Knights Knotes — May 28, 2014
CHARLOTTE KNIGHTS (16–35, 4th, 2014) (65–78, 3rd South — 2013)
@ COLUMBUS CLIPPERS (24–26, 2nd, 2014) (71–73, 2nd West — 2013)
TODAY’S PROBABLES
CHA RHP Dylan Axelrod (1–5, 5.63) @
COL RHP Travis Banwart (3–1, 3.55)
Wednesday, May 28, 2014 ~ Game 52 of 144 ~ Huntington Park ~ 10:35 AM
TODAY’S GAME: The Knights and Clippers will play game three of their four-game series today at 10:35 a.m. from Huntington Park. The Knights have dropped the first two games of the series and three-straight games overall as they head into today’s game. This is the seventh losing streak of three or more games this season for the Knights.
GOOD MORNING COLUMBUS: The Knights are 1–2 this season in pre-noon games. Charlotte’s first 11:05 a.m. game this season took place in Durham on April 10 and the Knights lost that game 5–4. They beat the Durham Bulls 9–1 on April 23 — their first 11:05 a.m. game in BB&T Ballpark history. Their next morning game — Charlotte’s 11:35 a.m. game scheduled for April 29 in Rochester — was postponed due to rain and will be made up as part of a doubleheader at BB&T Ballpark on June 4. They lost their last 11:05 a.m. game to the Lehigh Valley IronPigs on May 7 at BB&T Ballpark by a score of 3–2 in 11 innings.
LAST KNIGHTS GAME: A night after hitting the game-winner, Elliott Johnson had two hits and scored two runs, Kyle Davies (2–2, 4.40) allowed four runs over 6.1 innings, and the Columbus Clippers beat the Charlotte Knights 8–6 on Tuesday in game two of their four-game series from Huntington Park in Columbus, OH.
KNIGHTS STARTER: RHP Dylan Axelrod (1–5, 5.63) makes his eighth start of the 2014 season and will appear in his 10th game of the year with the Knights. Today’s start is his first since May 10. His last two appearances have come out of the Charlotte bullpen where he has allowed just one run over six innings of work. He is 0–1 with a 1.42 ERA as a reliever and 1–4 with a 6.47 ERA as a starter this season. In the month of April, Axlerod went 1–3 with a 4.00 ERA in five games (all starts). He is 0–2 with a 9.53 ERA in May (4 G, 2 GS).
CAREER NOTES: Axelrod spent the entire 2013 season with the White Sox — his first full season in the majors — and posted a 4–11 record with a 5.68 ERA in 30 games (20 starts). He allowed 170 hits over 128.1 innings pitched. While it was the third straight season that Axelrod spent time with the White Sox, it was the first he didn’t see time with Charlotte. The California native previously spent parts of 2011 and 2012 with the Knights. Axelrod tossed the first pitch in BB&T Ballpark history on April 11, 2014 at 7:41 p.m. as the Knights opened their new kingdom. It was fitting that it was Axelrod, who entered the season with the lowest ERA in Knights franchise history with a 2.58 ERA. He enters today’s game with a 3.10 mark — tied with teammate Charlie Leesman for the fifth-best mark.
ON THE ROAD & ON BASE: Jared Mitchell had a good night at the plate on Tuesday — bumping his average up to over .200 for the first time since April 21. Mitchell, who is now batting .207 on the year, reached base in his 15th-straight road game last night going 2-for-3. His streak dates back to April 8, 2014. During that stretch, Mitchell has walked 14 times and has seven hits with a .397 on-base percentage. Currently, his streak is the third longest active road streak in the IL. Dan Johnson of Buffalo also has 15-straight, while Ramon Flores of SWB (16) and Matt Hague of IND (18) have longer streaks. For the season, Mitchell leads the Knights in both walks (30) and on-base percentage (.385). He’s fifth in the IL in walks as well.
DANKS RANKS: Jordan Danks passed sluggers Sam Horn, Jeff Inglin, and Mario Valenzuela for sole possession of eighth place on the all-time Knights franchise home run list on May 17 after ripping the 39th home run of his Charlotte Knights career. Danks is now just one away from tying current White Sox slugger and former Knights teammate Dayan Viciedo for seventh all-time. Viciedo hit 40 home runs. Danks is the all-time Knights franchise leader in triples (12), walks (178), and strikeouts (463). He ranks second all-time in the following categories: games played (392), at-bats (1,413), hits (368), and runs scored (206). Danks is third in doubles (79) and fourth on the Knights all-time RBI list with 177. He also has 42 stolen bases — which ties him for 10th on the all-time list.
ALL GOOD THINGS: Carlos Sanchez entered Tuesday’s game with a 10-game hit-streak, but was unable to keep it alive as he went 0-for-4 on the night. His 10-game hit-streak started on May 16 and he hit .372 (16-for-43) with five runs scored, four extra-base hits, one home run, two doubles, one triple, and seven RBIs over that span. It was an impressive streak and his third streak of 5+ games this season (11 games 4/26–5/8 and 6 games 4/19–4/24). Still, the switch-hitting Sanchez has a hit in 36 of his last 48 games and he hit his first career Triple-A home run on Sunday. It was the first home he hit since he launched a home run for Winston-Salem (A+) on May 4, 2012 (751 days since that home run). He’s batting .290 this year.
TY GUY: Tyler Saladino continued his hot-hitting with his second-straight three-hit game. Saladino went 3-for-4 with a double and a run scored. He hit his sixth home run of the season on Monday and now has a hit in seven of his last eight games (13 H over that span) and he has eight hits over his last three games. It was his fifth three-hit game of the season.
TAYLOR MADE: Reliever Taylor Thompson threw a scoreless eighth inning out of the bullpen on Monday to extend his scoreless innings streak to 9.1 innings. Thompson has also not allowed a hit over his last 7.2 innings pitched.
“HOME” RUNS: The Knights continued their home run hitting last night — launching two solo home runs. Andy Wilkins hit his team-leading ninth of the season, while Blake Tekotte hit his third. The Knights now have 44 home runs this season and only the Toledo Mud Hens have hit more (46). The Knights have hit 27 long balls as a team in May, after hitting 17 in the month of April. Their 27 home runs are the most by an IL team in the month of May. LHV and NOR are second with 24 each. Charlotte has enjoyed hitting in the friendly confines of BB&T Ballpark — compiling 26 of their 44 home runs at BB&T Ballpark this season.
