KNIGHTS @ CHIEFS — 8/23/13:
CHARLOTTE KNIGHTS (59–73– 2013) (83–61, 1st South — 2012) @
Syracuse Chiefs (63–70– 2013) (70–74, 5th North — 2012)
Syracuse, NY ~ NBT Bank Stadium — 7:00 PM (Game 2 of 4) (Game 133 of 143)
TODAY’S PROBABLES
FRI: CHA RHP Zach Stewart (5–13, 4.80) @ SYR LHP Danny Rosenbaum (6–10, 3.88)
LAST KNIGHTS GAME: A four-run seventh inning led the Syracuse Chiefs to an 8–5 win over the Charlotte Knights on Thursday in the opening game of their four-game series from NBT Bank Stadium in Syracuse, NY. Syracuse scored all four runs off Charlotte reliever Daniel Webb (1–1, 3.47). Webb gave up back-to-back hits to lead off the seventh inning and later allowed a one out walk to Zach Walters to load the bases. After a mound visit, Kris Watts reached on a fielding error by Webb and Corey Brown scored from third base to break the 4–4 tie. The Chiefs then added to their lead with help from Eury Perez who cleared the bases with a three-run triple. Marcus Semien and Jim Gallagher had two hits apiece in the loss. Nick McCully started and allowed four runs on nine hits over 5.2 innings.
ALL-TIME SERIES INFO: The Charlotte Knights and Syracuse Chiefs will continue their final series meeting of the 2013 season tonight and will do so in Syracuse, NY. So far this year, the Knights lead the 3–2. The two teams battled at Knights Stadium from June 17–20 and the Knights won three of four games. Overall, the Chiefs lead the all-time series 99–87. At Knights Stadium, Charlotte leads 49–47. At NBT Bank Stadium in NY, the Chiefs lead 53–38.
JIM DANDY: Jim Gallagher had a solid day at the plate last night — ripping two hits and finishing the game 2-for-4 with a run scored and a double. For Gallagher, it was the 66th double of his Knights career — which put him into a tie for fifth place all-time on the Knights career list. He tied Josh Fields for fifth. Next up for Gallagher is Lou Lucca, who had 68 doubles in his career. Gallagher has 12 doubles this season and had 15 last year. In 2011, Gallagher finished tied for second in the IL with 39 doubles. Gallagher is also now 10 hits away from tying Jason Bourgeois for 10th on the all-time Knights career list for hits. Gallagher has 241, Bourgeois weighs in with 251.
HEIS-MAN: Adam Heisler is in his second stint of the year with Charlotte after he earned his second promotion of the season on Wednesday. Heisler, who was with Kannapolis (A) at the time of his promotion, appeared in his fifth game with Charlotte last night and went 1-for-2 with a walk, run scored, and a stolen base. Heisler has now hit safely in all five games with the Knights this season and he has six hits over the five-game span. Heisler is hitting .400 (6-for-15) with three runs scored and two RBIs for Charlotte. He hit .288 (30-for-104) with Kannapolis (30 G) and .272 (59-for-217) with Winston-Salem (A+) in 58 games earlier this year.
UNEARNED RUNS: Daniel Webb came on last night and allowed all four runs in the seventh inning in the 8–5 loss to the Chiefs. Webb was the losing pitcher, falling to 1–1 with a 3.47 ERA on the season. All four of the runs he allowed were unearned due to an error he committed in the inning. For the season, Webb has appeared in 18 games with the Knights and has not allowed an earned run over his last 12 games. His last earned run came in the July 9th game against the Durham Bulls. Since then, he has tossed 16.2 innings — allowing no earned runs, with six unearned runs allowed. He also has 23 strikeouts over that span.
TAYLOR MADE: Taylor Thompson tossed a scoreless inning out of the bullpen last night for the Knights and has now not allowed a run over three straight appearances (4.2 IP). Over that span, Thompson has seen his ERA drop from 7.27 to 4.73.
GET CRAY-Z: Stephen McCray made his first Triple-A start in game two of the doubleheader Sunday. McCray allowed three runs (one earned) over four innings while striking out five. The righty has also made two relief appearances for the Knights since his promotion from Birmingham, where he started 22 games going 10–7 with a 3.25 ERA.
