The juggernaut that is the Durham Bulls were even more amped up than normal as they rolled into Charlotte this past week seeking to wrap up the Southeastern Division crown. In the end, their relentless offense proved too much for Knights’ pitching, taking five of six while pounding out 24 extra-base knocks, stealing 10 bags and hitting .291.
While the Bulls were playing for a regular-season championship, these were not meaningless games for Charlotte. A strong finish by a Knights’ player could put him in the conversation for a post-season or taxi-squad roster spot, depending upon injuries, slumps or match-up needs in Chicago. That’s especially the case for the 10 Knights on the 40-man roster. These are the last few weeks to impress.
A Closer Look At The Pitching
With so much on the line, the pitching stats were not pretty — 54 innings, 65 hits, 24 walks and 37 earned runs. But there were bright spots, including starters Jimmy Lambert, Kade McClure and John Parke.
McClure and Parke each gave up two earned runs over five innings, and Lambert yielded one earned run over 4.2 innings. It was a two-start week for the team’s other starter, Alex McRae, with mixed results. McRae stubbed his toe in his first outing, giving up five hits and three earned runs in three innings. While he only lasted 3.2 innings and gave up six hits in his second start, he repeatedly escaped jams and managed to hold the Bulls to just one earned run.
Kyle Kubat has quietly had a nice year as a long reliever turned opener turned starter, and he had a solid outing versus the Bulls with just two earned runs over 4.2 innings.
A few relievers also stood out, especially three guys up from Birmingham: Anderson Severino, Bennett Sousa and Peter Tago.
Severino continued to dazzle, tossing four innings with just one hit and six strikeouts. It is still a small sample, but Severino has now made 10 appearances for the Knights, pitching 11 innings and yielding just six hits and four walks while striking out 18.
Sousa and Tago made two appearances on the week, with 2.0 and 2.1 scoreless frames, respectively. Nik Turley was the other Knights’ reliever who also kept the Bulls off the scoreboard in his two innings of relief.
Matt Foster, Hunter Schryver, Kevin McCarthy, Kodi Medeiros, Will Carter andTanner Banks had trouble locating the zone and/or found too much of it. Either way, the stats weren’t good.
Harkening back to some of the pitching staff’s uglier days early in the season, the Knights were plagued by 24 walks, nine wild pitches and 10 of 11 stolen bases for the Bulls. The rest of the team didn’t exactly rise up to help the staff: it committed six fielding errors, had a passed ball, grounded into seven double plays and ran into outs on the base paths.
A Closer Look At The Hitting
The Knights’ offense, meanwhile, has struggled the past few weeks, pretty much since the September 1 call-ups of Gavin Sheets and Romy Gonzalez, and the end of Yasmani Grandal’s rehab. That’s a lot of firepower to lose all at once.
But the team actually rebounded this week against a talented Bulls’ pitching staff, smashing 11 homers, two triples, six doubles but just .237 overall. The Knights are very aggressive hitters, sometimes to the displeasure of the coaching staff, and only worked 13 walks in the six games.
Mikie Mahtook led the way with four long balls and seven RBI on the week. He’s another guy who’s quietly had a nice season, including a team-leading 25 homers and a slash line of .263/.328/.543. He’s also played a solid centerfield this year for the Knights.
It was a nice bounce-back week as well for Blake Rutherford, who had a team-high eight hits (in 22 at bats). Danny Mendick also chipped in eight hits.
Ti’Quan Forbes looks increasingly at home in Triple-A and he added four hits and a walk in 15 plate appearances. Micker Adolfo had just three hits and two walks in 20 PAs, but two were home runs of the window-rattling variety. The guy has crazy raw power that slowly but surely is translating into in-game power. These final 10 games are so important to Adolfo.
Jake Burger had just two hits, and one home run, in 19 at bats, but the results were a bit more bad luck than anything. And Matt Reynolds continued doing what he has done all year — find ways to get on base. Reynolds leads the current roster of Knights in OBP (.373), adding two walks and three hits in 14 PAs this week.
Up Next
The team will take two days off before returning on Wednesday for the final five home games of the season, against the Norfolk Tides. The Knights are 17-13 against the Orioles’ affiliate the season.
Photo credit: Caleb Probst/FutureSox
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