Charlotte Knights 6, Durham Bulls 1
The Knights (30-28) spotted Durham a freebie in the early going, then unloaded a five-double assault and let the arms take it from there.
Durham pushed across its only run in the third off Hagen Smith, who plunked the leadoff man, served up a double, and then watched old friend Austin Slater cash in with a ground out. That was it for the Bulls. Smith shut it down after that, spinning 4 1/3 innings of one-run, two-hit ball with two walks and a season-high nine punchouts. Some of the sharpest he’s looked all year.
Charlotte didn’t bother waiting around. Braden Montgomery led off the fourth with a single, got wiped out trying to swipe second, and Michael Turner fanned. Shrug. Junior Pérez worked a walk, Dustin Harris smoked an RBI double to even things up, Dru Baker banged a ground-rule RBI double, and Caden Connor finished the job with another run-scoring double. In a blink, the Knights flipped a 1-0 deficit into a 3-1 lead.
The bats tacked on some insurance late. Two in the eighth: Pérez with a double, Connor with a single. One more in the ninth, courtesy of an Andy Weber double, Mario Camilletti’s fly out, and Montgomery’s sac fly.
The bullpen clocked in and got it done. Peyton Pallette, just back from the Guardians, grabbed the win with a clean inning — one walk, one K. Garrett Schoenle spun two scoreless, scattered two hits, punched out three. Ben Peoples locked it up in the ninth with a perfect frame and two strikeouts.
Birmingham Barons 7, Knoxville Smokies 6
The Barons (20-31) stacked up what looked like a comfy early cushion, then spent the ninth inning clinging for dear life before finally staggering away with the win.
Birmingham came out swinging in the second, when Jeral Pérez opened the scoring with a two-run homer (his fourth) to give the Barons a quick 2-0 lead.
The offense then blew the game open in the third. Colby Shelton singled to start the inning, and after Anthony DePino and Samuel Zavala drew back-to-back walks, Jacob Burke took one for the team to force in a run. Pérez, not content with just the dinger, ripped a bases-clearing double to right. Suddenly, it was 6-0, Barons in the driver’s seat.
The Smokies started to nibble. They worked a run in the third off Connor McCullough on two singles and a balk, nothing fancy. They kept chipping as the innings ticked by. Birmingham got a run back in the fourth after Jordan Sprinkle singled, swiped second, and scored on an Alec Makarewicz RBI knock. 7-1, Barons.
At that point, it felt comfortable, but it wasn’t.
The Smokies stormed back with a three-run fifth against Luke Bell, then added another in the sixth off Jairo Iriarte to pull within 7-5. Still, Birmingham clung to the lead heading into the ninth.
That’s where things got chaotic. Jonathan Clark allowed a leadoff single, then a force play briefly created order before a throwing error extended the inning. After a line out, Clark uncorked back-to-back wild pitches that brought home a run, cutting it to 7-6. A double followed to put the tying run in scoring position, but Clark regrouped and struck out the final batter.
Birmingham did all the heavy lifting early, then had to white-knuckle it to the finish.
Winston-Salem Dash 2, Hub City Spartanburgers 1
The Dash (31-21) offense? Practically invisible, but somehow they scraped together just enough. For most of the night, it was a pitcher’s duel, and Winston-Salem was just flailing at shadows until Caleb Bonemer finally broke up the monotony with a sixth-inning double. There was a flicker of hope when George Wolkow and Kyle Lodise followed by working walks to load the bases, but, unfortunately, nothing came of it.
Mason Adams got the ball for the Dash and did his job: three innings, three hits, no walks, three punchouts. A solid outing for the prospect working his way back from Tommy John.
Hub City finally scratched out a run in the eighth — walk, swipe of second, wild throw, and RBI knock off Madison Jeffrey. But the Dash had an answer: Ely Brown coaxed a walk, two quick outs, then Wolkow uncorked a two-run missile, his eighth, to give W-S a 2-1 lead. Pierce George shut the door in the ninth, three up, three down. Two hits all night, but nine walks and Wolkow’s heroics? That’ll do.
Hickory Crawdads 6, Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 3
The Cannon Ballers (26026) teased with some early fireworks, but when it came time for a clutch knock, the bats fizzled.
Kannapolis actually struck first, with Javier Mogollón unloading a two-run shot for a fast 2-0 edge. That lasted about as long as a sneeze. Starter Truman Pauley walked the leadoff man in the bottom half, then grooved a meatball that got launched right back for a matching two-run bomb.
The Ballers grabbed the lead back in the third, hustling their way around the bases: Mogollón walked, swiped second, took third on a wild throw, and scored on a sac fly from Stiven Flores. Unfortunately, the good vibes didn’t last. Hickory pounced on a couple of free passes, a wild throw, and a plunked batter to tie things right back up at 3-3.
The score remained knotted until the fifth, when the Crawdads broke through against Anthony Patterson III. A double, a walk, and consecutive singles produced two tallies and gave Hickory its first lead of the night at 5-3. The Crawdads tacked on an insurance run against Choyce Diffey in the sixth, and that was curtains.
Kannapolis had its chances — plenty of them — but went a limp 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position. Not even a rain delay could cool off the frustration. The Ballers generated traffic but lacked the timely hit, and that’s usually a tough recipe for victory.
ACL Diamondbacks 5, ACL White Sox 2 (7 innings)
The ACL White Sox (7-16) grabbed an early lead but watched it slip away. Nick McLain singled to open the game, Christian Gonzalez tripled him home, and it was a quick 1-0 advantage. That was the high point. Arizona wasted no time roughing up Juan Carela, tying it in the first, then taking the lead with a second-inning bomb off Fabian Ysalla. The Sox tried to come back in the fifth when Eduardo Herrera singled, then scampered home on a pair of wild pitches and an airmail throw. But the D-backs snatched the lead right back in the bottom of the frame with an RBI double, then tacked on two more in the sixth, one gift-wrapped by a pickoff blunder, the other on a sac fly. Five hits, ten strikeouts, and a parade of defensive miscues was just too much to overcome.
ACL Guardians 7, ACL White Sox 2 (7 innings)
The ACL White Sox nursed a slim lead late into the game thanks to a solid 3 2/3 frames from starter Orlando Suarez, then promptly faceplanted in a sixth-inning meltdown. Yordani Soto did his part, blasting his third homer in the fifth, and D’Angelo Tejada coaxed a bases-loaded walk to nudge the Sox ahead, 2-1. Nick McLain managed a pair of knocks, Alan Escobar chipped in with a double and a single, but trouble and five runs appeared in the sixth: two walks, three stolen bags, a bomb, and a comedy of three balks. The Sox worked a couple of leadoff walks in their half of the sixth but left runners gasping. They ended the contest with six hits and a whopping 10 punchouts.