KNIGHTS KNOTES — July 2, 2019
KNIGHT LIGHTS: The Knights opened a three-game series last night in Durham, NC against the Durham Bulls with a 4–3 win. The Knights have won nine of their last 13 games. The two teams will play the middle game of the series tonight before wrapping things up on Wednesday night. The Knights will head back to BB&T Ballpark on Thursday, July 4 for a four-game series against the Norfolk Tides
ABOUT LAST KNIGHT: Catcher Yermín Mercedes launched his third home run of the season to help lead the Charlotte Knights to a 4–3 win over the Durham Bulls in the opening game of their three-game series from Durham, NC last night. RHP Matt Foster (3–1, 4.06) earned the win out of the Charlotte bullpen while RHP Jimmy Cordero got the final six outs to earn his third save of the season.
KNIGHTS VS. BULLS: The Knights and Bulls have played nine of their 12 head-to-head games this season at BB&T Ballpark. Tonight, the Knights will play just their fourth game of the season in Durham, NC in 2019. With a win last night, the Knights are 6–6 overall this season against the Bulls. The Knights enter today’s opener 3.0 games back of the first place Bulls in the IL South.
YER MÌN’S BUSINESS: Catcher Yermín Mercedes extended his hit streak to seven consecutive games yesterday and launched his third home run with the Knights this season. He is now hitting .429 (12-for-28) with five runs scored, three home runs, and nine RBIs since being promoted from Double-A Birmingham on June 20 (eight games). He launched two home runs on Thursday to help power the Charlotte Knights to an 8–5 win over the Gwinnett Stripers. The two home runs were his first two at the Triple-A level and it was the fourth multi-homer game of his career.
REHABBING: RHP Dylan Covey (0–0, 1.77), who is currently on the Chicago White Sox 10-day Injured List with right shoulder inflammation, made his second rehab start for the Charlotte Knights and was sharp. Covey, who was added to Charlotte’s roster on June 26 and started that night for the Knights, tossed four shutout innings last night. He has not allowed a run in six innings on this rehab assignment (two starts). Before his rehab appearance last week, he appeared in nine games (seven starts) this season with the White Sox and posted a 1–4 record with a 4.58 ERA (37.1 IP). He also made five appearances (three starts) for the Knights in April and went 0–0 with a 2.51 ERA (14.1 IP).
TO-KNIGHTS STARTING PITCHER: RHP Donny Roach (2–3, 9.44) will get the start today, his ninth of 2019 with the Knights. He enters tonight’s start with two straight wins. Roach, who piggy-backed RHP Dylan Covey (rehab start) on June 26, allowed four runs on five hits over five innings for the win. He is 2–0 with a 4.50 ERA (10.0 IP/10 SO) over his last two appearances. Last season with the Knights, Roach went 9–2 with a 2.65 ERA in 16 games (15 starts). He went 5–0 with a 0.98 ERA in the month of June and was named as the International League’s Player of the Month and the Chicago White Sox Pitcher of the Month for June. Roach asked for and was granted his release by the White Sox on July 5th to pursue an opportunity to pitch in Japan. He re-signed with the White Sox this offseason.
WHO’S HOT: Over his last 10 games, INF Ryan Goins is hitting .353 (12-for-34) with six runs scored, two home runs, and seven RBIs… Over his last four games, INF Iván De Jesús Jr. is hitting .357 (5-for-14) with one run scored, and two RBIs… RHP Jimmy Cordero has not allowed a run over his last five appearances (7.0 IP)… LHP Justin Nicolino (6–3, 4.65) tossed a complete-game win on Friday in the opener of the team’s series against the Norfolk Tides to lead the Knights to a 4–3 victory. Nicolino tossed the second complete game of the season by a Knights pitcher (7.0 IP) and first since LHP Ross Detwiler (6.0 IP loss on June 2). Over his last two starts, he has gone 15 innings and has two wins to show for it (2–0, 4.20 ERA). Nicolino has now won five of his last seven starts with the Knights.
