Charlotte Knights 4, Gwinnett Stripers 3 (11 innings)
Although there wasn’t much action, the Knights let a perfectly good bullpen victory slip away, only to restore it at the end. Charlotte’s highs sat on its starter’s shoulders, as Shane Murphy held the Stripers to one run, five hits and three strikeouts in five frames. On the other side, the lineup strung together just enough hits at the right times to keep fans tuned in. Mario Camilletti got the small-ball train going with a single in the fifth. In the following inning, newly-acquired Junior Perez recorded his first extra base hit in a Knights uniform to put the contest at 2-0. Although Gwinnett challenged with their own RBI single to cut the lead to one, a wild pitch that scored Perez in the eighth provided the extra insurance run that turned out to be much-needed.

Things looked positive until the bottom of the eighth — enter Ben Peoples. On a normal day, seeing Peoples warming up in the pen would be a great sign. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case tonight. He struggled to get through a complete inning, blowing the lead on two walks and two hits to put the Stripers back in the conversation and push the game into extras. Peoples still has only allowed two runs in May thus far, so this blown save was uncharacteristic.

Luckily, Peoples was redeemed by Perez, who saved the night with a sac fly to notch the winning run for the Knights in the bottom of the 11th. Phew!

Jordan Sprinkle’s home run in the top of the 11th extended Birmingham’s lead to 6-4 — but brought a rain that forced the suspension of tonight’s game around 10:30 p.m.

The good news? With just one out in the top of the 11th and a owning a two-run lead, the Barons are on the verge of a win in extra innings. The bad? The win won’t count until tomorrow, provided they can hold on and close things out.

Winston-Salem Dash 6, Greensboro Grasshoppers 3 (Game 1/7 innings)
The Dash extended their win streak to seven by claiming the opener in their doubleheader against the Grasshoppers, with George Wolkow stealing the show. His seventh home run of the year sailed over the right field wall to put the first Dash run on the board and keep his sizzling May bat on fire.

Wolkow’s .313/.392/.578 slash line and three home runs is a jarring but welcome shift from his April slump. Wolkow came up clutch later in the fifth with an RBI single that tacked an extra run onto the Dash’s lead.

Arxy Hernandez and Boston Smith didn’t let Wolkow be the only one to drop a dinger, helping the Dash claim a lead they refused to let go of the rest of the night.

Greensboro Grasshoppers 8, Winston-Salem Dash 4 (Game 2/7 innings)
The bats fell silent for the most of the nightcap, ending Winston-Salem’s win streak. The Dash went hitless through the fifth, when Caleb Freeman slapped a single to break the ice. Unfortunately, nothing came from it. They eventually mustered four runs in top of the ninth, powered by Kyle Lodise’s three-run shot that cut the lead in half:

But in the end, the runs came too little and too late.

Winston-Salem’s pitching wasn’t on point, either, as Liam Paddack shouldered the burden of Greensboro’s runs. He gave up six, including a grand slam, and three walks in just under three innings before being yanked. By the time Seth Keener took over for Paddack, it was clear this game was over.

Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 3, Myrtle Beach Pelicans 2
Kanny continued its reign of terror in a comeback win against the Pelicans. Down 2-0 entering the fifth, Billy Carlson broke the shutout with a double to drive in the first run. Stiven Flores followed two batters later with a blooper single to knot the contest at two apiece, and Matthew Boughton promptly drove Flores home with a sac fly before the inning turned back to the Pelicans.

Aside from Anthony Patterson III, who yielded Myrtle Beach’s two runs, the bullpen locked the game down from the fifth inning on, holding the Pelicans to one hit and four strikeouts for the rest of the evening. Trey Cooper shined in his long relief outing, earning a deserved win.

Blaine Wynk also deserves a nod for starting the game off strong, striking out five and holding the Pelicans to two hits in three innings.

ACL Brewers 8, ACL White Sox 6
This was a game of punches and counterpunches, as over nine innings runs were scored in more than half of the frames. Given how the game started, with Fidel Montero four walks, three steals and a wild pitch sandwiching two Ks saw the Complex Sox starter yanked from the game without getting through the first. (Utilizing Spring Training rules, Montero re-entered the game to start the second inning and allowed his second run of the game before exiting for good.

The sloppy start aside, the key turning point in the game came when the home Brewers struck for three runs in the bottom of the fourth, after the Complex Sox had pushed ahead, 3-2.

The Sox proved feisty, however, rallying to tie the game, 6-6, in the top of the eighth. The tie came courtesy of a two-run single from Jordan Rich, who got on base three times in the game and added a stolen base.

Ultimately, however, the ACL Brewers slapped right back in the bottom of the frame, as Jeremy Gonzalez let a bad two-out error by first baseman Eduardo Herrera rattle him enough to allow the deciding two runs of the game.

It was also a night to forget from catcher Landon Hodge, who went 0-for-8 catching runners on the basepaths, driving his season CS rate to just 5.6%.