Nashville Sounds 7, Charlotte Knights 0 (Statcast Box) The Knights (59-72) lost their fourth straight game and were shut out in back-to-back contests. Charlotte’s offense had four hits, but didn’t have many opportunities to score and went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position — and the six runs they left on base still wouldn’t have been enough to defeat Nashville. Joshua Palacios, Andre Lipcius, Dominic Fletcher, and Jacob Amaya each had one of the four hits, but the Knights were never able to make
anything happen.
Chase Plymell was out for his second start of the season, serving as the opener for Charlotte, but he unfortunately lasted only two outs and gave up four runs immediately in the bottom of the first — starting the game off by giving up a solo shot. Plymell gave up an RBI base hit and he threw a wild pitch that brought in the third run of the game for the Sounds, and Charlotte decided to go to the bullpen after that to bring in Kyle Tyler, though one more run would be charged to Chase.
The Knights ended up using seven pitchers to get out of this one, and Jairo Iriarte accounted for the remaining three runs after loading the bases in the bottom of the seventh on three walks before exiting the game to leave Zach Franklin attempt to clean up his mess. Big time spoiler alert: Nashville put up three more runs before shutting down Charlotte for the remaining two innings to end the game.
Knoxville Smokies 11, Birmingham Barons 1
The Smokies (60-64) jumped on the Barons (75-51) early and never let up, while the Birmingham offense only mustered five hits compared t0 Knoxville’s 21 and took an 11-1 loss while dropping the series. The lone run from the Barons came in the bottom of the first inning after William Bergolla and Sam Antonacci poked back-to-back hits to put runners on first and third, and Wilfred Veras accounted for the only Bham RBI of the game with a sacrifice fly.
With the offense struggling to reach base, the pitching staff was not doing their best work at keeping the Smokies from scoring. Connor McCullough wound up with his second loss of the season after giving up two runs in the top of the first, but the rest of the pitching staff did the majority of the damage. Jake Palisch allowed five earned on seven hits (including one homer) in his 1 1/3 innings, and Adisyn Coffey let up three on four hits. The entire pitching staff combined for four walks and eight strikeouts.
Winston-Salem Dash 5, Rome Emperors 0
The Dash (53-71) put up 10 hits and the pitching staff only allowed five while shutting out the Emperors (54-68), 5-0. Caleb Bonemer had an excellent night, going 3-for-4 with 10 total bases due to a double and two solo bombs to account for three of the five Winston-Salem runs driven in. Two other Dash hitters had multi-hit nights — Samuel Zavala and Jackson Appel. Even though they were able to score five, Winston-Salem went 1-for-15 with runners in scoring position and still left 10 on base.
On the other side of the ball, Christian Oppor set the tone nicely with five solid innings with two hits, a walk, and six strikeouts, and earned his first win of the season. The bullpen took over in the sixth and combined for three hits given up with two walks, though Nick Altermatt was the only reliever that struck out a batter (three on the night, in the sixth and seventh).
Jack Young was out for the bottom of the ninth, and the Emperors had put two on base before the Dash were able to shut it down and win the series to close out the weekend.
Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 4, Salem Red Sox 1
The Cannon Ballers (60-66) were out-hit by the Red Sox (52-72), but the Kannapolis pitching gave up just one unearned run as they defeated Salem, 4-1, to take five of six in the series. Ricardo Brizuela made his 22nd start of the season, and was efficient through three before getting into a bit of trouble in the top of the fourth — ultimately giving up the one run on four hits, alongside two walks and four strikeouts.. Kanny was able to score first, however, and posted all four runs of the game in the bottom of the first with four consecutive hits, two stolen bases, a fielder’s choice, and balk to cap it off.
Jordan Sprinkle and Ely Brown started the game with singles and a stolen base apiece, scoring off of a George Wolkow double to right on the next at-bat to make it 2-0. Colby Shelton drove in the third on an RBI ground out, and the final run was handed over by the Red Sox when pitcher Jose Bello balked in a run. Sprinkle was the only Baller with two hits on the day and also stole a second base in the bottom of the second, though Wolkow accounted for two RBIs.
Though the defense made two errors, the bullpen was on point for the rest of the game, and righthander Madison Jeffrey earned the win after 1 2/3 scoreless innings on just one hit and two strikeouts. Gabriel Rodriguez and Jesús Mendez both shut things down in their final 3 2/3 innings, combining for three hits and three strikeouts, with Mendez recording the save.
