I finally got a chance to catch the Charlotte Knights -- or what's left of them -- here in Nashville on Friday night. The roster is basically down to a couple catchers and a reliever, and those catchers both played.
Korey Lee started at DH, and while the 2-for-4 line boosted his numbers, there's still evidence of missing timing. One single was muscled out to center, and the other one shanked out to right. Bookending those at-bats were a typical 6-4-3 double play, and a three-pitch strikeout.
Adam Hackenberg got the start at catcher, and while he didn't reach base safely, he did some strong work behind the plate. He went an entire game without putting a wild pitch or passed ball on a tab, and it wasn't for a lack of trying. The Knights didn't throw a pitcher with the kind of stuff that gets swinging strikes in or above the zone, so they threw a lot of soft stuff down, and Hackenberg kept just about everything in the dirt around home plate. The "Attaboy, Hack" count from the dugout was solidly in the double-digits during the handful of innings I was around to hear it.
As for the rest of the team, they struck out 13 times without drawing a walk. Robert Gasser came within one pitch of an immaculate inning, striking out Xavier Fernandez on four pitches, followed by three-pitch K's of Lee and Hackenberg. All of those pitches were strikes.
Gasser threw 70 of 99 pitches for strikes, and it didn't get any easier when he left. In fact, all four Nashville pitchers finished with a strike percentage of 70 percent or better. When Thyago Vieira is going 13-for-16, the lineup he's facing probably doesn't scare anybody.
Nashville 5, Charlotte 1
- Korey Lee went 2-for-4 with a strikeout
- Adam Hackenberg, 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
Chattanooga 18, Birmingham 1
- Terrell Tatum went 0-for-4 with a walk and two strikeouts.
- Colson Montgomery was 0-for-4 with a walk.
- Bryan Ramos and Edgar Quero both were 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Wilfred Veras, 1-for-4 with two strikeotus.
- Tim Elko homered for the second straight game while going 2-for-3 with a walk.
- Yoelqui Céspedes, 1-for-4.
- Matthew Thompson: 3.2 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 5 BB, 4 K
- Jared Kelley: 1.2 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
Highlights:
*Elko went out to right field:
Winston-Salem 5, Greenville 4 (11 innings)
- Loidel Chapelli went 4-for-6 with a triple at the plate, and 1-for-2 on the basepaths.
- Jacob Burke was 0-for-4 with two walks and a strikeout.
- DJ Gladney was 1-for-5 with a K.
- Wes Kath went 0-for-5 with two strikeouts.
- Juan Carela: 6 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 HR
Carolina 8, Kannapolis 6 (10 innings)
- Jordan Sprinkle went 0-for-5 with a strikeout.
- Calvin Harris pinch-hit in the 10th and came up with a run-scoring groundout.
- Tanner McDougal: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, 1 WP, 14 of 32 pitches for strikes.
ACL White Sox 3, ACL Dodgers 1
- Rikuu Nishida made his pro debut, going 1-for-4 with a stolen base.
- George Wolkow walked once and struck out thrice.
- Ryan Burrowes, 2-for-4 wtih a strikeout.
- Lucas Gordon: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
DSL White Sox 2, DSL Orioles 0 (7 innings)
- Javier Mogollon went 1-for-4.
- Abraham Nunez, 2-for-3 with a double.
- D'Angelo Tejada went 0-for-3 with a strikeout.
- Rafael Alvarez was 1-for-2 with a walk and a stolen base.
