Matthew Thompson entered Sunday's start in Bowling Green on a relative roll, with a 1.59 ERA on the strength of 19 strikeouts against 16 baserunners over 17 innings in June. It's the best stretch of his relatively young career, and throwing strikes is the big reason. He'd thrown strikes with 70 percent of his pitches over those three outings, a big surge from the 60-percent rate he usually carries.
Unfortunately, one of Thompson's previous opponents was also his current one. He struck out nine Hot Rods without a walk on Tuesday, and with their last look only five days earlier, they looked a little more ready for pitches Thompson used to get ahead or back in a count. He gave up three runs on six hits (two homers) over four innings, but again, he struck out five without a walk. He was also limited to 55 pitches (38 strikes), but that appears to be a product of an organizational pattern in which Sunday starts are shorter (see Kannapolis' box score).
The stuff looked good, with a fastball hovering around 94, a curve with some bite, and a slider that he could use more as a pitch they weren't expecting (aka Dylan Cease's changeup). Thompson's own changeup didn't seem to be much of a factor. Both homers came on the fastball, including a two-run shot on a first pitch that barely cleared the short wall in left.
Besides Thompson, a couple other stray items:
*Bryan Ramos hoisted his June line up to .263/.354/.509 after a massive homer that was deemed to have hooked inside the left-field foul pole. I'm not so sure about that, but with the corner only 318 feet away, it didn't take long for the 109-mph rocket to get there, and there was no visual reference point due to the height of it.
Dash entered the sixth trailing 4-1. It's now tied after a Bryan Ramos three-run homer that stayed fair. pic.twitter.com/rooJvlzdqV
— Jim Margalus 🥌 (@SoxMachine) June 19, 2022
*Duke Ellis continued to generate action. In this case, he was hit on the hand with a pitch during a bunt attempt, but he was ruled to have committed to the bunt and fouled it off. He then stayed in the game and singled through the middle, only to get caught attempting to steal second base. It was only his third unsuccessful attempt in 28 this season, and he wasn't happy about it. He jawed with the umpire on his way back to the dugout, and then he got ejected from said dugout a batter later.
Charlotte 13, Jacksonville 11
- Yolbert Sánchez went 2-for-5 with a double.
- Carlos Pérez, 1-for-4 with his 10th homer, a walk and two strikeouts.
- Gavin Sheets went 3-for-5 with two doubles and a strikeout.
- Recent 40-man addition Parker Markel: 0.1 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 1 HR, 3 WP
Birmingham 2, Mississippi 0
- José Rodríguez went 0-for-4.
- Lenyn Sosa, 1-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Yoelqui Céspedes singled twice, struck out once and was caught stealing.
Bowling Green 7, Winston-Salem 5
- Duke Ellis went 1-for-2, and got ejected after getting caught stealing.
- Luis Mieses was 0-for-3 with a strikeout.
- Oscar Colás, 1-for-3 with a walk.
- Bryan Ramos went 2-for-4 with a three-run homer.
- Adam Hackenberg, 0-for-3 with a sac fly.
- Harvin Mendoza went 0-for-4 with a K.
- So did Ben Norman, the free-agent signing from Great Falls who'd spent a ramp-up period in Arizona.
- Matthew Thompson: 4 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 2 HR
Fayetteville 4, Kannapolis 3
- Wes Kath went 0-for-4 with a walk.
- Colson Montgomery singled thrice and struck out once.
- Wilfred Veras went 1-for-4.
- James Beard, 1-for-2 with a walk.
- Cristian Mena: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, 11 of 15 pitches for strikes.
