Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 6, Charlotte Knights 5
Dropping the last two games of the series, the Knights (29-28) allowed the Jumbo Shrimp (32-25) to even the six-game set, as Jacksonville took the win home Sunday, 6-5. Charlotte had actually held onto a one-run lead (2-1) through six, but Riley Gowens collapsed in the seventh and surrendered four runs to the Jumbo Shrimp off a two run bomb and solo shot (an RBI single was charged to him after exiting the game). The righty had looked solid after a 1-2-3 sixth, but lost it in his second inning of work.

This was after lefthander Joe Rock had made his third start with the Knights after being traded from the Tampa Bay Rays a couple of weeks ago. In 3 1/3 frames, Rock allowed just one run on five hits and two walks while striking out six, and Zach Franklin would have been scoreless in his 1 2/3 innings had it not been for a throwing error from Andy Weber that ended up coming home in the top of the fifth — and was unfortunately the difference in the game.

Charlotte’s bats attempted to answer back in the bottom of the seventh, but were only able to score three to cut the Jacksonville lead to one, 6-5. Last night’s mop-up man, Mario Camilletti, led the inning off with a double, and scored a couple batters later as Junior Perez drove a triple down the third-base line. Back-to-back-to-back walks from Korey Lee, LaMonte Wade Jr. and Dustin Harris loaded the bases, scoring a run in the process on a wild pitch. Even with a new pitcher, the Jumbo Shrimp bullpen continued to struggle to throw strikes, and Ryan Galanie also drew a walk that forced the fifth run in for Charlotte and make it 6-5.

It seemed like the Knights had endless opportunities to score that inning, but both Dru Baker and Josh Breaux struck out with the bases juiced. It wasn’t just that inning, either, as Charlotte left 12 runners on base throughout the game, and couldn’t make anything more happen despite walking 10 times as a team. Naturally, the Knights ended the day going down in order in the ninth to confirm the loss.

Birmingham Barons 5, Pensacola Blue Wahoos 4
Both the Barons (19-31) and the Blue Wahoos (26-25) scored four in the first three innings, but the Birmingham bullpen won the pitching standoff as the they were able to score one more run off of Pensacola, 5-4, to split the six-game series.

The Barons bats racked up 12 hits and went 5-for-16 (.312) with runners and scoring position, but still left 12 on base compared to the Wahoo’s eight. Both Jordan Sprinkle and Calvin Harris put up three hits on the day, driving in three runs between them. The other RBI came at the hands of Jacob Burke, on one of his two hits. Since being promoted to Double-A, Burke has posted his highest slugging percentage (.464) in three years, accumulating an .806 OPS across 120 plate appearances (30 games), with eight doubles, second-most on the team.

Making his 11th start of the season, lefthander Lucas Gordon manned the first four, but the Blue Wahoos jumped on him early for all four of their runs. When he first joined Birmingham, Lucas was a strong addition to the Barons rotation at the end of last season, but he has been riding the struggle bus in 2026 and has allowed at least one earned run in all 11 of his outings; home runs have been a big problem, giving up at least one in seven of 11 starts.

Thankfully, the offense and bullpen had Gordon’s back, and two solid innings (one hit, two Ks) from Phil Fox did the trick, earning himself his first win of the season. Jackson Kelley and Jairo Iriarte both managed scoreless frames, which invited Jonathan Clark to receive his second save of the season.

Winston-Salem Dash 6, Rome Emperors 3
Two consecutive innings with three runs scored helped propel the Dash (30-21) to a 6-3 victory over the Emperors (27-24) and take four of six in the series. The Winston-Salem offense tallied 10 hits and went 4-for-8 (.500) with runners in scoring position, and the pitching staff gave up three runs (two earned) while combining for six strikeouts, with zero walks for all four relievers.

Lefthander Grant Umberger was the starter for the Dash, and was efficient in his 4 1/3 innings, allowing just one earned run (two total) along with three walks and two strikeouts. Though he’s had some spotty starts, Umberger has reduced his ERA from 5.40 in April (five games, three starts), to a 4.38 ERA in six May starts, which is the type of improvement that we like to see.

Kaleb Freeman was the offensive standout Sunday, driving in four of Winston-Salem’s six runs on two hits, and scoring twice himself for the other two, driven in both times by T. J. McCants. Matching Freeman’s two hits, Arxy Hernández accounted for one of the three doubles from the Dash, with George Wolkow mashing the other with two runs scored.

Just one more was added to the run total for Rome in the top of the sixth with an RBI hit off of Frankeli Arias, who replaced Jake Bockenstedt and acquired his baserunners. The run was charged to Bockenstedt, but Arias ended up with his fourth win of the season after Morris Austin secured a hold and Aric McAtee McAtee recorded his third save of the season.

Augusta GreenJackets 8, Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 4
Righthander Max Banks has been excellent in the Cannon Ballers (26-25) starting rotation, and there’s only been two of his nine starts where he’s given up a home run: two homers on April 15, and another two today against the GreenJackets (29-22). Those back-to-back home runs in the top of the third were the only runs scored in the first six innings for Augusta, and Kanny had actually taken a 4-2 lead in the sixth. But the bullpen wasn’t able to hang on to the lead, and the GreenJackets won the game and the series, 8-4.

The Ballers used an opener with righthander Daniel Wright pitching the first frame before Banks took over the next five and handed a two-run lead over to Alexander Martinez. Martinez was able to get two strikeouts right away, but back-to-back base hits followed by a double tied the game for the GreenJackets, who subsequently poured on three more the next inning as things snowballed out of control. Augusta added one more in the ninth off lefthander Jordan Morales, but either way the offense was nonexistent after the sixth.

Kanny only put up five hits against Augusta’s 11, three of which were for extra bases: A double from Rylan Galvan drove in one of the four runs, and Alexander Albertus’ triple drove in another. Stiven Flores led off the fourth with a double as well, but the Ballers went down in order so nothing came of it. Kannapolis had plenty of chances but went 2-for-13 (.154) with runners in scoring position, ran into two outs on the base paths, and left seven on base.