The Gwinnett Stripers broke a tie with a bases-loaded walk to Preston Tucker in the fifth inning, and Ryan Goins punctuated the victory with a two-single in the eighth as the Stripers defeated Charlotte 6-3 on Monday night at Coolray Field in Lawrenceville.
Goins was 2-for-4 for the Stripers (38-41), and Joe Dunand was 2-for-3 with a run scored in the first game of a six-game series between the Stripers and the Knights. The teams are off Tuesday and resume the series at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday. The series concludes Sunday afternoon.
Each team scored three runs in the first inning. Charlotte’s first two scored on a throwing error by Dunand. Then a sac fly scored the third. Gwinnett’s first run came on a run-scoring single by Pat Valaika that drove home Drew Waters. The next was the product of a run-scoring single by Tucker that scored Braden Shewmake. The third came on a sacrifice fly by Alex Dickerson that scored Valaika.
Valaika also scored on Tucker’s sac fly in the fifth. Dickerson and Dunand crossed the plate on Goins’ big hit in the eighth.
Nolan Kingham (2-1) started for the Stripers and pitched five innings, allowing nine hits and three runs (two earned), with four strikeouts and one walk.
Jay Jackson, who returned to the Braves’ 40-man roster Saturday after a 15-week stint on the 60-day injured list, entered the game in the seventh inning for Gwinnett and pitched one inning. He struck out two batters and allowed one hit.
Mike Wright started for Charlotte (29-50) and lasted one inning, allowing three runs on four hits, with two strikeouts and a walk.
