CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Rafael Ortega hit his fourth leadoff home run of the season, Adam Duvall extended his homer streak to five games, and Sean Newcomb spun 6.0 one-run innings as the Gwinnett Stripers (14-10) defeated the Charlotte Knights (15-10) on Monday night at BB&T Ballpark.
Scoring Recap: Ortega (7) opened the game with a line drive homer over the right field fence off Jordan Stephens. Later in the inning, Duvall (8) added a two-run blast to left-center off Stephens. An RBI single by Ortega and RBI triple by Duvall extended the lead to 5-0 in the second, and an RBI double by Ryan LaMarre made it 6-0 Stripers in the third. Charlotte cut the lead to 6-1 on a sacrifice fly by Danny Mendick in the fourth, but LaMarre answered with an RBI single to make it 7-1 in the fifth. Gwinnett tacked on two more runs in the ninth as Raffy Lopez laced an RBI single and Pedro Florimon drew a bases-loaded walk. The Knights scored once in the bottom of the ninth on a sacrifice fly by Preston Tucker.
Stripers Stats: Newcomb (W, 2-1) turned in his second consecutive quality start, holding Charlotte to a run on four hits over 6.0 innings while walking none and striking out three. Atlanta Braves left-hander Jonny Venters tossed a scoreless seventh inning in his third rehab outing, and Wes Parsons allowed an unearned run over the final 2.0 frames. Duvall went 2-for-4 with a triple, homer and three RBIs, Ortega went 2-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs, and LaMarre went 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs.
Knights Stats: Stephens (L, 2-3) yielded seven runs on 10 hits over 5.0 innings. Daniel Palka went 2-for-3 with a double and two runs scored.
Postgame Notes: Ortega’s four leadoff homers are the most by a Gwinnett player since Ozzie Albies had four in 2017. Duvall matched the Gwinnett record for consecutive games with a homer, set by Joey Terdoslavich (five games from August 17-21, 2014). Andres Blanco doubled to extend his on-base streak to 18 games.
Next Game (Tuesday, April 30): Gwinnett at Charlotte, 7:04 p.m. at BB&T Balllpark. RHP Bryse Wilson (0-2, 5.40 ERA) for the Stripers vs. RHP Dylan Cease (2-1, 3.44 ERA) for the Knights. Radio Broadcast: 6:50 p.m. on 97.7 and 93.5 FM “The Other Side of the River.”
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