IL1 Gwinnett Stripers

Charlotte Spoils Riley's Gwinnett Debut

Published on May 7, 2018 under International League (IL1)
Gwinnett Stripers News Release


LAWRENCEVILLE, GA - Highly-touted prospect Austin Riley's single to right field in his first career Triple-A at-bat was the highlight of Gwinnett's 5-4 loss to the Charlotte Knights on Monday night at Coolray Field.

Riley, the 21-year-old ranked the eighth-best prospect in the Atlanta system by MLB.com, looped a single off Charlotte's Matt Tomshaw in the bottom of the first inning to put runners at the corners with one out. But Tomshaw struck out Carlos Franco and Sean Kazmar Jr. to end the threat.

In the bottom of the second, the Stripers struck first. Xavier Avery led off with a single, then Phil Gosselin doubled off the wall in his first Coolray Field home at-bat since July 24, 2014. A Rob Brantly groundout brought Avery home for a 1-0 Stripers lead. After an Ezequiel Carrera walk, Danny Santana singled to right to make it 2-0.

Gwinnett's Jon Kennedy, making his first career Triple-A start, retired the first seven Knights batters he faced. But one-out singles by Juan Perez and Eddy Alvarez set up a big third inning for Charlotte. Jacob May hit an RBI single, then Charlie Tilson hit a two-run double and advanced to third on the throw. Kevan Smith then hit a sacrifice fly, giving Charlotte a 4-2 lead.

The Stripers got a run back in the bottom half of the third as Brantly drove in Avery with an RBI single.

The teams traded blows again in the sixth as Charlotte's Matt Skole doubled with one out and Patrick Leonard hit an infield single to put runners at the corners against Evan Phillips. Jake Elmore hit a soft ground ball to bring in Skole and extend the lead to 5-3. In Gwinnett's half, Brantly singled and Santana doubled to put two in scoring position. Rio Ruiz grounded out to make it 5-4, but the Stripers couldn't drive home the tying run.

Charlotte (13-17) never allowed the equalizer as Colton Turner (H, 1), Thyago Vieira (H, 1) and Gregory Infante (S, 2) shut down the Stripers (11-18) to close it out. Tomshaw (W, 2-0) picked up the win despite allowing 11 hits and four earned runs over 5.2 innings.

Kennedy (0-1) fared well outside the rough third inning in the spot start, lasting 4.0 innings with five hits and four runs allowed with two strikeouts on 60 pitches (35 strikes).

Riley finished the night 1-for-5 with three strikeouts. Santana went 3-for-5 with an RBI. Kazmar, Avery, Gosselin and Brantly each were 2-for-4 in the losing effort.

Skole led the Knights with a 3-for-4 night.

The two sides meet again Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. at Coolray Field. Left-hander Kolby Allard (1-1, 2.25) goes for Gwinnett, while righty Donn Roach (3-1, 3.16) will start for Charlotte. Tony Schiavone has the play-by-play call on 97.7 and 93.5 FM The Other Side of the River beginning at 6:35 p.m.

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International League Stories from May 7, 2018


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