out with just a run allowed.
MVP
José Urquidy: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, BB, K, W
Runners-Up
Rikuu Nishida: 3-for-4, R
Austin Hays: 1-for-5, R, 3 RBI, HR, OA
Michael Turner: 2-for-4, BB
Ryan Galanie: 2-for-5, R, 2 RBI, K, HR
Andy Weber: 1-for-3, R, RBI, BB, E
Hagen Smith: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 K
Cold Cat
Mario Camilletti: 0-for-3, BB, K
Birmingham Barons 15, Chattanooga Lookouts 5
The Barons went full scorched earth on the Lookouts, launching six home runs and racking up 12 hits and nine walks. Colby Shelton got the party started in the second with a solo shot, then the Barons doubled up their lead an inning later. Boston Smith led off the third with a homer, and then came a conga line of singles from Caleb Bonemer, Alec Briley, Anthony DePino, and Dylan Campbell, pushing two more tallies across. More carnage followed in the sixth with three straight walks, a whiff, a pop-up, and then Smith drew a bases-loaded walk. Bonemer cleared the deck with a three-run double, and Briley put the exclamation point on it with a two-run blast, making it 9-0 Birmingham.
Chattanooga’s offense finally showed up in the seventh, putting up four runs, but the Barons just kept on piling on. Shelton answered with his second homer, a two-run rocket, and the Barons never let up. Briley mashed his second of the night in the eighth, then Shelton finished off his three-homer binge with another two-run shot. Starter Connor McCullough was untouchable, tossing five hitless, scoreless innings with one walk and seven punchouts.
MVP
Colby Shelton: 3-for-4, 4 R, 5 RBI, BB, 3 HR
Runners-Up
Alec Briley: 3-for-4, 2 R, 4 RBI, BB, 2 HR
Caleb Bonemer: 2-for-5, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2B, K
Boston Smith: 2-for-5, 3 R, 2 RBI, 2 BB, HR, K
Connor McCullough: 5 IP, 0 H, 0 R, BB, 7 K, W
Nick Altermatt: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB
Cold Cat
Ryan Burrowes: 0-for-4, K
Samuel Zavala: 0-for-3, BB, SB, K
Mathias LaCombe: 1 1/3 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 2 K, H
Phil Fox: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, BB, K
Winston-Salem Dash 10, Brooklyn Cyclones 6
The Dash offense was rolling, pounding out 11 hits as every member of the lineup got into the act with at least one knock. Winston-Salem struck first in the third after Ely Brown and Javier Mogollón ripped back-to-back one-out singles before Calvin Harris worked a walk to jam the bases. George Wolkow went down swinging, but consecutive free passes to James Taussig and Kyle Lodise forced home two runs.
The Dash blew things open an inning later with a five-run fourth. With the bases loaded and one out, Harris, Wolkow, and Taussig tattled off three straight RBI singles before Lodise grounded into a force play that should have ended the rally. Instead, an error by the second baseman allowed two more runs to score, giving the Dash a 7-0 lead.
The Cyclones got a couple of charity runs in the fourth thanks to a Lodise miscue, but the Dash weren’t about to let up. Mogollón worked a walk in the sixth, Harris smoked an RBI double, and it was 8-2. The bases filled up again in the seventh, and a pair of ground outs from Wes Kath and Brown tacked on two more.
Dash Starter Dylan Carmouche was nails. He tossed five innings, giving up four hits, not a single earned run, and three punchouts. Christian Oppor tried to make things interesting in the eighth when he hit the leadoff man, then lost the plot with three wild pitches and a pair of walks. Jesús Méndez came on in relief and coughed up a two-run double. Brooklyn chipped away, and the Cyclones scraped together two more in the ninth, but the Dash never really broke a sweat, coasting home 10-6.
MVP
Calvin Harris: 2-for-4, R, 2 RBI, BB
Runners-Up
Ely Brown 2-for-5, 2 R, RBI, BB
James Taussig: 1-for-4, 2 RBI, BB, 3 K
Kyle Lodise: 1-for-2, R, 2 RBI, 3 BB
Kaleb Freeman: 1-for-3, R, 2 BB
Dylan Carmouche: 5 IP, 2 R (0 ER), 0 BB, 3 K
Cold Cat
Christian Oppor: no outs, 0 H, 2 R, 2 BB
Kannapolis Cannon Ballers vs. Salem RidgeYaks (postponed)
The makeup game will be on Wednesday, July 29.
DSL White Sox 3, DSL Blue Jays Blue 2 (7 innings)
The DSL Sox (16-23) jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the second, thanks to Orlando Patino, who singled, stole second and then scampered home on a wild pitch. The Jays answered right back with a pair in the bottom half, but that was all the noise they’d make. The Sox took the lead for good in the third on back-to-back walks to Josiel Veras and Fernando Graterol, a wild pitch, and Carlos Vielma’s and Ronald Cardozo’s RBI base hits. That was the scoring, full stop. Hurlers Jhoriel De La Rosa and Erlyn Lauriano pitched three clean innings out of the pen for the Sox over the final frames.
MVP
Carlos Vielma: 2-for-4, RBI
Runners-Up
Ronald Cardozo: 1-for-3, RBI, K
Fernando Graterol: 0-for-2, R, 2 BB, K
Orlando Patino: 1-for-2, R, BB
Nestor Perez: 1-for-2, BB
Jhoriel De La Rosa: 2/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 K, S
Erlyn Lauriano: 2 1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, BB, W
Cold Cat
Jose Taveras: 4 IP, 3 H, 2 R, BB, 5 K
Sebastian Romero: 0-for-4, 3 K
Felix Lebron: 0-for-3, 3 K
Samuel Luis: 0-for-3, 2 K
DSL White Sox 8, DSL Blue Jays Blue 7 (July 27 — 7 innings)
The DSL White Sox dug themselves a 5-0 grave by the fourth, but then Sebastian Romero, All-Star and serial dinger-hitter, launched his ninth bomb of the year. His two-run shot put the Good Guys on the board. The Jays tacked on two more in the sixth, but the Sox, apparently not dead yet, hung a crooked four in the bottom half. Carlos Vielma walked, Fernando Graterol singled, and Romero knocked in another. The line kept moving as Orlando Patino took his base, Felix Lebron ripped a two-run double, and suddenly it was 7-6. Then came the bottom of the seventh, and chaos. Graterol singled, and a wild pitch moved him to second base. Romero whiffed, Patino walked, Lebron walked, Samuel Luis walked — tie game, 7-7. Nestor Perez, patient as a saint, drew the walk-off walk.
MVP
Sebastian Romero: 2-for-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, HR
Runners-Up
Felix Lebron: 1-for-3, 3 RBI, 2B, CS, E
Fernando Graterol: 4-for-4, 3 R
Orlando Patino: 1-for-2, 2 R, 2 BB, K
David Colmenares: 3 2/3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 5 K
Cold Cat
Ronald Kelly: 2/3 IP, 3 H, 5 R (4 ER), 2 BB, 2 K
Christopher Romero: 1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 3 BB, K
Dionys Medina: 0-for-3
