Knights Fall 17-4 In Opener At Gwinnett

(LAWRENCEVILLE, GA) - The Charlotte Knights began their road trip with a 17-4 loss to the Gwinnett Stripers on Friday night at Coolray Field in the opener of a three-game series with their International League South Division foes.

Making his first appearance with the Knights as part of a MLB rehab assignment, Chicago White Sox righty Kelvin Herrera (L, 0-1) got the start for Charlotte. He gave up two home runs in the first inning as the Stripers built a 4-0 lead.
Charlotte got a run back in the third on Nick Madrigal's double play ground out to score Trey Michaclzewski. But the Stripers responded with four runs in the bottom of the frame against Knights lefty Justin Nicolino to extend the lead to 8-1.
Down 11-1 in the 5th, Madrigal recorded his second Triple-A RBI with a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Paulo Orlando with Charlotte's second run.
Andrés Blanco's grand slam in the fifth and Pedro Florimón's home run in the sixth kept the runs coming for the Stripers as their advantage grew to 17-2.
In the seventh, Charlotte leadoff hitter Luis Robert launched a 424-foot home run to left, a two-run blast for his seventh with the Knights, to get the Knights a couple runs closer. That would be the end of the night's scoring.
In his only inning, Herrera gave up four earned runs on five hits to suffer the loss. In relief, Nicolino gave up seven runs, five earned, over 3.0 innings. Connor Walsh surrendered four runs in his only inning. Hunter Schryver gave up two over 2.0 innings and Colton Turner pitched a scoreless bottom of the eighth.
Offensively, Robert led the way by going 2-for-4 with the home run and two RBI while Michalczewski went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and a walk.
The Knights and Stripers continue their on Saturday night. Dylan Covey (0-0, 1.85) is set to start for Charlotte. Pregame coverage of the 6:05 p.m. game is set for 5:50 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.