The Charlotte Knights hitters got a rare opportunity to face major league pitching tonight. It was a valuable but difficult learning experience that ended in a 4-0 loss to Gwinnett.
The Braves’ farm team started Bryce Wilson, yet another Gwinnett starter who has spent time with the big league club in Atlanta. After Wilson stymied the Knights for five innings, Gwinnett handed the ball to three relievers with extensive major league experience: Jesse Chavez, Nate Jones and Sean Newcomb. Together, the Gwinnett staff fanned 13 Knights while giving up just four hits.
But The Knights staff held its own against Gwinnett. Starter Mike Wright wrestled with control early, but gave up just two runs in five innings while fanning eight.
“I thought Wright was dominant,” Manager Wes Helms said. “He’s a beast on the mound. He attacked the zone, he attacked the hitters. That’s what we want out of our pitchers. We want them to locate but go after guys, especially in this ballpark with nobody on base, we want them to attack that first hitter, and that’s what he did.”
Helms credited Wright with a brilliant play that caught a runner trying to steal home. On that play, the runner, Ryan Goins, was on third base, and the third baseman was playing off the bag. A runner was also on first base. Wright saw that Goins kept extending his lead a bit further down the line each pitch, so at one point he faked a pick-off attempt to first base, at which point Goins broke toward home. Wright then quickly turned and fired the ball to catcher Nate Nolan in time to get Goins.
“Wright has a good baseball mind,” Helms explained. “He saw Goins creeping more and more each pitch and he instinctively did that on his own. It shows you that he’s been around.”
Hunter Schryver followed Wright with a perfect 6th, and Danny Dopico tossed with a clean 7th. Dopico ran into trouble in the 8th, surrendering two runs, and Tayron Guerrero pitched a scoreless 9th. The Knights staff struck out 12 Gwinnett hitters.
Schryver is off to a nice start this season. In the opener on Tuesday, the 26-year-old lefty pitched two scoreless high-leverage innings (the 10th and 11th innings with a “placed” runner starting each inning on second base).
A SLUGGISH TEAM
Helms attributed some of the lack of offense to the team’s fatigue.
“It looked like our guys were sluggish and that’s normal,” he said. “This is the first time that our guys have played nine-inning games in a long time. They didn’t do it in spring training. They didn’t do it at the alternate site. You could tell they were a little slow, a little sluggish, and the other team was too. They didn’t bang the ball around.
“But the positives were our pitching. We saw a lot a lot of good things there. We attacked the zone. And we did hit some balls hard, we just hit it right at them.”
THE LINEUP
Veteran outfielder Brian Goodwin joined the Knights today but was not in the lineup.
Helms gave Nolan a spot start behind the plate and moved Seby Zavala to first base. Tim Beckham was the DH, with Matt Reynolds and Marco Hernandez manning the middle of the infield.
INJURY UPDATE
Jake Burger remained out of the starting lineup after leaving the opener on Tuesday with a tight quad. Understandably, the team is being especially cautious with Burger, who looked to be moving well in batting practice on Thursday.
SCANNING THE BOX SCORE
The offensive highlights were few — hard-hit doubles by Seby Zavala and Matt Reynolds. Gavin Sheets had a single, giving him hits in all three games this season and a .429 average (6-14).
OPPONENT’S STARS TO WATCH
Gwinnett’s Wilson, Chavez, Jones and Newcomb have a fair amount of major league experience, and were especially tough tonight. Wilson pitched 5 innings, giving up just four hits, no earned runs, one walk and five strikeouts. Chavez followed with two shutout innings, no hits one walk and four strikeouts. Jones locked down the 8th, with no hits and two strikeouts, and Newcomb pitched the 9th with two more strikeouts.
NEXT UP
Game 4 in the six-game opening series with Gwinnett is Friday night, with Felix Paulino starting for the Knights.
Photo credit: Clinton Cole/FutureSox
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