For those of us who thought having Eloy Jimenez in the lineup would make Knights’ games must-watch baseball, with a dominating offense that overpowered opponents, the first two games of this week’s home stand have been a massive disappointment. Tonight was especially ugly, as the Gwinnett Stripers pounded the punchless Knights 11-1.
Perhaps the most important news of the day happened off the field when starter Reynaldo Lopez was a healthy scratch amid speculation that either he or Jimmy Lambert is being considered for a spot start in Chicago next Monday when the Sox play the Twins in a double header.
After going hitless on Tuesday, Jimenez bounced back tonight with a solid single in the sixth, to go along with a hard liner in the first inning that knocked the glove off Gwinnett pitcher Kyle Muller’s hand and ended up being a fielder’s choice. Jimenez also had a strike out and ground out in four at bats.
The Knights have played subpar baseball this week, especially catcher Yermin Mercedes, who has had three passed balls in two games and flirted with several others. Zach Remillard also whiffed on an easy grounder tonight for an error. The offense mustered just six hits, was 0-5 with runners in scoring position and grounded into three double plays.
And, yet, it was Knights’ pitching that was especially brutal tonight.
Fill-in starter Matt Tomshaw got off to a miserable start, surrendering a one-out single and double before back-to-back homers. Tomshaw then righted the ship with four shut-out innings, but the worst was yet to come as Ofreidy Gomez and Hunter Schryver combined for nine hits, a walk and seven earned runs in two innings of work.
Scanning The Box Score
Nick Williams had two singles and an RBI groundout while Mercedes added a double off the center field wall along with two warning-track fly outs.
Will Carter struck out the side in the eighth and Keyvius Sampson tossed a clean ninth.
Triple-A Season Extended By 10 Games
In a crazy year in which baseball made rule changes on the fly, including dramatic modifications to minor-league schedules, in response to Covid, MLB announced today that it is adding 10 more games to the Triple-A season.
Most likely in an attempt to recover lost revenues from the cancellation of all minor-league games in April as well as post-season playoffs, the additional games are being billed as the “Triple-A Final Stretch Postseason Tournament.” The team with the best record in the 10 games will win a prize from MLB.
The Knights will play five more home games during Sept. 21-26 against the Norfolk Tides (Orioles), a team they will have already played in 30 of 120 games, and then five on the road at Memphis, an affiliate of the Cardinals that they Knights do not otherwise play this year. That series will be played Sept. 29-Oct. 3.
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