Knights beat Chiefs in series opener

The Syracuse Chiefs, the Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, fell to the Charlotte Knights, 9-3, on Monday night at NBT Bank Stadium. The Knights knocked right-hander Taylor Hill out of the game in the fifth inning, scoring seven runs against him for the second time this season.

Charlotte (56-68) struck first in the top of the second inning against right-hander Taylor Hill. With one out in the inning, designated hitter Marcus Semien singled to left field and third baseman Matt Davidson walked to put two runners on base. After a Michael Taylor strikeout, shortstop Carlos Sanchez lined a ball off first base that bounced into the outfield for a single to score Semien. Center fielder Jared Mitchell singled up the middle to score Davidson and second baseman Micah Johnson singled to left field to drive in Sanchez and give Charlotte a 3-0 lead.

Syracuse (68-53) tied the game in the bottom of the second inning against right-hander Bobby Doran. First baseman Tyler Moore singled to left field to lead off the inning. After a Greg Dobbs strikeout, catcher Sandy Leon singled to left field to put two runners on for Rhymes. The second baseman drove the ball to deep right field for his fifth home run of 2014 and tied the game up at three.

The Knights retook the lead in the top of the fourth inning against Hill. With one out in the inning, Taylor doubled to deep center field, Sanchez was hit by a pitch, and Mitchell singled to right field to load the bases for Johnson. The second baseman grounded to shortstop Emmanuel Burriss, who threw to Rhymes for the second out, but the throw to first was not in time to complete the double play and Taylor scored to give Charlotte the 4-3 lead.

Charlotte opened the floodgates in the top of the fifth inning against Hill. First baseman Andy Wilkins led the inning off with a double to deep left-center field, Semien was hit by a pitch, and Davidson singled to left to load the bases. Manager Billy Gardner then pulled Hill from the game and brought in right-hander Daniel Stange. The first batter Stange faced was Taylor, and he singled up the middle to score Wilkins and Semien. Sanchez followed and grounded into a 4-6-3 double play, but Davidson scored from third to give the Knights a 7-3 lead.

The Knights tacked onto their lead in the top of the seventh inning against left-hander Matt Grace. Wilkins led the inning off with a double to deep right-center field. After a Semien fly out, Davidson singled to right field to score Wilkins and make the score 8-3 Charlotte.

Charlotte added on another run in the top of the ninth inning against right-hander Manny Delcarmen. Wilkins reached base on an infield single and Semien walked to begin the inning. Davidson doubled to left field to score Wilkins and make the score 9-3.

The Chiefs are in action Tuesday night for game two of the four-game set with the Knights. Left-hander Aaron Laffey is scheduled to face off against right-hander Erik Johnson. First pitch is at 7 p.m.