Knights Knotes — 7/28/22
KNIGHT LIGHTS: The Charlotte Knights (34–61) will play game three of a six-game road series against Nashville Sounds (57–37) from First Horizon Park with first pitch tonight at 8:05 p.m. ET. The Sounds enter tonight’s game with the best record in all of Triple-A Baseball with a 57–37 mark.
RECENT ROAD TRIP: The Knights are 1–4 on this nine-game road trip after dropping two of three against the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp to start the trip (Friday-Sunday) and the first two games of this series against the Nashville Sounds. The Knights are 15–32 this season on the road.
SOUNDS SERIES: The Knights are just 1–7 so far this season in eight games against the Nashville Sounds. The two teams first met in a six-game series at Nashville, TN from April 19–24. Charlotte’s lone win this season against the Sounds came on Wednesday, April 21 (5–1). The Knights enter tonight’s game having lost five straight games against the Sounds.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS SEASON SERIES: OF Blake Rutherford leads the way in this season series, batting .350 (7-for-20) with three runs scored, one double and four walks in six games against the Sounds this year… Catcher Nick Ciuffo has appeared in three games this season against the Sounds and is hitting .333 (3-for-9) with one run scored, two doubles and two RBIs.
ABOUT LAST KNIGHT: The Charlotte Knights dropped game two of the six-game series against the Nashville Sounds by a score of 12–5 on Wednesday night from First Horizon Park in Nashville, TN. Charlotte RHP J.B. Olson (0–2, 5.59) was saddled with the loss after he allowed five runs on five hits in the first inning to the Sounds. It was Olson’s only inning pitched on Wednesday and the Sounds got off to a quick 5–0 lead after just one inning.
HOW THE KNIGHTS SCORED: The Knights used the long ball to battle back on Wednesday. INF Yolbert Sánchez put the Knights on the scoreboard for the first time with a solo home run in the top of the second inning. The home run was his third of the season and second over his last three games. In the top of the third inning, the Knights scored four runs, highlighted by a two-run home run off the bat of catcher Carlos Pérez, who continued his solid season at the plate. Pérez hit his team-high 15th home run of the season in Charlotte’s four-run third inning.
REHABBING BURGER: INF Jake Burger, who is currently on the Chicago White Sox 10-day injured list with a bone bruise in his right hand, began a major league rehab assignment with the Charlotte Knights last night. He was 0-for-4 at the plate.
MORE ON BURGER: INF Jake Burger, 26, was placed on Chicago’s injured list on July 6. He has appeared in 51 games with the White Sox this season and is hitting .250 (42-for-168) with 20 runs scored, nine doubles, one triple, eight home runs and 26 RBIs. He began the 2022 season with the Knights and hit .213 (10-for-47) with 11 runs scored, three home runs and eight RBIs in 13 games.
TO-KNIGHT’S STARTING PITCHER: LHP Brandon Finnegan (1–2, 6.23) will make his third start of the season tonight and his 28th overall appearance with the Knights this season. He has 39 strikeouts over 34.2 innings pitched this year with Charlotte. He has made two appearances this season against Nashville and has not allowed a run in 3.0 innings pitched (just one hit allowed with four strikeouts).
