Homers Power Knights Past Stripers 6-4

(LAWRENCEVILLE, GA) - Behind a pair of timely home runs and a solid night on the mound, the Charlotte Knights evened their series against the Gwinnett Stripers with a 6-4 win on Saturday night at Coolray Field.

After falling behind quickly on Friday night, the Knights jumped ahead early on Saturday. In his first at-bat as a Knight, Ramón Torres laced a two-out double to right in the third. Luis Robert followed with a double of his own off the right field wall, scoring Torres with the game's first run.
An inning later, another new Knight made his presence felt as AJ Reed launched a solo shot to center for his first career International League home run, doubling the Charlotte lead to 2-0.
The Stripers got a run back in the bottom of the fourth to trim their deficit to one run, but it wouldn't last long.
Torres and Robert singled to start the fifth for the Knights. Two hitters later, Daniel Palka connected on a 428-foot blast for a three-run home run to increase the Charlotte lead to 5-1. Danny Mendick added an RBI single to center later in the inning to give Charlotte a five-run edge.
In the sixth, the Stripers got a pair of runs off Charlotte starter Odrisamer Despaigne (W, 5-5). But with the bases loaded and two outs, reliever Matt Foster induced a fly out from Rafael Ortega to end the inning and strand the runners.
Foster returned to the mound in the seventh and pitched a clean frame to hold the three-run lead. Juan Minaya entered in the eighth and gave up a run, but rebounded with a clean ninth to finish the win.
On the mound, Despaigne earned his second Knights win after giving up three runs on six hits with three walks and seven strikeouts. In relief, Matt Foster earned a hold with 1.2 scoreless innings and Minaya (S, 4) threw the final 2.0 innings to get the save.
Offensively, Robert went 3-for-5 on his 22nd birthday while Charlie Tilson also recorded three hits including a double. The debuting Knights fared well as Reed went 1-for-4 with a homer and Torres was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored.
The Knights and Stripers conclude their three-game series on Sunday afternoon. Kyle Kubat (3-1, 5.91) is set to start for Charlotte. Pregame coverage of the 1:05 p.m. game is set for 12:50 p.m. on 730 The Game ESPN Charlotte. The "Voice of the Charlotte Knights" Matt Swierad will have the call for all of the action.