CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Austin Riley blasted a pair of solo home runs, and Adam Duvall, Pedro Florimon, and Sean Kazmar Jr. also went deep, but the Gwinnett Stripers (15-11) fell 10-7 to the Charlotte Knights (16-11) on Wednesday afternoon at BB&T Ballpark. The Stripers settled for a 2-1 series win over the Knights.
Scoring Recap: Gwinnett raced to a 5-0 lead on the strength of three home runs in the third inning, a two-run shot to right by Duvall (9), a solo blast to center by Florimon (2), and a solo clout to left-center by Kazmar Jr. (2). After Charlotte cut the lead to 5-3 in the third, Riley (6) made it 6-3 with a solo homer to left. The Knights scored twice in the fifth to narrow the lead to 6-5, but Riley (7) belted his second homer of the day deep to left to make it 7-5. In the bottom of the sixth, Charlotte scored five runs off the combination of Kolby Allard and Jason Creasy to pull ahead 10-7. Daniel Palka (2), Alfredo Gonzalez (1), and Danny Mendick (5) all homered in the decisive frame.
Stripers Stats: Allard yielded seven runs, but just three earned over 5.1 innings in a no-decision. Creasy (L, 0-1) gave up three runs on two homers over 0.2 innings. Atlanta Braves’ left-hander Jonny Venters tossed a scoreless seventh inning with one strikeout in his fourth rehab outing for Gwinnett. Riley went 4-for-5 with a double, two homers, and two RBIs. Kazmar Jr. and Sal Giardina each finished 3-for-5.
Knights Stats: Gonzalez went 3-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs, and Mendick went 3-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs. Juan Minaya (W, 2-1) pitched 3.0 one-run innings for the win, and Caleb Frare (S, 1) tossed 2.0 scoreless innings for the save.
Postgame Notes: The third-inning homers by Duvall, Florimon, and Kazmar Jr. marked the third three-homer inning in Gwinnett history, first since the third inning on June 25, 2014 vs. Toledo. The five total homers matched a season high, reached on April 26 vs. Toledo. Andres Blanco extended his team-best on-base streak to 20 games, while Riley extended his on-base streak to 17 games. Duvall extended his hitting streak to 10 games and RBI streak to seven games. Gwinnett drops to a half game behind the Knights for first place in the International League South Division.
Next Game (Thursday, May 2): Gwinnett at Durham, 7:05 p.m. at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. RHP Touki Toussaint (1-0, 5.63 ERA) for the Stripers vs. RHP Casey Sadler (0-0,1.84 ERA) for the Bulls. Radio Broadcast: 6:50 p.m. on 97.7 and 93.5 FM “The Other Side of the River.”
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