Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 3, Charlotte Knights 1 (7 innings, Game 1) (Statcast box)
The Knights fell short in the opener of today’s doubleheader against Jacksonville.
Jacksonville scored a run in each of the first three innings against Knights starter Sean Burke. In the first, Joe Mack hit an RBI double, and Burke gave up some additional sharp contact in the second and third frames. Kemp Alderman went deep in the second, and Mack homered in the third. Fortunately, both of those homers were solo shots,
and Burke recovered to finish with the minimum requirements for a quality start (six innings, three earned runs).
Despite Burke’s recovery, the Knights did not have enough offense to complete a comeback. In the sixth, Corey Julks led off with a double, and with one out, Andre Lipcius launched a double of his own. However, that was the first and last run for the Knights in this game, and Jacksonville held on for a 3-1 victory.
Charlotte Knights 3, Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 2 (7 innings, Game 2) (Statcast box)
The Knights (60-74) staged a big-time rally in the top of the seventh to split the doubleheader against Jacksonville (79-55).
Charlotte’s starting pitcher was [redacted], who kept the Jumbo Shrimp off the board until the bottom of the fourth. Nathan Martorella went deep on a changeup, and Alderman followed with a solo blast on a fastball. Those back-to-back jacks gave Jacksonville a 2-0 lead.
It appeared that those two runs would be enough for the Jumbo Shrimp to come out on top for the doubleheader sweep. Jacksonville took the 2-0 lead into the top of the seventh, and reliever Zach McCambley was in control, retiring the first two batters. Suddenly, the Knights were down to their last out, but they were not done quite yet.
Jacob Amaya hit a liner that Jacksonville left fielder Matthew Etzel nearly caught, but he could not make the play. Amaya pulled up at second with a double to extend the game, and Dru Baker singled to put runners at the corners. Caden Connor kept the rally going with an RBI single, and up to the plate stepped Corey Julks. With a 2-2 count, Julks and the Knights were down to their last strike, but Julks delivered a clutch double to put the Knights in front.
Reliever Peyton Pallette took over to pitch the bottom of the seventh, and he was very effective. Pallette faced four batters, issuing one walk and striking out the other three. As a result, the Knights won this thriller, 3-2. What a game.
Birmingham Barons 8, Chattanooga Lookouts 0
The Barons (76-52) continued their winning ways with a dominant victory over the Lookouts (67-57).
Many Barons had strong performances, and starting pitcher Lucas Gordon, 23, led the effort. Gordon pitched five shutout innings, and by the time his outing was over, the Barons were firmly in control. This was Gordon’s second game in Double-A, as he was just promoted from Winston-Salem. All things considered, this was a fantastic performance for Gordon, who the Lookouts only managed to get two hits against.
Rikuu Nishida led off the game by drawing a walk for the Barons. After Nishida advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt, Wilfred Veras drove him in with an RBI single. That single gave the Barons an early lead, and they led from that point onward.
In the fourth, DJ Gladney padded the lead with a two-run homer with two outs. That blast tripled Birmingham’s lead, and the Barons’ situation only improved from there. Birmingham scored one in the sixth and four in the eighth to pull away from Chattanooga. Birmingham’s biggest hit during the four-run inning was a bases-clearing triple by Sam Antonacci.
Greenville Drive 5, Winston-Salem Dash 0
The Dash (54-72) could not get anything going on offense, only picking up two hits and failing to score against Greenville (64-64).
Dash starter Frankeli Arias, 22, had some control issues, as he walked four in three innings. However, Arias kept the game within reach by only allowing one run. That run scored on a walk with the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the third, and from that point forward, the Drive had the lead.
The Dash relievers allowed four runs (three earned) in six innings, so overall, it was not a horrible day, but it was not a great one, either. However, even if the Dash relievers were perfect, it would not have mattered. Scoring opportunities were hard to find for Winston-Salem, who finished 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position.
Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 6, Augusta GreenJackets 2
The Cannon Ballers (62-66) put up a big fourth inning to pull away from the GreenJackets (65-60). As a result, Kannapolis is off to a 2-0 series lead in Augusta.
Cannon Ballers starter Justin Sinibaldi, 23, set the tone early on, scattering five hits in and only allowing one run in four hits. Sinibaldi is on a hot streak, as he has only allowed two runs in his last three starts, covering 13 1/3 innings.
Meanwhile, the Cannon Ballers offense got off to a slow start, but that changed rather quickly in the fourth. Jordan Sprinkle got hit by a pitch and did a Jordan Sprinkle thing, stealing his 75th base in 83 attempts this season. From there, Ely Brown, George Wolkow, and Anthony DePino drew three consecutive walks to force in the game’s first run. A productive ground out by Miguel Santos resulted in the second run, and Arxy Hernández drove in a pair with a timely single.
The GreenJackets got on the board in the fifth, and they added a run in the sixth to trim their deficit to two. However, that was as close as Augusta got the rest of the way. Kannapolis added two insurance runs in the ninth, when Sprinkle hit a sacrifice fly, and Brown picked up an RBI single.
Cannon Ballers reliever Liam Paddack, 22, was on a different level in this game. Paddack faced nine hitters, and he retired all of them, striking out eight of them. Yep, Paddack really struck out eight out of nine batters he faced. Paddack struck out the first seven batters he faced until John Estevez finally broke the streak with a ground out.
