KNIGHTS KNOTES — July 10, 2021
KNIGHT LIGHTS: The Charlotte Knights (25–31, 4th) will continue a six-game road series tonight with game five of the series against the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (29–27, 3rd) from Jacksonville, FL at 121 Financial Ballpark.
KNIGHTS VS. SHRIMP: The Knights and Jumbo Shrimp met for the first-time ever at Truist Field earlier this season from June 15 to June 19. The Knights won three of the five games in the five-game, rain-shortened series. The game on Sunday, June 20 (Father’s Day) was rained out and will be made up as part of a doubleheader at Truist Field on Thursday, July 29th (two seven-inning games with first pitch of game one on tap for 6:05 p.m.).
WINNING WAYS: With a win in each of the first four games of this series, the Knights are now 7–2 this season against Jacksonville and have won four-straight games. The four-straight wins tied a season-high, which was set back against Norfolk at Truist Field (5/13–5/16). A win tonight will give the Knights a new high this season in consecutive wins.
ABOUT LAST KNIGHT: C Yermín Mercedes, OF Mikie Mahtook and INF Zach Remillard all homered to lead the red-hot Charlotte Knights to an impressive 11–6 win over the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp on Friday night from 121 Financial Ballpark in Jacksonville, FL.
THE YERMÍNATOR: Appearing in just his fifth game of the season with the Knights since being optioned from Chicago, C/DH Yermín Mercedes launched a 391-foot home run, a two-run blast, in the first inning to give the Knights a 3–0 lead. The home run from Mercedes was his first with the Knights since September 2, 2019.
HIT PARADE: Charlotte’s offense pounded out a total of 17 hits last night in the win. OF Mikie Mahtook had a game-high four hits, including his 11th home run of the season, which tied INF Tim Beckham for the team lead. INF Marco Hernández added three hits on the night to give him a team-best 60 on the season. In all, six of Charlotte’s hitters had at least two hits on the night.
ZACH ATTACK: With another home run last night, INF Zach Remillard now has four home runs over his last six games. He’s hitting .304 (7-for-23) over that six-game span. He now has six home runs this season with the Knights.
TOKNIGHTS STARTING PITCHER: RHP Alex McRae (2–3, 4.54) will make his sixth start of the season tonight. In June, McRae went 2–0 with a 3.22 ERA in six games (four starts) over 22.1 innings pitched. Also this season, McRae has appeared in two games with the White Sox this season and is 0–0 with a 4.50 ERA in two innings pitched. McRae was signed by the White Sox as a free agent on January 6, 2021.
REY OF LIGHT: RHP Reynaldo Lopez (1–6, 7.62) started and earned his first win of the season. López struck-out eight batters and allowed just one run over six innings. Over his last three starts, the 27-year-old has compiled 23 strikeouts in just 15.1 innings pitched.
THE WRIGHT STUFF: RHP Mike Wright (5–1, 3.10), the Triple-A East Pitcher of the Month for June, is currently among the Triple-A East leaders in a number of categories. His 3.10 ERA is tops in the Triple-A East. He is also tied for fifth in strikeouts (60), tied for fifth in wins (5), second in batting average against (.198), second in WHIP (0.97), tied for fourth in IP (61.0) and tied for first in win percentage (.833).
FROM THE SOUTH TO THE SOUTH SIDE: The Knights have sent 11 players to the Chicago White Sox. Those players in order are: INF Danny Mendick (May 4), RHP Alex McRae (May 14), RHP Ryan Burr (May 27), RHP Zack Burdi (May 29 & June 17 ), RHP Jimmy Lambert (May 31 & June 27), 1B/OF Gavin Sheets (June 3 & June 29), OF Brian Goodwin (June 10), OF Luis González (June 22), LHP Jace Fry (June 30), INF Jake Burger (July 2) and C Seby Zavala (July 6).
