Norfolk Tides 6, Charlotte Knights 4 (Statcast Box)
The Knights (57-68) pitching started out strong but the bullpen failed once again, allowing the Tides (55-67) to pull off the comeback and ultimately take the lead in the bottom of the eighth to defeat Charlotte, 6-4. Noah Schultz made his first start after coming off of the IL and gave up two hits and one unearned run while striking out four. The unearned run was also self-inflicted by Schultz, as he made a fielding error to allow the first baserunner of the inning before a single, two wild pitches, and a sac fly brought in one run for Norfolk.
Offensively, the Knights out-hit the Tides by five (10-5), and went 4-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Every Charlotte player got a hit Sunday but Dominic Fletcher, both Andre Lipcius and Bryan Ramos posted two hits apiece, and four different batters accounted for an RBI. Will Robertson had doubled in the top of the third to drive in the first run, and Tim Elko followed that up with an RBI single himself to put the Knights up, 2-1. Bryan Ramos had kicked off the next inning with a bunt single, advancing to second on a throwing error to get into scoring position for Dru Baker to drive him in a few batters later to put Charlotte up, 3-1.
In place of Schultz was Kyle Tyler, who actually used to play in the Baltimore Orioles organization for the Norfolk Tides before he was designated for assignment and signed to a minor league contract by the White Sox. Tyler did not allow a hit in his two innings, but he walked two and threw just 13 for his 25 pitches for strikes. The Knights then gradually gave up runs until Norfolk was able to tie the game at three. Peyton Pallette manned the following two innings, and gave up a leadoff homer in the sixth for the Tides to make it 3-2, Charlotte.
Chase Plymell took over in the seventh and gave up a double before working to two outs with a runner on third. Bryan Ramos made an error on the next play which brought in the tying run. That wasn’t the worst bullpen fiasco of the day, however, as Jairo Iriarte prompty said “hold my beer” in the bottom of the eighth and gave up three runs in the blink of an eye, with just one hit. Iriarte hit the first batter he faced, worked through two outs, and walked another before old pal Ryan Noda poked a single to center that handed the lead over to the Tides, 4-3.
Another walk from Jairo loaded the bases, just for him to walk his third batter of the inning and hand the Tides another run. The Knights finally went back to the bullpen for Ben Peoples to try to work out of it. Sadly, he, too, walked in a run, which gave Norfolk a three-run lead.
The Knights had one final chance in the ninth, and Jacob Gonzalez drove a run on an RBI double. Even better, Charlotte loaded the bases with no outs to get everyone’s hopes up. Spoiler alert, they went down in order after that as Corey Julks struck out, Robertson popped out in the infield, and Elko struck out to end the game.
Rocket City Trash Pandas 7, Birmingham Barons 4
Although the Barons (73-47) out-hit the the Trash Pandas (40-79) by two, the pitching staff struggled with control and put 10 free runners on via base on balls. Birmingham’s offense wasn’t able to convert and went just 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position in the 7-4 loss. Hagen Smith tossed for 3 2/3 frames and allowed four runs on four hits, but racked up five walks compared to just three strikeouts for his third loss of the season.
Rocket City added three more runs in the fifth inning with Eric Adler on the mound on just two hits, as a throwing error from Calvin Harris allowed two unearned runs to score. The rest of the Birmingham bullpen was on point, as it didn’t give up another hit for the last four innings and combined for six strikeouts (and still too many walks, five).
On the other side of the ball, the Barons put up eight hits but left 10 on base, and just four batters were able to get hits, including multi-hit games from DJ Gladney (two), Wilfred Veras (two), and Caden Connor (3-for-3, with a double). Veras drove in the first run of the game in the with his double in the fourth, and Gladney scored on a wild pitch on the next at-bat.
The final two runs were scored in the sixth after the Barons loaded the bases, and the third run coming from Matt Hogan getting hit by a pitch, and Rikuu Nishida pushing one in on an RBI ground out to make it 7-4. They sadly couldn’t capitalize any further on the situation, and Birmingham was shut down for the rest of the game to make the loss official.
Wilmington Blue Rocks 10, Winston-Salem Dash 5
The Dash (49-69) fell behind early in the game as Dylan Cumming gave up seven runs in the first two innings, and the offense wasn’t able to complete the comeback as Winston-Salem lost to the Blue Rocks (51-68), 10-5. Most of the damage was done in the second inning, as Cumming allowed a five-run rally after working two outs to start the inning. Wilmington essentially hit for the cycle in four consecutive at-bats on their journey to five runs: Back-to-back singles followed by a double, triple, and two-run blast.
Cumming’s struggles continued into the third as he allowed another double and home run to tally his seventh run before exiting the game after three innings. The Dash bats showed some life in the bottom of the second and answered back with three runs and cutting the lead to five: A hit batter, base hit, and walk loaded the bases for Winston-Salem, and Lyle Miller-Green doubled to score the first two for the Dash, and Samuel Zavala drive in the third on an infield single that happened to be deflected by the pitcher, making it 5-3, Good Guys.
Winston-Salem brought in another run in the bottom of the fifth on a solo shot from Kyle Lodise, and the final run came in the seventh as Wilmington’s left-handed reliever Jared Simpson managed to get two outs but then walk four consecutive batters to allow the Dash to score. The Blue Rocks (naturally) went to the bullpen with the bases still loaded, but Jackson Appel ended the threat by striking out to end the inning.
Jake Bockenstedt entered the game in the fourth in relief of Cumming, and gave up a solo shot on his first pitch of the day, putting the eighth run on the board for the Blue Rocks. Winston-Salem’s bullpen was otherwise solid for the next three innings, and none of the three pitchers gave up a hit as they combined for four walks and five strikeouts. Seth Keener was in charge of the final inning, and though the Dash were still chasing three, he gave up two more runs on three hits — including the final RBI base hit from Wilmington first baseman Brandon Pimentel that allowed him to complete the cycle.
Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 10, Delmarva Shorebirds 4
The Cannon Ballers (55-65) were trailing the Shorebirds (44-75) 4-2 going into the top of the ninth, but the offense tied things up and then ran away with the win after dropping eight runs on Delmarva. Kannapolis had five pitchers help out in Sunday’s win, and while they gave up 10 hits and five walks, they only had accumulated three earned runs (four total) with nine combined strikeouts.
Mathias LaCombe had opened the first three innings, and he gave up one run on three hits, and accounted for five of the nine team Ks. The Ballers were able to tie it up at one in the top of the fourth with some help from the Shorebirds, as Caleb Bonemer reached on a fielding error, stole second, and later came around to score on a Ronny Hernandez base hit. Unfortunately, Delmarva had nearly the same sequence of events in the bottom half of the inning off of righthander Fabian Ysalla to get the run back and take a 2-1 lead. Ysalla was otherwise reliable in his three innings as the Shorebirds were quite until the seventh.
Pierce George could not find the strike zone after entering the game, walking two batters and tossing two wild pitches that allowed the Shorebirds to take a 3-1 lead on an RBI ground out. Hale Sims took over and gave up another run in the eighth, and Kannapolis had gained one back in the top of the inning, so the Cannon Ballers went into the top of the ninth down, 4-2.
Between Kannapolis and the Delmarva pitchers, they put up eight runs thanks to three walks in a row to start the inning that allowed Bonemer to tie the game at four with a double to left. Six more runs crossed the plate from a fielding error, a Nathan Archer double, a sac fly from Colby Shelton, along with three more walks, and a wild pitch, with the final run being balked in to make it 10-4. Kevin Davis locked down the last inning with two hits and two strikeouts, and the Ballers were able to pull off the comeback.