The affiliates combined to score only six runs during an 0-4 evening
It is easy to tell that things did not go as planned for the Knights, who got crushed from start to finish in Memphis.
The Redbirds did this against Knights starter Jason Bilous: single, double, walk, walk, double, walk. That was it for Bilous, who allowed a 1.000 OBP in this game. When he departed, it was already 3-0, and Memphis still had the bases loaded with no outs. All three runners Lincoln Henzman inherited scored, but on the bright side, Henzman did not allow any additional runs.
Speaking of bright sides, those were hard to find in this game, but the Knights chipped into the early 6-0 deficit early on. Blake Rutherford and Yolbert Sánchez hit back-to-back singles to open the second, and Rutherford later scored on a sacrifice fly by Indiana Hoosier Craig Dedelow. In the third, the Knights picked up one more run due to a productive out by Adam Haseley following an error. That made the score 6-2, but the Knights never got closer.
I suppose one more bright side is that the game never truly got out of hand until the bottom of the seventh, when the Redbirds were hardly fooled by anything reliever Parker Markel threw. With the game already well out of reach in the bottom of the eighth, catcher/designated hitter Raudy Read allowed four runs in relief.
Day 2 of Project Birmingham did not go as smoothly as Day 1, to say the least.
— Trooper Galactus (@TrooperGalactus) August 25, 2022
I couldn’t have said it better, Trooper. Mississippi jumped out to an early lead and never looked back against the Barons Wednesday night.
Starter Andrew Dalquist got through two scoreless innings, but the third inning was decisive and not in the way Birmingham had hoped. Justyn-Henry Malloy launched a two-run homer to give the Braves a lead that did not relinquish. Mississippi tacked on a sacrifice fly after a walk and two singles in the third to extend its lead to three.
At least Yoelqui Céspedes showed up. Céspedes hit his 15th home run of the season in the fifth inning to narrow the gap to two. After five innings, Birmingham trailed by a score of 3-1.
Unfortunately, Mississippi picked up its only run against reliever Garrett Davila in the sixth to make it 4-1. Davila pitched well overall, striking out eight and only allowing one run in 3 2⁄3 innings. However, the wheels fell off in the seventh inning, when Mississippi blew the game wide open against Yoelvin Silven.
This game was scoreless after three innings, but it quickly got away from the Dash after that, and Asheville got an easy win.
Dash starter Brooks Gosswein pitched three excellent innings to start his outing, but after a walk and a pair of hits in the fourth, Winston-Salem was in a 2-0 hole. Gosswein came back out for the fifth, and he retired the first two batters of the inning, but then, things got ugly. Gosswein hit a batter before allowing two singles and a double to wrap up his performance. When he left, the Dash trailed by a score of 4-0, and that was plenty of insurance for Asheville.
The Tourists went on to pick up a pair against reliever Karan Patel in the seventh. Wilber Pérez also had a difficult outing, allowing three runs in garbage time. Cooper Bradford, who retired all four batters he faced, was a diamond in the rough for the pitching staff.
Meanwhile, the Dash offense was ice-cold. Winston-Salem only collected five hits, four of which were singles. Their only extra-base hit was a double by Brandon Bossard. The Dash finished 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position during this shutout.
The Cannon Ballers nearly rallied in the ninth for an amazing comeback, but they fell short against the Mudcats.
Even though the pitchers allowed five runs (all earned), batted ball luck was not on their side. During the game, the pitching staff combined for 13 strikeouts, no walks, and one home run allowed. Those numbers result in a FIP of only 1.77, but regardless, it was not good enough to bring home the win.
The Mudcats got their only home run of the game in the top of the second, when starter Martin Carrasco allowed a blast to Eduarqui Fernández. That was the only run Carrasco allowed during his four innings of work. Carrasco struck out seven without issuing any walks.
The Cannon Ballers quickly got that run back in the bottom of the second. That was when Tim Elko led off with a double and came around to score on a two-out double by Victor Torres. From there, the score remained 1-1 until the sixth.
After Cannon Ballers reliever Jesús Valles delivered a scoreless fifth inning, the sixth was difficult. With one out and nobody on base in the sixth, the Mudcats did this: single, single, sacrifice fly, double. That made the score 3-1, and the seventh was also a struggle for Valles and the Cannon Ballers. After a double, two singles, and a productive force out, Carolina had a 5-1 lead. Relievers Jake Palisch and Tyson Messer made sure that Carolina did not pick up any additional runs in the eighth and ninth.
Still trailing by four, the Cannon Ballers did not go down quietly in the bottom of the ninth. Jacob Burke singled to lead off the inning, and Jayson González followed with a walk. After Torres hit into a force out, Logan Glass walked to load the bases with one out. Representing the potential tying run, Jordan Sprinkle trimmed the deficit to three with an RBI single. Brooks Baldwin grounded into a 1-2 force out at home, but Troy Claunch walked to force in a run and keep the game alive. Elko stepped up to the plate with the potential winning run on first, but he flew out to right to end the game.
