Knights Knotes — May 20, 2018
KNIGHT LIGHTS: The Charlotte Knights (Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox) will conclude their six-day road trip through the state of Ohio today and play the finale of a three-game series against the Columbus Clippers (Triple-A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians) from Huntington Park in Columbus, OH. The Knights won for the first time on the trip on Friday night with a 1–0 victory. The Knights dropped all three games against the Toledo Mud Hens (Triple-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers) from Fifth Third Field in Toledo, OH, all by a score of 3–2. The Knights are 1–4 on the current road trip (9–16 overall on the road this season).
CHARLOTTE VS. COLUMBUS: The Knights will conclude their three-game series today against the Columbus Clippers from Huntington Park in Columbus, OH. The two teams are tied 1–1 in this series with the rubber match today. This is Charlotte’s second and final trip this season to Columbus. The two teams faced off for a four-game series from 5/3 to 5/6 with the Clippers taking three of four games in the series. Charlotte’s lone win came on a 1–0 victory on May 5. On Friday night, Knights won again by a score of 1–0–13 days after their last 1–0 win over the Clippers. Charlotte is now 2–4 this season against the Clippers. Last season, the Charlotte Knights went 7–4 against the Clippers overall. In Columbus, OH, the Knights posted a 2–1 mark, while they went 5–3 at BB&T Ballpark. In their all-time series (since 1993), the Knights are 137–159 against the Clippers. The Knights are 14–25 all-time at Huntington Park.
ABOUT LAST KNIGHT: The Charlotte Knights dropped game two of their three-game series to the Columbus Clippers by a score of 8–4 on Saturday night from Huntington Park in Columbus, OH. Columbus slugger Richie Shaffer, a product of Providence High School in Charlotte, NC, launched a walk-off grand slam off RHP Gregory Infante in the ninth to give the Clippers the come-from-behind victory. After scoring two runs in the top of the ninth inning to take a 4–3 lead, the Knights looked to Infante to close things out in game two. Instead, Infante (1–3, 11.42) allowed five runs in the inning and was charged with the loss. He gave up a game-tying RBI single to Brandon Barnes and the game-winning blast to Shaffer.
TODAY’S STARTING PITCHER: RHP Tyler Danish (1–2, 4.30) will get the start for the Knights in today’s finale. Today’s start is the second of the season for Danish, who has appeared in 11 games overall this season with the Knights. He last faced the Clippers on May 5th out of Charlotte’s bullpen (1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO). Danish, 24, last started for the Knights on April 30 and tossed three shutout innings against the Gwinnett Stripers at BB&T Ballpark. He was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the second round of the 2013 First-Year Player Draft.
DONNY BASEBALL: RHP Donny Roach (3–2, 3.78) started for the Knights last night and was sharp over six innings of work. Roach, who left with a 2–1 lead, allowed just one run on five hits. For Roach, it was his seventh quality start of the season, which helped lower his season ERA to 3.78. He is currently first in the IL in innings pitched (52.1), and first in games started (9). The Las Vegas, NV native started the season strong and allowed just three runs over his first 18.0 innings pitched. In fact, he began the 2018 campaign with 10-straight scoreless innings. His first start of the season — which he won on April 8 — was his first win at the Triple-A level since September 2, 2016. Roach was signed by the Chicago White Sox as a free agent this offseason. Last season, he spent the entire campaign in Korea with the KT Wiz and posted a 4–15 record with a 4.69 ERA in 28 games (all starts).
AND ANOTHER ONE: INF/OF Jake Elmore extended his hit-streak to 10-straight games yesterday after recording two hits (he originally had three hits until one was later changed to an error after the game). He raised his season batting average to .293 (24-for-82) and now has five multi-hit games during that 10-game span. Over his 10-game hitting streak, Elmore is hitting .429 (15-for-35) with four runs scored and a double. For the month of May (15 games), Elmore is hitting .340 (18-for-53).
ROAD WARRIOR: With a double in Friday’s game, INF Eddy Alvarez has reached base in 15-straight road games (8/25/17 to present), which is currently the longest active road on-base streak in the IL. Over that span, Alvarez is hitting .306 (15-for-49) with one home run and five RBIs. In 13 road games this season, Alvarez is hitting .325 (13-for-40) with six runs scored, two doubles, one home run and four RBIs.
PEN PALS: RHP Rob Scahill has not allowed an earned run over his last 11 games (11.0 IP). He has not allowed a run in eight games this month (7.2 IP)… LHP Xavier Cedeño has not allowed a run over his last eight games (7.2 IP)… RHP Jeanmar Gómez did not allow a run over a stretch of five straight games (April 25-May 9) for a total of 9.2 straight scoreless innings pitched. He has not allowed a run in six of his last seven games pitched (11.2 IP)… RHP Thyago Vieira tossed a scoreless inning last night. He has allowed just three runs over his last 10 games (12.2 IP).
IL LEADERS: INF Matt Skole is tied for fourth in the IL this season in walks (20)… OF Jacob May is tied for third in stolen bases (9). May is also second in the IL in sacrifice hits (4)… In the pitching department, RHP Michael Kopech is second in the IL in strikeouts (53)… RHP Donny Roach is first in the IL in innings pitched (52.1) and first in games started (9)… LHP TJ House is tied for first in the IL in complete games (1)… RHP Rob Scahill is tied for second in games (17)… LHP Xavier Cedeño is second in holds with five… In the team department, the Knights are second in stolen bases with 38.
