Not much too see in Charlotte tonight as Eloy Jimenez got the night off and the Knights lost their fourth in a row to Gwinnett, 5-3.
The Knights have now lost six in a row, and the offense has been missing in action in the majority of those setbacks. The Knights actually got eight hits and five walks tonight, but grounded into three double plays and were just two for nine with runners in scoring position.
Only two of the eight hits were for extra bases: Deivy Grullon’s second home run in as many nights over the centerfield wall, and a Yermin Mercedes triple. Grullon’s blast was hit so high that it did not register on TrackMan. That’s too bad because it was hit quite hard, again, and I’m sure the exit velo was easily north of 100 mph.
Among tonight’s silver linings was the effort by the bullpen as Jace Fry, Zack Burdi and Matt Foster held Gwinnett scoreless for 3.1 innings, giving up just one hit and one walk while fanning five.
Fry and Foster were optioned to Charlotte today to make room for Aaron Bummer, who came off the IL, and Reynaldo Lopez, who was called up. In other roster moves, the Knights announced that Tim Beckham needed knee surgery that would sideline him for the rest of the season. Infielder Laz Rivera was promoted from Birmingham to fill Beckham’s spot. Jake Lamb also appeared in his first rehab game in Charlotte tonight and had a single in four trips.
The Knights also cleaned up their sloppy defense from earlier in the week and turned three double plays.
Alex McRae started and took the loss.
The game also featured a rarity — a “nine-unassisted” double play. After Mercedes tripled to open the bottom of the second, Luis Gonzalez came through with an RBI single. Matt Reynolds then hit a shot to the rightfield wall that appeared ticketed for extra bases.
Gonzalez took off for second and actually took a step or two toward third base before retreating to first base when the ball was caught. But the second-base umpire ruled that Gonzalez failed to tag second base on his way back to first and called him out. Because the rightfielder had the ball at the precise time that Gonzalez failed to step on second base, he was credited with the unassisted double play.
Photo credit: Sean Williams/FutureSox
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