The Charlotte Knights opened BB&T Ballpark last night, but lost 8-6. Tonight they got in the win column at the beautiful new downtown stadium. Baseball America has a great story on the stadium, which is absolutely worth reading.
Knights 4, Norfolk 2
Tyler Saladino 2-5, 2B, HR, K
Carlos Sanchez 2-5, K
Josh Phegley 2-5, K
Matt Davidson 0-2, 2 BB, 2 K, error #1
Jared Mitchell 0-2, BB, SB #1
Charlie Leesman 5 IP, R, 4 K, 3 BB, 6 H
Barons 8, Jacksonville 2
Micah Johnson 2-4, HR, BB
Trayce Thompson 1-4, BB, 3 K
Chris Curley 3-4
Miguel Gonzalez 2-4, 2B, K
Terry Doyle 5.1 IP, 2 R, 5 K, 2 BB, 6 H
Wilmington 4, Dash 0
Jacob May 0-4, 2 K
Tim Anderson 0-3, 2 K, error #7
Courtney Hawkins 0-3
Keon Barnum 0-3, 3 K
Jason Coats 1-3, 2B, K
Braulio Ortiz 5 IP, 3 R, 1 ER, 7 K, 2 BB, 2 H
Tim Anderson has had a strange start to the season. His strike out rate is up to a very concerning 41% after sitting at a more respectable 25.9% last season. His power is also way up (.243 ISO this year vs. .086 ISO last year). Anderson also has seven errors.
Greenville 4, Intimidators 1
Adam Engel 0-4, BB, K
Cleuluis Rondon 0-5, K
Danny Hayes 2-5, 2B, K
Trey Michalczewski 2-3, BB, K
Carl Thomore 1-2, 2 BB, SB
Sean Bierman 5 IP, 4 R, 2 K, 3 BB, 4 H
Andre Wheeler 3 IP, 4 K, 2 BB, 1 H
Star of the day: Tyler Saladino
Saladino had a double and a home run tonight while batting leadoff for the Knights. After a pair of disappointing seasons spent primarily in AA Birmingham, Saladino is off to a hot start for Charlotte. He draws a lot of walks and showed big time power in 2011 with Winston-Salem. The power had evaporated in Birmingham. Maybe he’s getting back on track.
Tweets of note:
Another great crowd of 7,895 tonight! We’re currently ahead of the record-setting pace from the Jordan year with 30,199 in the first 4 games
— Birmingham Barons (@BhamBarons) April 12, 2014
So last night I saw really bad Tim Anderson but I also saw “holy shit” Tim Anderson. #whitesox
— CJ Wittmann (@CJWittJr) April 12, 2014
#whitesox RHP Braulio Ortiz FB 95-97 with heavy, heavy sink; broke Starling and Dozier’s bats. Arm slot varies, doesn’t repeat well.
— CJ Wittmann (@CJWittJr) April 12, 2014
Big Jim Thome threw out the first pitch at Triple-A Charlotte’s inaugural game at new park, as @joshlev44 reports http://t.co/Zv3yJVwPcv
— Matt Eddy (@MattEddyBA) April 12, 2014