Knights take the lead!
— Charlotte Knights (@KnightsBaseball) April 17, 2019
With the bases loaded and two outs, Alcides Escobar reaches on an error and Seby Zavala alertly hustles home from second.
Mid-6: Knights lead 3-2 in Gwinnett. #704Knights pic.twitter.com/5gUg5ga9TQ
Charlotte Knights 10, Gwinnett Stripers 6 (11)
Charlie Tilson (CF): 3-for-5, 2 R, 3 RBI (8), BB, K, SB (2), .381 AVG, 1.042 OPS **MVP**
Nicky Delmonico (1B): 1-for-6, 2B (6) 3 RBI (5), .261 AVG, .821 OPS
Seby Zavala (C): 1-for-5, 2 R, 3 K, .190 AVG, .608 OPS
Preston Tucker (LF): 2-for-3, 2 R, 2 BB, .375 AVG, 1.023 OPS
Alcides Escobar (SS): 2-for-5, R, RBI (8), .359 AVG, .930 OPS
Matt Skole (DH): 0-for-4, RBI (8), 3 K, .289 AVG, 1.015 OPS
Jordan Guerrero (SP): 5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 7.62 ERA, 99 pitches/55 strikes
Aaron Bummer (RP): 2 IP, 0.00 ERA, H (1), 21 pitches/15 strikes
Thyago Vieira (RP): 2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, K, 4.50 ERA
Evan Marshall (RP): IP, BB, 2 K, 0.00 ERA, W (3-0)
Caleb Frare (RP): IP, H, R, 3 K, 3.00 ERA, 17 pitches/13 strikes
What a wild one in Lawrenceville! Charlotte was up, 3-2, in the eighth, when the Stripers rallied for two runs off of Thyago Vieira to take the lead back, 4-3. With two out and two on in the top of the ninth, Charlotte down to its last strike, Nicky Delmonico stroked his only hit of the game, a double, to give the Knights the lead, 5-4. You can see where this is going. Somehow after an awful eighth, Vieira remained in the game, trying to cherry-pick a win. No dice. Vieira pulled the old single-walk-sac bunt-hit by pitch-game tying ground out to send the game to extras.
Once there, Charlotte went out in the 10th but were in a jam on their end: Evan Marshall wild-pitched Gwinnett’s leadoff runner on second to third with none out, then promptly whiffed two and a tap back to the mound to put out the fire.
In the 11th, the Knights erupted, as Alcides Escobar had an RBI double, Charlie Tilson a two-run single, and RBI outs from Delmonico and Matt Skole gave Caleb Frare a five-run pad to close it out. The series is now deadlocked, as the Knights moved to 8-5.
KISS IT GOODBYE @ymercedes73 launches his second homer of the season to put Birmingham up 2-0 on the @JaxShrimp! pic.twitter.com/YcBfB9FtS7
— Birmingham Barons (@BhamBarons) April 16, 2019
Birmingham Barons 3, Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 1
Micker Adolfo (DH): 0-for-2, 2 BB, 2 K, CS (2), PO (1, first base), .154 AVG, .525 OBP
Yermin Mercedes (C): 2-for-4, R, RBI (4), BB, K, HR (2), .381 AVG, 1.125 OPS
Ti’quan Forbes (3B): 1-for-2, R, 2 BB, .143 AVG, .619 OPS
Ramón Torres (LF): 2-for-3, BB, K, .429 AVG, 1.071 OPS, assist at home plate
Jimmy Lambert (SP): 6 IP, 9 H, ER, 6 K, HR, PO (1), W (1-1), 2.25 ERA, 85 pitches/61 strikes **MVP**
Matt Foster (RP): 2 IP, 2 K, BB, H (1), 0.00 ERA, 27 pitches/20 strikes
Holy moly, it was a theft at midday by the visiting Barons: Just six hits (nine for JAX), 1-of-12 with RISP, 12 left on base — and a win.
Credit Jimmy Lambert for much of the miracle, as he pitched pretty superbly given the fact that he played in traffic for much of his outing. But six Ks will do a lot to cancel out nine hits. Yeah, well, eight of ’em were singles, the only damage done to Lambert, and the Barons on the whole, was a solo shot from Justin Twine, with one out in the fourth. Relievers Matt Foster (hold) and Mauricio Cabrera held the Shrimp hitless the rest of the way.
Wherefore the Barons O? The big, booming bat of the No. 50 man on the South Side Sox Top Prospect Poll, yo. That’s Yermin Mercedes, for those of you just skimming the site for the juicy stuff. Mercedes hit his second HR of the season, and for those of you sudokuing at home, that makes a total of two hit ... by entire Birmingham club ... in 12 games this season. They say Birmingham is where base hits go to die, but this is getting ridiculous.
Offensively, the only other big note, aside from all the young dudes like Laz Rivera, Joel Booker and Luis González continuing to slump, is that Micker Adolfo was ridiculous today on the basepaths. Good news: He got on twice, with walks. Bad news: he was picked off and caught stealing in the third inning. Get that kid out in right field, Ryan Newman, he’s got wheels to burn!
The best kind of #SoxMath (cc: @jasonbenetti)
— Winston-Salem Dash (@WSDashBaseball) April 17, 2019
Luis Robert + @NickMadrigal_3 = one run in the third
+ Robert: single, run scored
+ Madrigal: RBI single
It's a 2-2 ballgame against Wilmington heading to the fourth!
: @HypeTheEngineer pic.twitter.com/zdZ97OpUdP
Wilmington Blue Rocks 4, Winston-Salem Dash 3
Luis Robert (CF): 2-for-3, R, K, SB (5), CS (2), .489 AVG, 1.495 OPS
Nick Madrigal (2B): 1-for-4, RBI (10), .341 AVG, .817 OPS
Tyler Frost (RF): 3-for-4, R, 2 2B (5), K, .273 AVG, .721 OPS **MVP**
Zach Remillard (SS): 2-for-4, R, HR (1), 2 RBI (7), .283 AVG, .756 OPS, E (3)
John Parke (SP): 5 IP, 3 H, 3 R/1 ER, 3 K, 3 BB, 2.25 ERA, 84 pitches/53 strikes
Will Kincanon (RP): 2 IP, 3 H, R, 3 K, 1.93 ERA, 20 pitches/16 strikes, L (0-2), E (2)
Codi Heuer (RP): 2 IP, H, 2 K, 0.00 ERA, 20 pitches/15 strikes
Tough-luck loss for the Dash, but it’s nobody’s fault but their own. Three errors on the day haunted W-S, as just two of the Blue Rocks runs were earned. The killer blow came in the seventh inning, when Will Kincanon threw errantly to first on a pickoff attempt, with the runner advancing to second and coming around later in the inning to score what would be the deciding run. Sidebar, when I used to do my own homebrew game score for White Sox pitchers back when I was on the beat, the one earned run exception I made was when the pitcher himself made the error that led to runs; seems like a weird loophole; Kincannon could have thrown that ball to the moon on the pickoff and not gotten touched by having the run he eventually let in be earned.
With the bats, it was a languid day for the Dash. Tyler Frost did much to redeem his slow start, with a pair of doubles and three hits total. Zach Remillard hit his first home run of the season and had a strong offensive day as well. Luis Robert had two more hits, and is now 11 points shy of .500 for the season, which along with his ... uh, 1.495 OPS, simply must be a misprint.
Evan Skoug nearly gave the Intimidators their 2nd home run. https://t.co/enJx1NpSj2
— Dan Victor (@slydanno70) April 17, 2019
Delmarva Shorebirds 6, Kannapolis Intimidators 4
Steele Walker (CF): 2-for-4, 2B (5), RBI (8), BB, SB (2), .333 AVG, .955 OPS
Lenyn Sosa (SS): 0-for-4, 3 K, .283 AVG, .668 OPS
Michael Hickman (1B): 2-for-4, 2 2B (3), R, 2 RBI (2), K
Gunnar Troutwine (C): 0-for-3, R, K, BB, .333 AVG, .944 OPS, PB, E (2), PB (5)
Jonathan Stiever (SP): 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R/1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, HR, 6.00 ERA, 84 pitches/54 strikes
Sam Long (RP): 2 IP, H, 5 K, 0.00 ERA, 29 pitches/21 strikes **MVP**
Wilber Perez (RP): 2⁄3 IP, 2 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, K, 8.31 ERA, L (0-1), BS (1), 31 pitches/14 strikes
The Shorebirds are plum out of control, having won 10 of 11 games to start the season.
Kannapolis took a 3-2 lead in the fourth inning, and it last through the eighth — when the wheels fell off and Wilber Perez let Delmarva slingshot right past Kanny. Sam Long was murder on Delmarva, getting five of his six outs in the sixth and seventh innings via the K. Perez took the eighth and did almost the opposite — whiffing his first batter but a single and three walks later, a run was forced in, tying the game. A single, ground ball and wild pitch by reliever Bennett Sousa accounted for three more runs, putting the game out of reach. Steele Walker tapped a two-out RBI in the ninth to bring the tying run to the plate in the form of Lenyn Sosa — but Sosa K’d for the third time of the game, dropping the Intimidators to 4-7, six games behind the Shorebirds not two weeks into the season.