This is the first of three close games, and also the first of four losses for the Sox farm system. It was another pretty good performance by the starter, John Parke, who went five innings and only allowed two runs. The other three runs were split amonng three of the four bullpen arms. The only bullpener to not allow a run was lefty Kodi Medeiros, just off the injured list — though he did allow two runners on base in just one inning.
The offense was not good overall, with four runs off of six hits and no walks, but big names did big things so that is a-OK. Micker Adolfo got the first run of the game for the Knights with his sixth Triple-A homer. He struck out the other three times he went up to the plate, though, so it was a very Adolfo offensive day.
Micker Adolfo got ALL of this one!
— Charlotte Knights (@KnightsBaseball) September 5, 2021
Adolfo with a solo homer to put us on the scoreboard! pic.twitter.com/ri3qHEbD49
Jake Burger, a couple of innings later, launched his 16th Triple-A homer of the year. He also added a single to cap a two-hit night.
— Charlotte Knights (@KnightsBaseball) September 5, 2021
Jake Burger with his 16th homer of the season! pic.twitter.com/DmxQ0coXks
Other than that, it was not great. Later, Matt Reynolds hit the third homer of the day, but the Knights were not getting in much of a groove offensively to take a lead before the ninth. The Tides won the game off of a base-loaded, walk-off walk.
Poll
Who was the Knights MVP?
This poll is closed
-
82%
Jake Burger: 2-for-4, 1 HR, 0 BB, 1 K
-
17%
John Parke: 5 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 4 K
Poll
Who was the Knights Cold Cat?
This poll is closed
-
14%
Ti’Quan Forbes: 0-for-4, 0 BB, 2 K
-
85%
Lane Ramsey: 0 IP, 1 ER, 4 BB, 0 K
A close game throughout, but the Barons came up short in the ninth to lose. Johan Dominguez started the game and did his job, got weak contact and eventually left the game with a quality start. It has been a tough season for him, but this start was a good bounce-back from his previous outing, where he allowed seven runs. Andrew Pérez came in after and continued the run of good pitching with a shutout seventh, but Caleb Freeman got tagged for a homer in the eighth in what was the eventual winning run.
The pitching did their job to win, just three runs allowed, but the offense struggled all day. Only four batters had hits, with Tyler Neslony and Lenyn Sosa getting two hits each. In Neslony’s case, he had one of the two extra-base hits the Barons had today. That was basically it on offense, it was not a good day at all. Of note and possibly a concern, Yolbert Sánchez was pulled from the game after one at-bat.
Poll
Who was the Barons MVP?
This poll is closed
-
84%
Johan Dominguez: 6 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 3 K
-
10%
Tyler Neslony: 2-for-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 0 K
-
5%
Lenyn Sosa: 2-for-4, 1 RBI, 0 BB, 0 K
Poll
Who was the Barons Cold Cat?
This poll is closed
-
98%
Yoelqui Céspedes: 0-for-4, 0 BB, 3 K
-
1%
Caleb Freeman: 1 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 1 K
Another close game, and another loss for the White Sox farm system — this time, in extras. It was a sort of bullpen game for the Dash, so no pitcher really did poorly. The best of the six hurlers were Cooper Bradford and Edgar Navarro. Bradford was the first bulk guy, with three innings pitched. He did not allow a hit in his stint on the mound. Navarro only needed to go three batters, but he struck them all out.
The offense was on base enough to win, but they came up short when it mattered most with a 2-for-13 performance with runners in scoring position. José Rodríguez had two hits and reached base a third time on a walk, pushing his OPS back higher than .900. Everybody else had one or no hits. Duke Ellis, hitting .196, had the only extra-base hit — a double.
Poll
Who was the Dash MVP?
This poll is closed
-
60%
José Rodríguez: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 BB, 0 K
-
39%
Cooper Bradford: 3 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 2 BB, 1 K
Poll
Who was the Dash Cold Cat?
This poll is closed
-
60%
Jeremiah Burks: 0-for-4, 0 BB, 2 K
-
39%
Caberea Weaver: 0-for-4, 0 BB, 2 K
Matthew Thompson struggled mightily, and Kannapolis could not come back in their 8-2 loss. Thompson was only able to record one out, while allowing four runs. Command was not the problem, as he only threw nine balls to 29 strikes, but he allowed five hits. There’s not much you can do at that point, when everybody is getting hits off of you. The bullpen came up big after that, until the eighth inning, but it was enough to give the Cannon Ballers some hope. Rigo Fernández (3 2⁄3 ), Hunter Speer (2), and Corey Stone (1) combined for 6 2⁄3 innings of shutout baseball that eventually led to a 4-2 Down East lead after the top half of the eighth inning. The bottom half though, was not great, and the lead grew to 8-2.
Over to the offense, it was very bad. The team struck out 17 times, with just three hits and three walks. DJ Gladney has the biggest hit, a homer in the eighth inning, and he reached base twice overall. Just another note for the game, the Cannon Ballers had six errors too, so a pretty ugly even for Kannapolis standards.
Poll
Who was the Cannon Ballers MVP?
This poll is closed
-
76%
Rigo Fernández: 3 2⁄3 IP, 0 E, 2 H, 0 BB, 3 K
-
2%
Hunter Speer: 2 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 2 K
-
21%
DJ Gladney: 1-for-2 1 HR, 1 BB, 1 K
Poll
Who was the Cannon Ballers Cold Cat?
This poll is closed
-
4%
Adam Hackenberg: 0-for-4, 0 BB, 2 K, 1 Error
-
93%
Matthew Thompson: 1⁄3 IP, 3 ER (4 R), 5 H, 0 BB, 0 K
-
2%
Zach Cable: 1 IP, 2 ER (4 R), 2 BB, 1 K