Two teams in playoff races had big wins, but another two trying to catch up to a spot fell a run short…
Charlotte 3, Gwinnett 2
The Knights rode 7 innings of one-run pitching from Scott Carroll to victory in this one. Junior Guerra also allowed one run, in his two innings, in relief of Carroll. Matt Davidson‘s 2-run double and Rob Brantly‘s RBI single, both in the third inning, contributed just enough runs to eek it out.
Birmingham 11, Jacksonville 2
The Barons blotted out the Suns behind a 15-hit, 11-run attack as everyone in the lineup reached base at least once. Nick Delmonico booked a rare three-double day, but he wasn’t alone in the big hitting department. Christian Marrero was 2-3 with a 3-run home run and a walk, Tony Thomas went 3-5 with a triple, and three other players had multi-hit games (Joey DeMichele, Jeremy Dowdy, Marcus Lemon). Oddly enough, the three players in the lineup with the least stellar days may be the three most significant prospects in that lineup; Tim Anderson went 1-6 with 2 K, Jacob May 0-4 with a walk, and Danny Hayes 0-3 with (of course) 2 walks. Matt Heidenreich‘s second AA start was much better than his first, as he allowed just one run on two hits and two walks in six frames. Nolan Sanburn returned from the DL and threw a scoreless inning to end it.
Winston-Salem 5, Myrtle Beach 1
The Dash tightened their grip on the post-season behind a strong start from Yency Almonte. Almonte was acquired last August from the Angels in exchange for a month of Gordon Beckham‘s services, and he’s been having a very nice season across both levels of A-ball as a 20/21 year old. In this one he threw 8 innings of 1-run baseball, and so far in Advanced A he’s got a 2.36 ERA, 0.82 WHIP and just 7 walks (vs 20 K) in 34.1 IP. The offense provided a balanced attack, with Jake Peter, Keon Barnum and Michael Danner booking 2-hit days and everyone except Eddy Alvarez reaching base (yet another unexpected outcome). Adam Engel stole his 58th base of the season (4th best in all of minor league baseball) and Peter added his 22nd swipe.
Helena 3, Great Falls 2
The Voyagers lost the game on a walk-off hit and were swept in the series by the Helena Brewers. Lucas Shearrow put the team in a good place with his 4.2 innings of 1-run ball, and Johan Cruz hit his 4th home run in the 4th to give the team an early lead. But the offense only mustered one more run the rest of the way, and Danny Dopico allowed the 9th inning run. Joxelier Garcia went 2-4.
***Kannapolis and the AZL White Sox were off***
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