The Knights seem to be snakebit in Durham, having lost two very winnable games Wednesday and tonight on frustrating turns of events that led to two comeback wins by the resilient Bulls.
In Friday’s 3-2 loss, a routine fly to left fielder Blake Rutherford in the bottom of the 8th was lost in the haze of dusk and fell in for a hit, giving the Bulls an extra out, which they took advantage of. Later in the frame a two-run home run proved to be the game winner.
On Wednesday, the Knights punched across a run for a 4-3 lead in the top of the 10th, and had the bases loaded with no outs. But three strikeouts ended the threat with no additional scoring, setting the stage for a painful rally in the bottom half of the inning and ultimately a 5-4 loss.
The Bulls are a solid team, and the Knights have held their own this week, despite having lost three of four. It is a positive sign after the Knights struggled mightily in the opening week of the season against another of the top teams in the league, the Gwinnett Stripers.
The Knights had a chance to win tonight despite having only two hits in the game — solo homers by Jake Burger (his 5th) and Mikie Mahtook (his 2nd). Jimmy Lambert had his best outing of the season, giving up a home run to the Bulls’ leadoff hitter in the first and then shutting them down for three innings. He finished with five strikeouts, tossing 42 pitches, 26 of which were strikes.
Manager Wes Helms has had success in the young season piggy-backing Tanner Banks in long relief with Lambert, and he turned to that strategy again tonight with excellent results. Banks went three innings, allowed one hit, no runs and struck out four. Hunter Schryver pitched a clean 7th inning before giving way to Nik Turley for the 8th.
It was Turley’s first return to the mound since being tossed two nights ago after confronting the home plate umpire. Turley looked strong with good life on his fastball, though he struggled to get his breaking pitch over. He struck out the first batter and got the second hitter to send a lazy fly ball to left. But Rutherford never could pick it up and it fell for “a hit.”
Turley bounced back to get the next hitter to fly out to right, and appeared in good shape against a dangerous hitter, Josh Lowe. But he left a 2-2 pitch over the plate and Lowe hit a shot over the left field wall. Perhaps his inability to rely on his breaking pitch let Lowe see one too many fastballs.
The Knights then went 1-2-3 in the ninth for another tough loss to the Bulls.
Photo credit: Laura Wolff/Charlotte Knights
Want to know right away when we publish a new article? Type your email address in the box on the right-side bar (or at the bottom on a mobile device) and click create subscription. Our list is completely spam free and you can opt out at any time. Also, consider supporting FutureSox on Patreon! You can get early access to special articles and Patreon-only posts, in addition to more benefits.
Shop our exclusive merchandise! Show your support with FutureSox apparel.