Winans, Logue Team Up as Stripers Snag 4-2 Win Over Charlotte
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – Entering Friday night, Zach Logue had pitched in 134 career professional baseball games, but the veteran starter and occasional reliever had to wait until appearance No. 135 to collect his first career save. Logue kept the Charlotte Knights (14-22) from mounting a rally over 3.0 scoreless frames
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – Entering Friday night, Zach Logue had pitched in 134 career professional baseball games, but the veteran starter and occasional reliever had to wait until appearance No. 135 to collect his first career save. Logue kept the Charlotte Knights (14-22) from mounting a rally over 3.0 scoreless frames as the Gwinnett Stripers (18-18) won 4-2 at Coolray Field. Starter Allan Winans pitched 6.0 two-run innings to earn the victory, sending Gwinnett back to .500 for the first time since April 26 (12-12).
Decisive Plays: After three scoreless innings to open the game, Gwinnett grabbed the first lead on an RBI single from Alejo Lopez in the fourth. A two-run triple by Colson Montgomery put Charlotte in front 2-1 in the fifth, but the Stripers responded with back-to-back RBI doubles from Luis Liberato and Forrest Wall in the home half to go up 3-2. A sacrifice fly by J.P. Martinez later in the frame made it 4-2.
Key Contributors: Wall (2-for-3, double, RBI) and Liberato (2-for-3, double, RBI) had nearly identical lines in the box score and sparked the fifth inning rally that sent the Stripers to a 4-2 lead they would hold the rest of the way. Winans (6.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO) worked his second quality start of the season. Logue (3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO) finished out the game. For Charlotte, Montgomery (2-for-4, double, triple, 2 RBIs) drove in both runs.
Noteworthy: Winans turned in the third consecutive quality start for Gwinnett, following Darius Vines (6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 SO) on Thursday night and Dylan Dodd (6.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO) on Wednesday night. Wall has scored in seven-straight games from Gwinnett and is now three games behind the club record of 10-straight games scoring a run. With a solid relief effort from Logue in his first career save, the Stripers improved to 14-0 on the season when leading after seven innings.
Next Game (Saturday, May 11): Gwinnett vs. Charlotte, 6:05 p.m. ET at Coolray Field. Broadcast: 5:50 p.m. ET on MyCountry993.com and Bally Live. RHP Taylor Widener (1-1. 4.24 ERA) will start for Gwinnett against RHP Chad Kuhl (1-1, 4.45 ERA) for Charlotte. Atlanta Braves icon Andruw Jones will be on hand at Coolray Field before and during the game to pose for photos with fans (no autographs permitted).