CHARLOTTE, NC - A Johan Camargo sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth inning broke a 4-4 tie and gave the Gwinnett Braves (15-11) a 5-4 win over the Charlotte Knights (12-14) in game one of the three-game series on Friday night at BB&T Ballpark.The win broke a season-long
CHARLOTTE, NC - A Johan Camargo sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth inning broke a 4-4 tie and gave the Gwinnett Braves (15-11) a 5-4 win over the Charlotte Knights (12-14) in game one of the three-game series on Friday night at BB&T Ballpark.
The win broke a season-long three-game losing streak for the G-Braves and kept them four games behind Durham for first place in the International League South Division.
The G-Braves took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Ozzie Albies began the game by reaching on a fielding error by Charlotte third baseman Nicky Delmonico. Camargo followed with a single to center to put two on, and a double steal moved Albies to third and Camargo to second. Mel Rojas Jr. singled to right, scoring Albies with the game's first run. A sacrifice fly to center by Ryan Howard drove in Camargo from third with the second tally of the inning.
Charlotte cut the lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the first. G-Braves' starter Aaron Blair walked Yoán Moncada and Jacob May to open the game. Delmonico hit into a force play to move Moncada to third, and a wild pitch by Blair enabled Moncada to score.
Gwinnett pushed the lead to 3-1 in the top of the third as Anthony Recker hit a solo home run to left off Knights' starter Cory Luebke.
In the bottom of the sixth, Charlotte again pulled to within one run as Adam Engel hit a one-out solo homer to left-center off Caleb Dirks to make it 3-2.
The G-Braves answered back with a run in the top of the seventh courtesy of Camargo, who delivered a clutch two-out single to score Xavier Avery from third for a 4-2 lead.
Atlanta Braves' reliever Mauricio Cabrera , making his second rehab appearance for Gwinnett, gave up a leadoff single to Moncada in the seventh. Following a wild pitch by Cabrera and a ground out, Moncada scored from third on an RBI ground out by Delmonico to trim the Gwinnett lead to 4-3.
Charlotte would finally catch the G-Braves in the bottom of the eighth. Rymer Liriano blooped a one-out single to right between Avery and Rojas, moved to second base on Cabrera's walk to Engel and took third on a fly out by Roberto Peña. Liriano scored the tying run when Cabrera threw in the dirt on a pickoff move to first base.
In the top of the ninth, facing Knights' reliever Gregory Infante, Recker led off with a double to right and moved to third on a long fly out to left by Kyle Kubitza . Avery walked to put two on and Charlotte opted to intentionally walk Albies to load the bases. The winning sacrifice fly from Camargo came on a 3-2 pitch from Infante.
For Gwinnett, Blair pitched 5.0 innings with one earned run on four hits, five walks and one strikeout. Dirks (H, 4) pitched 1.0 inning with one hit, one earned run and two strikeouts. Cabrera (BS, 1, W, 1-0) yielded two runs on three hits over 2.0 innings, walked one and struck out one. David Peterson (S, 3) pitched a perfect bottom of the ninth for his third save in four tries this season.
Luebke went 4.0 innings with three runs - two earned - on five hits and three strikeouts. Giovanni Soto worked 1.1 scoreless innings, Chris Volstad allowed a run over 1.2 innings and Infante (L, 0-1) gave up the winning run over 2.0 innings for the Knights.
Camargo went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and a stolen base, while Recker was 2-for-4 with a double, homer (1), two runs scored and an RBI.
Charlotte was led by Engel who was 2-for-2 with the solo homer (3).
The Gwinnett Braves and Charlotte Knights meet in game two of the three-game series on Saturday night in Charlotte. Left-hander Sean Newcomb (1-1, 3.08) will start for Gwinnett, while Charlotte will counter with right-hander Reynaldo López (2-1, 4.10). First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. Tony Schiavone has the play-by-play call on 97.7 FM "The Other Side of the River" beginning at 6:35 p.m.
