CHARLOTTE (SportsDay) – Peyton Burdick cracked two home runs on Wednesday to blast the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp past the Charlotte Knights 3-1 from Truist Field.
For the 10th game in a row to start the season, the Jumbo Shrimp (6-4) put the leadoff man on to begin their first at-bats when Xavier Edwards walked against Charlotte (5-6) starter A.J. Alexy (0-2).
Edwards stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Jake Mangum then lifted a sacrifice fly to right to put Jacksonville ahead two batters into the contest.
Burdick crushed his first homer of the game to lead off the second. His second, a 116.2 mile-per-hour laser beam over the stands in left, came to start the fourth to make it 3-0. The shot was the second-hardest hit in Minor League Baseball this season.
The Jumbo Shrimp did not record a hit the rest of the way. The club’s pitching, though, was sharp. The Knights lone run came in the sixth inning. Victor Reyes singled and stole second before scoring on Yolbert Sánchez’s RBI double.
Chi Chi González (1-1) yielded that lone run on seven hits in 6.0 innings to earn the win. Steven Okert fanned four batters in 1.2 innings in his second rehab appearance.
After Josh Simpson got the final out of the eighth, Johan Quezada struck out two in a perfect ninth to pick up his first save in his Jacksonville debut.
Jacksonville looks for their fifth straight win in Thursday’s 7:04 p.m. start at Charlotte. RHP Jake Walters (0-0, 15.00 ERA) starts for the Jumbo Shrimp.
