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IL1 Charlotte Knights

Knights Fall Just Short, Lose to 'Riders 5-4 on Friday

May 1, 2015 - International League (IL1)
Charlotte Knights News Release


(UPTOWN CHARLOTTE, NC) - Despite an early 4-0 deficit, the Charlotte Knights fought back against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders on Friday, but fell just short in the end.

New York Yankees infielder Jose Pirela ripped three hits on his Major League rehab assignment and the RailRiders hung on for a 5-4 win over the Knights on Friday in game two of the four-game series from a sold-out BB&T Ballpark. The Knights welcomed 10,422 fans through the gates on Friday for their sixth sell-out crowd of the season.

Right-hander Shawn Haviland (0-2, 4.15) started for the Knights and allowed four runs on five hits over six innings and was saddled with the loss. Haviland walked one and fanned six batters on the evening. He left the game with the Knights down by a score of 4-2.

Charlotte reliever Daniel Webb allowed just one hit over two shutout innings to keep the RailRiders at bay. The Knights even pulled to within one run in the bottom of the eighth inning thanks to an RBI single off the bat of Jason Coats.

In the ninth, the 'Riders pushed one more run across on a Ramon Flores RBI single. The Knights, who came-from-behind to win Thursday's game with back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the ninth inning, made things interesting once again.

Carlos Sanchez carried over his impressive offensive April into the month of May. The Charlotte second baseman led things off in the bottom of the ninth with a double - his fifth hit of the game. The Venezuelan native finished a perfect 5-for-5 at the plate - becoming the first Knights player to achieve that mark since Ray Olmedo did so on July 17, 2012.

Two batters later, Matt Davidson came through with an RBI single to pull the Knights back to within one run, 5-4. Now, with the tying run on first base, Trayce Thompson singled to give the Knights two runners on with just one out. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre reliever Nick Rumbelow then struck out Dan Black and Engel Beltre to end the game. Rumbelow earned his second save of the season while reliever Joel De La Cruz (2-0, 3.65) was credited with the win.

For Sanchez, his fourth hit of the night, which came in the bottom of the seventh inning, moved him into sole possession of ninth place on the Charlotte Knights franchise hits record. His 273 hits are two more than Tim Hummel's 271.

The two teams will continue their series on Saturday with game three of the four-game set. RHP Chris Beck (0-1, 5.31) toes the rubber for the Knights against RHP Jaron Long (0-1, 6.10) for the 'Riders. Gates are set to open at 6:00 p.m. with first pitch on tap for 7:05 p.m. from BB&T Ballpark.

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