Jake Burger hit his third home run in as many games as the feel-good comeback story continued last night in Charlotte’s 9-2 loss to the Norfolk Tides.
“He is really locked in to his approach and what he wants to do, and he doesn’t come out of it,” manager Wes Helms said. “He does it in his cage preparation, his BP and it is starting to show in games. At this level, it is not about see-ball, hit-ball. You have to have an approach and you have to stay in it. These pitchers rely on these guys to come out of their approaches and get themselves out and Jake’s not doing that.”
Blake Rutherford and Reynaldo Lopez also had good games. Making his first start since surgery on both corneas on May 2, Lopez pitched five innings, scattering four hits, giving up two earned runs and one home run while walking three and striking out eight.
“He looked good,” Helms said. “I was very pleased with what I saw. You could tell toward the end he got a little tired but overall he was overpowering and locating his pitches really well.”
There was a tense moment in the first inning when Lopez doubled over and appeared to be injured, but Helms said that his starter actually lost a contact lens.
Rutherford, meanwhile, had two line-drive singles.
“He is staying on the ball really good,” Helms said. “That’s Blake’s swing. Stay on the ball, drive the ball the other way, not try to hook it. When he does that, he’s going to have really good-quality at bats and make good contact. His homers are going to come, his doubles are going to come. The bat’s staying in the zone a long time and that’s what we need to see from Blake.”
SCANNING THE BOX SCORE
It was another rough night for the bullpen. The exception was Jacob Lindgren, who needed only 16 pitches to record five outs while giving up just one hit. But it was a different story for Alex McRae, Tayron Guerrero, Kodi Medeiros and Tyler Johnson. In 2.1 innings, the foursome gave up seven earned runs, eight hits and seven walks.
The bullpen has been so inconsistent so far that opponents’ lineups have batting around in an inning five times through just eight games. But Helms believes the bullpen will get itself on track. “We want our pen to be able to come in and dominate,” he said. “We want to attack the zone and attack the hitter and right now haven’t really done that. It is early. Maybe they are trying to do a little too much. Maybe they are over-throwing just a little bit, which might tweak their mechanics a little. As we move forward, there will be a plan to get these guys locked in and get them to dominate like they should be.”
KNIGHTS LINEUP
Helms is settling into a regular lineup with Rutherford hitting second, followed by Burger, Sheets and Zavala. Matt Reynolds, who hit leadoff with two hits tonight, continues to share middle-infield duties with Marco Hernandez and Tim Beckham.
OPPONENTS STAR WATCH
The majority of the Oriole’s top prospects are in the lower minor leagues. But several of the Tides had nice games tonight, including Stevie Wilkerson, Austin Wynns and Brett Cumberland, each of whom had two hits each. Wilkerson also hit his first home run of the season.
NEXT UP
The Knights battle the Norfolk Tides, the Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, on Thursday in game 3 of this six-game homestand. Mike Wright is on the mound for Charlotte.
Photo credit: Sean Williams/FutureSox
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