Knights' Hayes homers twice, drives in six
Hitting in the thick of a lineup that features some of Triple-A's most gifted offensive players, Danny Hayes may enjoy more nights like the one he had Saturday. The White Sox prospect had two homers among three hits and drove in a career-high six runs as Charlotte crushed Norfolk, 15-5, on
Hitting in the thick of a lineup that features some of Triple-A's most gifted offensive players, Danny Hayes may enjoy more nights like the one he had Saturday.
The White Sox prospect had two homers among three hits and drove in a career-high six runs as Charlotte crushed Norfolk, 15-5, on Saturday at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium.
After singling in his first at-bat, Hayes hit a first-pitch fastball from Chris Lee (0-1) over the center-field wall in the third inning for a grand slam that gave the Knights a 7-1 lead.
Box score
"I just wanted to be aggressive if I got a pitch over the plate," Hayes said. "He threw me a heater that was elevated and it was a good pitch to hit. Luckily, it found some barrel and I just was fortunate enough to run into one there."
Through three games, Charlotte has totaled 35 runs and 53 hits.
"It's been a blast starting the season like this. The whole team is just having a grand old time," the California native said. "We come in and expect to win every day and to play hard for [Knights manager] Mark Grudzielanek. I couldn't have asked for a better situation right now.
"We've got guys one through nine that can swing it, and that's been the case the past couple of nights and hopefully we keep it rolling."
After Nicky Delmonico hit a solo shot in the sixth, Hayes added a two-run homer later in the inning as Charlotte reached double digits in runs for the second straight night.
"You can make a living in this game hitting the ball hard," the Oregon State product said. "I just try to find good pitches and put some good wood on it and then whatever happens after that happens."
In the seventh, Yoán Moncada, MLB.com's No. 2 overall prospect, recorded his first homer with his new club, taking Logan Verrett deep. Moncada was 7-for-11 in his first two games, with all seven hits being singles.
"Moncada is special and we are very fortunate that he came over to our organization," Hayes said. "I've been around him for the past couple of months and at Spring Training we had an early hitters' camp and it was clear to me right away that he's on his way to playing in the Major Leagues for a very long time."
Delmonico finished 3-for-4 with a homer, triple, three RBIs and three runs scored. Willy García and Jose Vinicio also went deep for the Knights.
In his organizational debut, Lucas Giolito -- MLB.com's No. 10 overall prospect -- allowed five runs on six hits and two walks with four strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings.
"The fact that he's our No. 3 starter is pretty crazy," Hayes said of Giolito. "He made some great pitches tonight. We have some legitimate arms and he's one of them."
Orioles top prospectChance Sisco doubled twice and had three RBIs for the Tides.
Michael Leboff is a contributor to MiLB.com.
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