​The Charlotte Knights beat the Nashville Sounds 9-2. Old friend Jonathan Cannon took the hill for the Knights and promptly yielded a run in the first on a pair of doubles. But Charlotte (48-42) answered in the bottom half with a six-run outburst, aided by three home runs: Nate Jones delivered a three-run shot, Andy Weber added a two-run blast, and Riley Unroe contributed a solo homer. The Sounds managed a solo homer in reply, but that would be their only offense as the Knights’ pitchers shut them down for the next seven innings. Unroe wasn’t finished, belting a two-run homer in the fifth, and the Knights tacked on another in the sixth thanks to Rikuu Nishida’s double and Michael Turner’s single. Cannon finished five innings, allowing two runs on five hits with two walks and four strikeouts. Tanner McDougal worked a clean inning with a strikeout, and Duncan Davitt closed it out with three scoreless, one hit, five strikeouts. Not too shabby.
Knights MVP candidates included Rikuu Nishida, who went 1-for-5 with a run, a double, and an RBI, plus a strikeout; Edgar Quero, 1-for-4 with a walk; Michael Turner, 2-for-4 with a run, an RBI, a walk, and a stolen base; Ryan Galanie, 1-for-5 with a run and a strikeout; Nate Jones, 2-for-4 with a run, three RBI, a homer, and a strikeout; Dru Baker, 1-for-3 with two runs, a walk, two stolen bases, and a strikeout; Andy Weber, 1-for-2 with a run, two RBI, two walks, a homer, and a stolen base with a run; Riley Unroe, 2-for-4 with two runs, three RBI, two homers, and two strikeouts; Jonathan Cannon, five innings, five hits, two runs, two walks, four strikeouts. Tanner McDougal, one inning, no hits, no runs, a strikeout; Duncan Davitt, three innings, one hit, no runs, five strikeouts.
On the other side, the Birmingham Barons were 7-1 winners over the Columbus Clippers, Logan Barons. Birmingham (31-53) stranded runners at every opportunity, going 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position. The only scoreboard dent came from top prospect Caleb Bonemer, who belted his 22nd homer of the year in the fifth. Connor McCullough started and spun four hitless, scoreless innings, though he walked three and struck out seven. Jackson Kelley surrendered a two-run homer in the sixth, and Pierce George couldn’t finish the seventh, allowing five runs while recording just one out.
Barons MVP contenders included Alec Briley, 1-for-4 with a bunt single; Caleb Bonemer, 2-for-4 with a run, an RBI, and a homer; Anthony DePino, 2-for-4 with a triple; Grant Magill, 1-for-3 with a walk, a double, and a strikeout; Jorge Corona, 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout; Connor McCullough, four innings, zero hits, zero runs, three walks, seven strikeouts. Jacob Burke was the cold cat, 0-for-4 with a walk.
In Asheville, the Tourists upset the Winston-Salem Dash 5-4. The Dash jumped out to a 4-0 lead by the fourth, with Ryan Burrowes starting a rally with a first-inning single, Tim Elko drawing a base on balls on the rehab assignment, and George Wolkow driving in Burrowes to extend the early edge.