With the bulk of its smash-mouth offense now on the White Sox roster, a new game plan is emerging for the Charlotte Knights: solid pitching, including more lefty/righty matchups from the bullpen, and timely hitting up and down the lineup. And the team utilized that blueprint to perfection Thursday with a sweep of a twinbill in Jacksonville, 4-2 in the opener and 4-3 in the nightcap.
The Knights paired their young aces, Jonathan Stiever and Jimmy Lambert, in the doubleheader.
Stiever got off to a slow start, surrendering four hits, a walk and two runs in the first two innings. But he settled in and gave up just one hit over his next three frames. Two of the Knights’ more effective relievers of late, Kodi Medeiros and Nik Turley, finished off the seven-inning affair with minimal drama.
The hitting star of game one was Blake Rutherford, who socked a two-run homer in the first and an excuse-me, pop-up RBI single just beyond the shortstop’s glove in the second. Nate Nolan added an RBI double in the second to finish off the Knights’ scoring.
It was the same formula in game two — with a different cast of players stepping up in crunch time. Zach Remillard led off the first with a solo shot, his fifth. Remillard is a different hitter since an awful slump two weeks ago, stepping up at a time when the team needs more offensive contributors.
Nick Williams also came through with two doubles, a single and two RBI. New Knight Ti’Quan Forbes chipped in a single and key sac fly in the sixth to drive in what would prove to be the winning run.
Lambert started and was just good enough, giving up six hits and three earned runs over five innings. The key moment of the game occured in the bottom of the sixth when Hunter Schryver took the mound and immediately dug himself in a huge hole by walking the first two hitters. The pressure mounted as the Jumbo Shrimp’s Brad Miller executed a sac bunt, but Schryver struck out Joe Dunand for the second out of the inning.
Manager Wes Helms then brought in a righty, Danny Dopico, who got Zack Zehner to ground out to end the threat. Zack Burdi tossed a 1-2-3 seventh to nail down the team’s third win in a row in Florida.
Until last week, each Knights’ reliever pretty much got a full inning of work in an outing, regardless of results. But now that the relievers have had sufficient appearances and innings, Helms is more apt to mix and match as needed. And it proved pivotal tonight.
Roster News
The Knights added infielder Johan Cruz from Winston-Salem to its roster today. Cruz is hitting .221 on the season and the motivation for the promotion is unclear. But Tim Beckham has been playing through a leg issue and it eventually forced his removal from last Saturday’s game, and he has not been in the lineup since.
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, if on a mobile device) and click the SUBSCRIBE button. Our list is completely spam free, and you can opt out at any time. Also, consider supporting FutureSox on Patreon! You will get early access to special articles and Patreon-only posts, in addition to more benefits. Shop our exclusive merchandise! Show your support with the latest FutureSox apparel.