After a thrilling win in last night's game, the Mud Hens were looking to keep momentum on their side against Charlotte in game two of a three-game mid-week series.Despite three hits from Tyler Collins and a pair of base knocks from both Omar Infante and Brendan Ryan, the Mud Hens
After a thrilling win in last night's game, the Mud Hens were looking to keep momentum on their side against Charlotte in game two of a three-game mid-week series.
Despite three hits from Tyler Collins and a pair of base knocks from both Omar Infante and Brendan Ryan, the Mud Hens fell to the Knights by a count of 8-3.
Daniel Norris was on the mound for Toledo and was not as sharp as the Mud Hens had hoped he would be. On Major League Rehabilitation from Detroit, the left-hander lasted just two innings while allowing four earned runs and he struck out just one batter.
Lucas Giolito was his opponent for Charlotte and had an excellent outing. He went six innings and did not allow a run while striking out seven.
The Knights' bats were able to jump on Norris early on, starting with a pair of singles from Jacob May and Rymer Liriano to get the inning started. Casey Gillaspie added a single of his own to make it 1-0, then Rob Brantly added a double to stretch the lead to 2-0. After another single from D.J. Peterson and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Danny Hayes, Charlotte led 4-0 after just one inning.
The Mud Hens sustained their first threat in the top of the third inning as the bottom of the order was able to bring some life to their offense. Omar Infante and Brendan Ryan had back-to-back singles to lead off the inning, but a failed bunt attempt, a strikeout and a flyout were enough to get Giolito out of the inning without any damage.
Charlotte added to their lead in the bottom of the fourth off of Toledo reliever Ruben Alaniz. May walked with two outs and stole second to get into scoring position. A timely single by Jake Peter was enough for May to come around and score to make it a 5-0 game.
The Charlotte lead continued to grow as the game progressed and pitchers changed in the Toledo bullpen. Zac Reininger walked Eddy Alvarez to start the bottom of the sixth inning which prompted Mike Rojas to bring in Kyle Ryan. May singled and Peter walked to load the bases, then Liriano followed up with a groundout to make it 6-0. After another Brantly hit, the Charlotte lead stood at 8-0.
Toledo finally struck back in the top of the eighth inning. Efren Navarro led the frame off with a double and moved over to third on a passed ball, while Jeimer Candelario capitalized with a groundout to get the Mud Hens first run and made it 8-1.
Facing former Knights reliever Connor Walsh in the top of the ninth, the Mud Hens were able to mount a bit of offense to cause some concern in the Charlotte dugout. Infante led off with a double and Ryan singled to put runners on the corners with no outs. Jim Adduci ripped a sacrifice fly to make it 8-2. A Navarro double scored Ryan and made it an 8-3 game, but Walsh was able to settle in and get the last out to hold the score there and secure a Charlotte victory.
The Mud Hens close out their series with Toledo on Thursday night. First pitch is set for 7:05 PM.
