A thrilling walk-off in Birmingham — and we were there!
Memphis Redbirds 9, Charlotte Knights 2 (Gameday Box) (Statcast Box)
In his first game back down in Triple-A, Jonathan Cannon struggled to keep his command against the Redbirds. He gave up four runs on three hits and struck out four — but he also walked the same amount, which didn’t end up doing him any favors as he gave up three quick runs in the third with bases loaded. Charlotte’s bullpen was also subpar (putting it nicely) the rest of the game, as Touki Toussaint gave up another four, with one more from Fraser Ellard.
Memphis put up another run before the Knights offense woke up and finally scored some runs in the bottom of the fourth. Oscar Colás doubled to score the first Charlotte run, and Carlos Pérez grounded into a fielder’s choice for the second. And sadly, that was it for the Knights.
“Double, I hit”
Oscar Colás doubles home our 1st run of the game! #StarWarsKnight pic.twitter.com/AoMl0tE11u
— Charlotte Knights (@KnightsBaseball) May 4, 2024
Have to say it, though walking several steps out of the box on that double and then jogging into second base is not going to get Colás back to Chicago any faster.
Birmingham Barons 4, Rocket City Trash Pandas 3 (Gameday Box) (Statcast Box)
The Barons continue to wreak havoc on the Southern League, defeating the Trash Pandas in comeback fashion. The Barons are now 19-7 with a .731 winning percentage, five wins better than any other team in either division.
Ky Bush has been lights-out for pretty much the whole year, and went for another six strong on Saturday, giving up six hits, three earned, with one walk and six K’s. Not his best outing, but his ERA remains less than two, and the offense was ready to have his back.
Birmingham had eight hits, but they were certainly efficient with them, and even stole four bases throughout — Duke Ellis snagging three of them, and Terrell Tatum tacking on another on top of a two-hit night, accompanied by a solid evening from Alsander Womack with another multi-hit outing.
Turner bangs one off the wall and scores Tatum from 3rd
3-2 Pandas#bhambarons pic.twitter.com/2xpewfiFwy
— Birmingham Barons (@BhamBarons) May 5, 2024
Michael Turner drove two runs in on a double, also scoring once and knocking out a double play. The walk-off run, however, came as Ellis scored from third on a Brooks Baldwin sac fly to shallow left in the bottom of the ninth. Ellis had singled and immediately swiped second base to jump-start the winning rally.
Duke Ellis is electric. He scores on a shallow sac fly in LF. #Barons win 4-3. #WhiteSox pic.twitter.com/8whjFLhJ91
— FutureSox (@FutureSox) May 5, 2024
Greensboro Grasshoppers 5, Winston-Salem Dash 4 (Gameday Box) (Statcast Box)
The Dash quickly went up four runs in the first three innings thanks to a Shawn Goosenberg two-run bomb. And a couple of innings later Bryce Willits scored the next two — which was unfortunately all of the offense for Winston-Salem on Saturday.
Noah Schultz had a serviceable outing, but got into a jam in the bottom of the fourth, beginning the rally that would ultimately ignite the Grasshoppers to victory. José Ramírez relieved Schultz, but in his two innings he gave up the runs that Greensboro needed to shut the Dash down, 5-4. Nothing really special here tonight, folks.
Lynchburg Hillcats 6, Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 5 (Gameday Box) (Statcast Box)
Lucas Gordon had an efficient start for the Cannon Ballers to keep them in the game after the offense provided three runs of support in the third and fourth innings. Eddie Park and Caden Connor were both responsible for a pair of two-RBI singles that put the Ballers up three on the Hillcats.
Gordon held strong through five, but the bullpen did not finish the job. Connery Peters set the disappointment in motion after he allowed two runs (one earned) in the bottom of the eighth to bring Lynchburg within one. Jesús Méndez came in to “close things out” but ended up giving up the walk-off that would end the game with the Ballers losing, 6-5.