With Jake Burger at designated hitter instead of second base, all eyes were on Knights’ starter Jonathan Stiever. For three innings he flashed the tantalizing upside that makes him the FutureSox No. 6 prospect. But then it all came crashing down in the fourth, when he surrendered a triple, single and two home runs on the way to a 7-3 loss to the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp in Charlotte.
Stiever was near-perfect to start the contest, giving up a lone single while striking out four across nine outs. Both his fastball and breaking pitch were working and it took him just 37 pitches to get through those three frames. For his final 2.1 innings, however, it was the exact opposite: seven hits, including four homeruns, and a laborious 53 pitches.
Perhaps the problem was because the fourth inning was Stiever’s second time through the Jacksonville batting order. Or maybe it was a sudden loss of control, a combination of both or something completely different.
While Stiever struggled, the offensive highlight was yet another homerun for Tim Beckham, who swatted the first pitch in his first at bat for his sixth homer in his last 13 at bats, giving him eight in his last 10 games and sixth this week. Oddly, all have been solo shots.
Early in this one, the Knights’ offense looked like it would continue the assault on Jacksonville pitching that began two nights ago. They had multiple runners on base, but couldn’t get a big hit or two to jump out to a nice early lead, ending the game 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
Tonight’s Pitching
Stiever, Will Carter and Tyler Johnson combined for just one walk in seven innings tonight. That follow’s Thursday’s game when Mike Wright walked the first batter of the game for what would be the only Knights’ free pass for the ball game. These two efforts represent a far cry from the rest of the season and hopefully portend better days ahead for the staff.
The exception tonight was Ofreidy Gomez, who walked three Jumbo Shrimp in two innings. The recent call-up from Birmingham has now walked six in his 4.2 innings in Charlotte after seven free passes in 16.2 innings in Birmingham. Zaleski said it is a normal response for pitchers making the transition from Birmingham to extremely-hitter-friendly Charlotte.
Saturday’s starter
Jimmy Lambert, who has pitched brilliantly in his last two starts, gets the ball Saturday for the Knights.
Photo credit: Sean Williams/FutureSox
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