Welcome back, Danny Mendick!
Down 4-0 in their final at bat, the Knights staged a dramatic 5-4 comeback highlighted by Mendick’s two-out, three-run walk-off home run. It was only Mendick’s second game with the Knights since his Aug. 26 demotion.
Making the win even more improbable, the Knights had just lost game one of today’s doubleheader in Charlotte to the Durham Bulls, 4-0, and appeared well on their way to another shutout by the same score in the nightcap.
Saturday’s win, in game number 100 of the season, was the fourth walk-off for the Knights in their past 11 games.
“We’ve got a group that grinds,” manager Wes Helms said. “When you’ve got Burger and Sheets, and now we’ve added Mendick and Romy, just the personalities of these guys. They don’t give up.”
“Even though we haven’t had a tremendous amount of wins this year, we are bringing the tying or winning run to the plate probably 60-70% of the time,” Helms continued. “We joke with them a lot about, hey, let’s try to get something going in the first five innings. But this team has shown that we might not jump on a team early, but we’re going to come after you late. That’s a good sign. They don’t give up.”
Unfortunately, the Knights didn’t have a rally in them in game one, when they mustered only three hits. But the lack of offense didn’t diminish a stellar outing by Jimmy Lambert.
In his 17th start of the season, Lambert pitched five innings of two-hit ball. But one of those hits was a home run (immediately after what appeared to be strike three), and the game turned.
Lambert had excellent command of his slider, as he has much of the season. But he also hit 96 on his fastball, a few ticks higher than normal. The boost in velocity may be the result of a greatly reduced workload in August as the White Sox attempt to keep him fresh for a spot start in Chicago in September.
“He’s starting to challenge hitters and his in-zone swing and misses are really good and getting higher and higher,” Helms said. “He’s starting to show signs of the pitcher we know he can be.”
A Closer Look: Game One
The Knights faced off against Shane Baz, the third-best pitching prospect in baseball (according to MLB.com), and hits were predictably hard to come by in the 4-0 loss.
The Knights did have a couple of chances to get on the board, beginning with an excuse-me double to open the bottom of the first by Billy Hamilton, and again in the third when Hamilton opened the frame with a walk. But the team failed to score in either inning.
In addition to Hamilton’s bloop double, the Knights could only scratch out a single by Romy Gonzalez and an infield hit by Blake Rutherford.
After Baz threw five shutout innings, the Bulls closed it out with rehabbing Rays’ reliever JP Feyereisen and Joey Krehbiel.
The Knights’ got some terrific pitching themselves in this one, beginning with four innings of two-run ball by starter Alex McRae, and scoreless relief work from Nik Turley and Jace Fry (who struck out the side in the sixth). But the Bulls were able to add two insurance runs in the top of the seventh against Matt Foster.
A Closer Look: Game Two
The Knights had a measly four hits entering the bottom of the seventh when Sheets opened the inning with a solo homer (to go along with a double earlier in the game). The next hitter, Gonzalez, made solid contact as well, but the ball hung up long enough for the rightfielder to snare it.
The Knights continued to make good swings, as Micker Adolfo singled and Mikie Mahtook ripped an RBI double. Zach Remillard struck out for the second out in the inning, setting the stage for one of the best at bats of the night, a walk to pinch-hitter Yermin Mercedes after he was down in the count 1-2.
“I told him after the game, that won’t get looked at in the box score,” Helms said, “but that set up the whole inning. When you do pinch-hit those guys, you want them to have a good AB. Not necessarily the result comes all the time, but the at bat means a lot and he had a wonderful at bat there. And then Danny was ready to hit from pitch one.”
A Note About Blake Rutherford
Coming on the heels of Thursday’s game, which included two home runs and a double, Rutherford had an infield hit and a line-drive single in today’s twin bill, and continues to look like a different hitter.
“He has an approach,” Helms said. “He’s up there looking for a certain pitch and if he gets it, he doesn’t miss it. Early in the season, he was missing it. Now he is more consistent with barreling it.”
The 2B Experiment With Jake Burger
The Knights’ roster has a glut of middle infielders, including Mendick, Gonzalez, Marco Hernandez, Matt Reynolds, Ti’Quan Forbes and Zach Remillard. As a result, Helms said, he’ll probably keep Burger at third base for the foreseeable future. But he’ll continue to work with Burger at second base in batting practice.
Photo credit: Clinton Cole/FutureSox
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