Sports stats

IL1 Charlotte Knights

Johnson Dominates G-Braves, Knights Win 7-2 Tuesday

August 25, 2015 - International League (IL1)
Charlotte Knights News Release


(UPTOWN CHARLOTTE, NC) -- Erik Johnson allowed two runs over eight masterful innings, Rob Brantly launched a three-run home run, and the Charlotte Knights defeated the Gwinnett Braves 7-2 on Tuesday in the middle game of their three-game series from BB&T Ballpark. The Knights beat the Braves in a two-hour and nine-minute game on Tuesday, which tied their May 30th game at BB&T Ballpark as the shortest of the season.

Making his 22nd start of the season, Johnson (11-8, 2.37) struck-out seven batters over eight innings en-route to his 11th win of the season. The California native, who started the 2015 Triple-A All-Star Game for the International League squad last month, is now second in the International League in wins, first in ERA (2.37), and first in strikeouts (136). Johnson, 25, trails only Columbus starter Toru Murata in the wins department. Murata has 13 victories this season.

Johnson was backed by his offense on Tuesday, which belted out eight hits, including two from team RBI leader Jason Coats. The TCU product drove in two runs in the bottom of the third inning on a two-run single. At that point, the Knights were ahead of the G-Braves by a score of 3-0. Coats now has 78 RBIs on the season -- 76 with the Knights -- and is just two away from a third-consecutive season of at least 80 RBIs. He had two RBIs with Double-A Birmingham earlier this year.

The G-Braves added their first of two runs in the top of the sixth inning on an RBI single off the bat of Hector Olivera, who finished the game with two of Gwinnett's 10 hits. The RBI single cut Charlotte's lead to 3-1.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Knights pulled away with help from Brantly, who launched his fourth home run of the season with the Knights. The three-run home run came off Gwinnett reliever Jason Hursh, who relieved starter Ryan Weber (4-3, 2.31). Weber was saddled with the loss after allowing three runs on five hits over five innings.

Each team tacked on one more run along the way on Tuesday as the Knights improved to 3-3 on the seven-game homestand with one game remaining. With the win, the Knights gained a game in the IL South Division standings. Charlotte sits 5.5 games back of first place Norfolk and 2.5 games back of second place Gwinnett.

Charlotte reliever Zach Phillips pitched the ninth and retired the side in order to end Gwinnett's chances of a late-inning comeback.

The two teams will conclude their series on Wednesday with a 7:05 p.m. finale from BB&T Ballpark. The Knights will go for the series sweep and hand the ball to RHP Hector Noesi (1-4, 4.30), who will get the start against Gwinnett RHP Kanekoa Texeira (6-3, 3.59). Gates open at 6:00 p.m. and fans can bring their dogs to the Bark in the Ballpark game on Wednesday.

Check out the Charlotte Knights Statistics



International League Stories from August 25, 2015


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent Charlotte Knights Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central