The Charlotte Knights played uninspired baseball in losing game one of a doubleheader, and looked well on their way to dropping the nightcap before Jake Burger launched a three-run bomb in the bottom of the sixth to power an 8-7 comeback win over the Norfolk Tides in Charlotte Thursday.
Despite laboring as a team for a good portion of the night, there were some nice individual performances. But the best news of the day may have taken place pre-game when Burger pronounced himself in great shape as he nears the end of his first full season of baseball in three years.
“Body feels great, everything is feeling really good,” the slugger said in a chat after infield practice.
On the night, Burger was one for five, with three runs, three RBI, a homer, two walks and two strikeouts. Micker Adolfo also was locked in, with three hits in six at bats, two runs, four RBI, a home run, a double and two strikeouts. Blake Rutherford chipped in four singles in six at bats, two RBI, a walk and a strikeout.
On the mound, Johan Dominguez made his Triple-A debut, with a lot of positives despite poor stats. A number of relievers also threw the ball well, including Peter Tago, Bennett Sousa, Carl Edwards Jr., Hunter Schryver and Lane Ramsey.
Catching Up With Jake Burger
Burger said he wants to fight through the mental fatigue that naturally occurs as any season winds down, and finish strong. His game-winning round tripper suggests he is not going to let opposing pitchers rest easy any time soon.
“Mentally, it is a long season,” he said. “It is a grind. We’ve been going since Feb. 14 in Spring Training. For me, I show up to Spring Training. Then, I’m in a co-op league in Arizona when the rest of the guys go to the Alt Site or the big leagues and then I go to Schaumburg and then I’m here for a couple of months and then I’m up in Chicago for a couple of weeks…I tried to stay focused through all that travel.”
Burger said he utilized a mental skills coach to help cope with being out of baseball for three straight seasons.
“This game is more mentally (challenging) than any other sport in my opinion,” he said. “It is not as physically taxing but the mental grind is tough. I decided to (get a mental strength coach) in the winter of 2019. With Covid happening last year and me losing another full season, I think it was really important for me to have (some help), to be able to motivate myself and to have someone to hold me accountable.”
No surprise, Burger is elated with his results this season. “I think I accomplished everything I wanted, and more,” he said. “If you told me this would be how my season went at the beginning of this year, I’d be like, no way, there’s no way any of that is going to happen.”
Burger said he’ll probably take a month off from swinging a bat, to let his body rest, while continuing to doing cardio and then resume lifting weights after two weeks. He’s talked to hitting coach Chris Johnson and manager Wes Johnson about what he needs to improve in the off-season, and he is eager to get after it.
“There are a lot of areas I want to work on in the off-season,” he said, “whether it is working on lateral movement, or my agility, or stuff at the plate. The motivation from going up to Chicago for a couple of weeks is huge.”
Game One Recap
This one went south in a hurry. Kyle Kubat had probably his worst outing of the year, giving up six earned runs in two-plus innings.
Whether it was rust or the fact that they faced a soft-tossing lefty, which has given them fits all year, the Knights got little going offensively. Seby Zavala tallied a solo homer, his eighth, Adolfo and Carlos Perez added doubles, and Rutherford had two singles.
Just up from Birmingham yesterday, Perez, a catcher, started at DH and went one for three. Originally signed by the White Sox as a free agent in 2014, Perez, 25, hit .264 with 22 doubles and 13 home runs for the Barons this year.
Reliever Kaleb Roper, promoted from Winston-Salem yesterday, made his Triple-A debut as well, surrendering a run on two walks and a hit. A 29th-round pick of the White Sox in 2019, Roper was 1-9 with the Dash this year in 16 starts and 17 games.
Ramsey and Schryver also pitched well in relief.
Game Two Recap
This one started well enough as Adolfo staked the Knights to a comfortable lead in the bottom of the first with a three-run blast. It was his 10th of the season for the Knights (in 40 games), and none of them have been wall-scrapers.
Dominguez started and breezed through the first two innings before running into trouble in the third. After giving up a solid single, he was victimized by an unlucky infield hit and a fielding error by second baseman Ruben Tejada. But it was a three-run blast by the Tides’ Adley Rutschman that sent Dominguez to the showers, down 4-3.
The Knights climbed back on top, 5-4, in the bottom of the third with two runs on a single, three walks and a wild pitch, and Tago struck out the side in the fourth. But Nik Turley struggled in the fifth, gave up three runs and the lead, and was tossed after arguing balls and strikes. This was not the first time that the volatile Turley has been ejected.
Sousa struck out the side in the top of the sixth, setting the stage for Burger’s big blast in the bottom half of the inning. Edwards added two more strikeouts in the seventh in notching his third save.
Photo credit: Laura Wolff/Charlotte Knights
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