The Fourth of July fireworks shone brighter than the affiliates’ lineups, as the system suffered a five-game sweep
Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 4, Charlotte Knights 0 (Statcast box)
The Knights (42-43) lost plenty of firepower with Brooks Baldwin recalled back to the big leagues and Colson Montgomery following him, sinking below .500 once again in their loss to the Jumbo Shrimp (53-32).
Dominic Fletcher, Tristan Gray, Dru Baker, and Tim Elko collected the only hits of the night, and only Baker hit for extra bases. Charlotte fell victim to nine strikeouts while only drawing three walks in their weak performance.
Charlotte’s pitching only fell apart once. Yoendrys Gómez showcased another strong, five-inning start, holding Jacksonville to three hits, one run, and two walks. Chase Plymell continued his scoreless inning streak to 11 2⁄3 innings with a one-hit, one-strikeout outing, but then came Justin Anderson. Anderson gave up three runs on three hits to keep Charlotte’s sleepy offense far out of reach for a comeback.
Chattanooga Lookouts 8, Birmingham Barons 7
The Barons (42-37) lost a nail-biting game against the Lookouts (42-33) after not scoring a run for more than half of the game.
Birmingham packed its runs in the first two innings. Ryan Galanie blasted a three-run bomb after Rikuu Nishida and William Bergolla drew walks in their opening at-bats. Then, Jacob Gonzalez walked, Caden Connor singled, and Wilfred Veras’ double-play brought in Gonzalez to make it 4-0, Birmingham. The Barons added three runs in the second with Galanie’s RBI single and Gonzalez’s two-run double.
The Lookouts mounted a gradual comeback early, starting with three runs scored off Hagen Smith in the second and third, drive him off the mound after 2 2⁄3 innings. Chattanooga kept their cleat on Birmingham’s pitching crew, knocking three of Tommy Vail in the fourth and sixth innings. The Barons got a break from Chattanooga’s relentless bats in the fifth, but it didn’t last long as Jarold Rosado ceded a seventh run off a solo shot in the eighth to tie the game at 7-7.
Chattanooga ended their epic comeback with Austin Hendrick’s two-out, two-on RBI single to walk the game off. This is perhaps the most brutal loss the Barons have suffered this season.
Hub City Spartanburgers 10, Winston-Salem Dash 5
Failure to turn base runners into runs scored ultimately hurt the Dash (29-49), as the team went 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position and left 14 on base in the race to 50 losses.
The Dash and Spartanburgers (38-40) waited until the fifth open to break open the scoreless game. Alex Makarewicz’s RBI single scored the first run, and Matt Hogan and Terrell Tatum’s ground out and force out tacked two more runs, giving the Dash a 3-0 lead. The Spartanburgers responded in the sixth with back-to-back RBI singles off Jake Bockenstedt to make it a one-run game, ending the starter’s outing after six frames, three hits, two runs, and seven strikeouts.
Winston-Salem padded their lead in the eighth, after four consecutive walks scored Sam Antonacci, and Arxy Hernandez’s double play ground out brought in Samuel Zavala.
But the Dash’s hard work was quickly erased when reliever Morris Austin and Phil Fox allowed seven hits, eight runs, and a home run in the eighth. Sigh.
Hickory Crawdads 7, Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 1
The Cannon Ballers (36-43) didn’t stand a chance against the Crawdads (43-35) from the get-go. Despite scattering enough hits throughout nine frames, Kanny’s only run came form Jordan Sprinkle’s force out in the seventh that scored Lyle Miller-Green, who led off the inning with a single. Kannapolis stranded five on base and didn’t score a single runner in scoring position.
Ricardo Brizuela gave up two runs in the first, but settled in to keep the Crawdads at five hits and three runs through five frames. Jake Curtis gave Kanny a break with his scoreless inning, but Jesus Mendez’s collapse over just two-thirds of an inning resulted in four more insurance runs warded off any chance of the Cannon Ballers from making a comeback.
ACL Brewers 7, ACL White Sox 4
After petering out late in the game to the ACL Brewers (24-22), the ACL Sox (25-21) have fallen out of first, one game back in the ACL West.
The Sox took an early lead on Arnold Prado’s RBI single in the second. Although the Sox decided to sit tight on scoring for a few innings, Noah Syndergaard had a strong second Sox start with four innings, a hit, and three strikeouts. After Ethan Hammerberg and Maximo Martinez lost the lead with a couple of hits, a walk, wild pitch and fielder’s choice, Stiven Flores tied the game at three apiece with a two-run single in the sixth.
The Brewers continued scoring, but the Sox did not. Martinez was tagged with the two earned runs in the seventh and Kevin Davis was charged with the two runs in the eighth. At that point, the lineup and pitching had run out of gas in the nine-inning affair.