Goins' Homer Powers Knights Past Stripers 9-6

(UPTOWN CHARLOTTE, NC) - A clutch home run in their final turn at the plate gave the Charlotte Knights a 9-6 win over the Gwinnett Stripers on Wednesday night at BB&T Ballpark in the opener of their two-game set.

Tied 6-6 in the bottom of the eighth, the Knights began the inning with a leadoff walk from Seby Zavala and a single from Jacob Scavuzzo. Two hitters later, Ryan Goins' line drive cleared the right field wall for a three-run homer, his seventh of the season, to give the Knights a 9-6 lead they would not relinquish.
In the opening inning, the Knights committed two errors, allowing the Stripers to take a 2-0 lead against rehabbing Chicago White Sox pitcher Dylan Covey. In the second, Covey rebounded to pitch a scoreless inning to end his outing. Over 2.0 innings, he gave up two unearned runs on three hits with one walk and three strikeouts.
Half an inning later, Zavala's solo home run, a 411-foot blast to left for his 12th of the season, put the Knights on the board. An inning later, the Knights took the lead on RBI singles from Adam Engel, Matt Skole, and Alcides Escobar before Zavala hit a sacrifice fly to increase the lead to 5-2.
The teams traded runs in the fourth, but Charlotte couldn't hold the lead in the fifth. Rafael Ortega's three-run homer tied the game off Charlotte right-hander Donny Roach. However, the veteran rebounded to keep the Stripers off the board for the rest of his outing.
Roach (W, 2-3) threw 5.0 innings out of the bullpen, giving up four runs on five hits with one walk and four strikeouts to earn his second straight win behind Goins' blast in the bottom of the eighth.
Jimmy Cordero (S, 1) earned his first Knights save with a scoreless top of the ninth inning to finish the win.
Offensively, Goins led the way for the Knights by going 2-for-2 with a double, home run, three RBI, two runs scored and two walks as the Knights earned their International League leading 28th win at home.
Charlotte and Gwinnett conclude their series on Thursday night. Dylan Cease (5-2, 4.69) is scheduled to start for Charlotte. Pre-game radio coverage of the 7:04 p.m. game is set for 6:50 p.m. on 730 The Game ESPN Charlotte. The "Voice of the Charlotte Knights" Matt Swierad and long-time Knights radio broadcaster Mike Pacheco will have the call for all of the action.