Knights Homer Their Way Past RailRiders 9-5 Thursday
July 17, 2014 - International League (IL1)
Charlotte Knights News Release
(UPTOWN CHARLOTTE, NC) After three full days off for the Triple-A All-Star break, the Charlotte Knights took the field on Thursday at BB&T Ballpark for the first time since Sunday and brought their bats for an exciting slugfest in front of the ballpark's 25th sell-out crowd of the season.
Charlotte's offense pounded out six home runs and 11 hits en route to a 9-5 win over the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders in game one of their four-game series at BB&T Ballpark in Uptown Charlotte on Thursday in front of 10,255 fans. The win was the 41st of the season for the Knights and fourth in five games against SWB this season.
Already leading the International League in home runs, the Knights set a new game-high in long balls this season with six. The Knights came into Thursday's opener with 117 home runs this season and now have 123 this year - 38 more than the second best home run hitting team in the IL this season (Toledo).
In the bottom of the second inning, Jordan Danks launched the game's first home run of the night -- a solo shot off Scranton/Wilkes-Barre starter Bryan Mitchell -- an East Carolina University product. The home run was the 49th of his Knights career and the 13th of the season for Danks. He finished the night 2-for-4 with two runs scored, one double, one home run and an RBI. With two runs scored, Danks is now tied with Joe Borchard for first all-time in Knights franchise history.
One inning later, Marcus Semien ripped his seventh home run of the season and Charlotte's second of the game to make it a 3-0 lead over the RailRiders. The home run hitting continued in the fourth inning when Andy Wilkins homered for the first of two times on the evening. His first home run -- a solo shot -- came off of Mitchell (0-1, 6.75), who was saddled with the loss.
With the Knights ahead by a score of 4-1, the team continued their assault on SWB pitching in the bottom of the fifth inning. Charlotte scored four more runs in the inning, highlighted by another home run from Wilkins -- his second of the night and first off of reliever Danny Burawa. It was his first two home-run game since July 14, 2013 with Charlotte in Norfolk against the Tides. 2014 International League All-Star Josh Phegley also homered in the fifth inning for his 14th of the season. Phegley went 1-for-2 with a run scored on Wednesday at the Triple-A All-Star Game.
The Knights added one more home run along the way courtesy of Matt Davidson, who tied Wilkins for the International League lead with his 18th of the year.
RHP Erik Johnson (3-6, 6.80) pitched into the sixth inning and earned his third win of the season. Johnson allowed five runs (four earned) over 5.1 innings pitched. Reliever Ryan Kussmaul (1.2 innings pitched) and Taylor Thompson (two innings pitched) combined to shut down the RailRiders over the final three innings.
The two teams will continue their series on Friday night at BB&T Ballpark. Charlotte newcomer Chien-Ming Wang makes his Knights debut in game two against RailRiders starter and former Winthrop University standout Chris Leroux (2-2, 4.44). Gates open at 6:00 p.m. on Friday as the Knights host the RailRiders in a 7:05 p.m. game. After the game, the Knights will light up the Uptown Charlotte skyline with post-game fireworks courtesy of BB&T, News Talk 1110 WBT, and 107.9 The Link.
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