Seven Knights combine to twirl Father's Day no-no

A lot of dads were gifted a no-hitter Sunday.

On Father's Day, the Triple-A Charlotte Knights combined on their third no-hitter in franchise history, but this one came with another milestone. It marked the first International League no-no with seven pitchers and the most hurlers used in a no-hitter in the Minors dating back to 2005.

After burning through three arms in a 6-4 win Saturday, the White Sox affiliate knew it had to turn to the bullpen the next day en route to a 2-0 victory at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

"To be honest with you, we played it out pretty much how we wanted to," Knights pitching coach R.C. Lichtenstein said. "We had set out how we expected the early game to go. There was probably one other guy who we thought might get in."

Prior to the game, the White Sox promoted Garrett Schoenle for the 25-year-old's Triple-A debut. As the starting pitcher against Durham, the southpaw threw 47 pitches in three innings to match his longest appearance of the season. After a leadoff walk, Schoenle retired nine in a row, striking out four, before handing the ball off.

"He just threw strikes. He was aggressive," Lichtenstein said. "He just followed what we told him to do, which was: 'Don't give these hitters anymore credit.'"

No reliever tallied more than four outs the rest of the way. Lefty Fraser Ellard -- the winning pitcher -- sat down three of the four batters he faced in the fourth with a flyout and a pair of strikeouts.

From there, the Knights bullpen started to empty out early and often.

Right-hander Jordan Leasure got two outs, hit a batter and exited the game before righty Joe Barlow recorded the next two outs. That's when Lichtenstein started to notice the zero in the Bulls' hit column on the manual scoreboard.

The Knights called upon lefty Sammy Peralta for two outs in the sixth after Kameron Misner walked. The Rays' No. 24 prospect moved into scoring position on his 21st stolen base of the season, but Peralta pitched around the movement on the basepaths by striking out two Bulls and then retired two more batters in the seventh. One of those outs came on a chopper to third base with White Sox No. 5 prospect Bryan Ramos charging the ball and making a strong throw to first base to preserve the no-hitter.

"Obviously, you need those," Lichtenstein said. "There weren't too many of them, luckily. The majority of the outs were routine."

Righty Deivi Garcia also took over with an inherited runner on first base and got out of the jam with 1 1/3 perfect frames to set up Adisyn Coffey for a save opportunity. It took the righty just 10 pitches to retire the side in order en route to his second Triple-A save and the Knights' fourth no-hitter since 2013 -- their first since Lucas Giolito's seven-inning no-no May 25, 2017.

"We got a great mix of some guys who got some big league service time, some guys who were up earlier this year and some guys who are climbing the ladder," Lichtenstein said. "It was a real cool mix to watch guys do their job. Guys have embraced what we are doing here and have really, really bought in. Today was a culmination of all that. The stars aligned for us, and everybody went out and did their thing."

Behind the plate, Major League veteran Chuckie Robinson called his first professional no-hitter.

"He's one of the most prepared guys I've been around," Lichtenstein said. "I'm usually not giving him much information that he doesn't know."

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The Knights' seven pitchers combined for 10 strikeouts, allowing five baserunners on three walks and two hit batsmen. The club deployed the most arms in a no-hitter in the Minor Leagues dating back to 2005, besting the Single-A Fayetteville Woodpeckers' six arms achieving the feat on Sept. 7, 2022.

Two Major League squads -- the 2003 Astros and 2012 Mariners -- each sent six pitchers to the mound in their respective no-hitters, but no team in The Show has amassed a no-hitter like the 2024 Knights.