***Updated 9:20am to reflect Recchia injury, wasn’t Montas’ slot***
Toledo 6, Knights 2
It was a rough night in Charlotte. Brad Penny was the (extremely) hard luck pitcher – the former All-Star gave up no earned runs in four innings, while he struck out and walked one batter each. Sadly, an unearned run due to errors led to Penny taking the loss in Charlotte. Offensively only Leury Garcia, Jason Coats and Dan Black could muster hits. Garcia and Black each drove in a run and Black had two hits to his name, including a double. Trayce Thompson was able to continue his impressive start to the season by walking and showing patience while Bizarro Jared Mitchell appeared and had three walks and no strike outs – though the lack of hits keeps his average at .057. Javy Guerra gave up two runs in his rehab assignment while he remains on the DL and Maikel Cleto continued his impressive scoreless run to begin the year, pitching 2.1 innings.
Jacksonville 6, Birmingham 5
In a strange twist, Nolan Sanburn started for the Barons after Mike Recchia was scratched from his start due to an unspecified injury. Frankie Montas has been suspiciously absent since he last appeared on April 20, so that’s another mystery, but this wasn’t his day to start anyway. It was a bad start for Sanburn who gave up three runs in 1.2 innings and walked three batters. Tyler Barnette and Kyle Hansen weren’t able to stop the damage in relief, so the Barons’ surrendered the game after the Suns got a run in the eighth. Jacob May continued his hot streak, going 1-4 with a double and sporting a .311 average while Tim Anderson got out of his funk and had two hits and an RBI to bring his average to .329 – though he was also ejected from the game for arguing his caught stealing. Jeremy Farrell went 2-4 with an RBI and Marcus Lemon had two RBIs off a triple.
Winston-Salem 5, Potomac 3
Adam Engel, Jake Peter and Trey Michalczewski led the way for the Dash with five hits atop the order – Peter and Michalczewski each getting two hits and two RBIs. Meanwhile, Engel scored twice and had two walks while raising his average to .313. Interestingly, starter James Dykstra had to leave after three innings of one hit ball where he struck out one and walked another. Dykstra has been off to a scorching start this year, but the good news according to the Dash is that it was just back tightness while warming up for the 4th. Michael Ynoa pitched two innings and gave up no hits or runs while walking two and striking out three.
Kannapolis 3, Greenville 2
Days when Jordan Guerrero and James Dykstra pitch have been a treat this year for Sox fans. Guerrero went eight innings of one run ball where he struck out five and only walked two. His ERA is sitting at a sterling 0.69 as he’s been toying with A-ball hitters. If Dykstra is out for any extended time with an injury (which is possible but not likely), it can be expected that Guerrero could get called up to take his place. On offense Eddy Alvarez continued to impress from the leadoff spot by going 1-3 with a walk and is now hitting .297 on the year while Christian Stringer and Mason Robbins each had two hits and an RBI, with Stringer tossing a double in there.
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