Burkhalter Shines but Rome Nearly No-hit Thursday Night

ROME, Ga. - Carlson Reed and the Grasshoppers carried a no-hit bid into the bottom of the eighth inning en route to winning their seventh straight while handing Rome it’s seventh straight loss.

Blake Burkhalter was phenomenal over 6.0 innings of shutout baseball. He struck out a career-high 11 batters, bettering his previous career of seven. This last month has seen the former competitive balance pick pitch a complete game shutout, record a double-digit strikeout game, and give up just eight earned runs in 27.2 innings (2.60 ERA).

In front of his family and closest friends, Greensboro starter Carlson Reed flourished in his return to his home state. Reed held the Emperors hitless through six and his only mistake was issuing a free pass to Kevin Kilpatrick Jr. in the first. His ERA now sits at 0.73 (2 ER in 24.2 IP). Nick Ward played the villain with his single to centerfield in the bottom of the eighth off Carlos Jimenez to break up the no-hit bid. The ‘Hoppers came with six outs of their third no-no in franchise history and first since August of 2018.

Greensboro’s three runs were thanks to two doubles and two triples scattered throughout the game. Hudson Head, P.J. Hilson, and Shawn Ross all recorded RBI.

Adam Maier gets the start tomorrow at 7:00pm EDT in game four of the series with Greensboro.