Stripers roll past Charlotte to snap losing streak

Aug. 8—CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Gwinnett Stripers snapped a four-game losing streak with an 8-1 win over the Charlotte Knights on Sunday evening at Truist Field.

The game was called early due to rain in the top of the sixth inning.

Ryan Casteel opened the scoring for Gwinnett (50-55) with a solo home run (12) off Knights' starter Tobias Myers in the second inning. Later in the frame, Ryan Goins lofted a sacrifice fly for a 2-0 lead.

After Charlotte cut it to 2-1 in the bottom of the second, the Stripers added three runs in the fourth, two in the fifth and one in the sixth to go up 8-1. Alex Dickerson singled and doubled to score two, Goins notched an RBI double, Casteel and Taylor Motter each tallied RBI singles, and Greyson Jenista hit an opposite-field solo homer (10) to left-center.

Casteel (2-for-4, homer, 2 RBIs), Dickerson (2-for-3, double, 2 RBIs), and Goins (1-for-2, double, 2 RBIs) all had multi-RBI games for the Stripers. Nolan Kingham held Charlotte to one run on three hits over 3.0 innings in a no-decision. Jacob Webb (W, 1-1) pitched a scoreless fifth for the victory.

Despite going 2-4 in the series, the Stripers won the season series 10-8 over the Knights. Casteel has homered five times in his last 11 games since July 24, and now has 19 extra-base hits among his 31 total hits this season. Rehabbing Atlanta Braves' right-hander Kirby Yates pitched a scoreless inning and now has a 1.69 ERA (1 ER in 5.1 IP) across five outings with Gwinnett.

Gwinnett now plays Nashville on Tuesday at 8:05 p.m. at First Horizon Park. Left-hander Jared Shuster (0-1, 4.91 ERA) will start for the Stripers vs. right-hander Tyler Herb (2-5, 5.33 ERA) for the Sounds.