Matt Davidson's walk-off home run highlights long day of baseball for Charlotte Knights

It’s getting to the point where the fans in the outfield at BB&T BallPark – which measures just 330 feet to left and 315’ to right – might want to consider borrowing hard hats from the construction crew working on Fourth Street.

Before Monday’s double-header against the Gwinnett Braves, Knights outfielder Jordan Danks took a look at the flag blowing out and offered a bit of advice to his teammates.

“It’s a good day to put the ball in the air boys,” he said.

Two games and a combined 10 home runs – including a walk-off shot by Matt Davidson in the 10^th inning of Game 2 – later and it’s safe to say Danks had a good grasp on how BB&T BallPark was going to play.

There have now been 115 long balls (59 by opponents, 56 by the Knights) hit in Charlotte in 41 games this season – 31 more than Columbus’ Huntington Park, which ranks second in the International League with 84, while the league average stands at 60.0.

Davidson’s was the first of the 115 to be of the walk-off variety and gave the Knights a 7-5 Game 2 win. It was his second of the night and is a lock to become the answer to a Knights’ trivia question someday.

“Things feel good,” said Davidson, who is hitting .353 (12-for-34) over his last 10 games. “But I’m never going to act like I’ve figured it out again in my whole life. Coming out of spring (training) I felt great and then all of the sudden I lost it. I’m just going to keep on working and really focus every single at-bat.”  

The 2-for-4 showing brought the White Sox top prospect’s average up to .201 on the season.

In his second start in Charlotte since being acquired from the Blue Jays organization, Knights right-hander Shawn Hill found out first hand in Game 1, just how small the park can play.

Hill (2-3) allowed three home runs in six innings of work in an eventual 11-5 loss to the Braves, but two of the long balls likely wouldn’t have left any other park in the IL.  

Hill struggled to hide his frustrations after a short home run by Mark Hamilton gave the Braves an 8-2 lead in the fifth. He finished the afternoon with an ugly stat line, which read: six innings pitched, 10 hits, eight runs (all earned), one walk and three strikeouts.  

“He’s just happened to give up some lazy fly balls that have turned into home runs in this ballpark,” said Danks, who recorded three doubles and scored three runs on Monday. “I don’t think it’s intimidating for him or anything, but it’s definitely frustrating at times for the pitchers.” 

In Game 2, Tyler Saladino (who also homered in Game 1), Blake Tekotte and Davidson each went yard to help Charlotte take a 5-5 game into the tenth inning before Davidson’s heroics.

"I was just trying to get a good pitch to hit and he hung a cutter, which got in on me a little bit, but luckily the fence is a little short (to left) and it got over," Davidson said. "I’m just trying to keep things simple, get a good pitch to hit, and just frickin' hit it." 

Matt Zaleski got the nod on the mound for Charlotte and tossed three innings, allowing four runs on six hits. Three Knights relievers then combined to hold the Braves to one run over the game’s next seven innings.

Ryan Kussmaul (2-3) recorded the win after tossing two scoreless, hitless, innings. He struck out three.

Charlotte – which entered the day with the highest total attendance in the IL – packed 16,946 fans into BB&T BallPark over the course of the day and went over 400,000 for the year (402,723).  

The double-header split also secured a .500 (15-15) month of June for the Knights, who appear to be on the rebound after an 8-22 May.

“The timing (of Davidson’s home run) was great,” said Knights manager Joel Skinner, who was coaching third after Ryan Newman earned an early exit for arguing a foul ball in the seventh. “I got to high-five him, or high-10 him actually as he rounded the bases.”

Tommy Hanson goes seven strong; Knights do little things well in 3-1 win over Indianapolis

The White Sox organization preaches the importance of situational baseball from the day they draft a player.  

On Saturday, in front of a sold out crowd of 10,359 at BB&T BallPark, the Knights showed that they’ve been listening on their way to a 3-1 win over the Indianapolis Indians.

With the second most home runs (37 in 49 games) in the International League entering the day, it could have easy to sit back and wait for the long ball.

Instead, the Knights scored single runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings on two seperate two-out RBI singles and a sacrifice fly.

The three runs were more than Tommy Hanson (3-4), making his seventh start of the season, would need. The 6-foot-6-inch right-hander lasted a season-high seven innings while surrendering four hits, fanning three and walking one.  

His only blemish came on a first-pitch fastball in the fourth inning that Chris McGuiness ambushed for a solo home run that might still be rolling down Mint Street.

From that point, Hanson would allow just two more Indians to reach base, before giving way to Taylor Thompson and later Maikel Cleto.

“I’ve been working on keeping the ball down and as I went I stopped just trying to throw strikes and focused on working in the bottom of the zone,” said Hanson, who threw 98 pitches (61 strikes). “As the game went on, I got more and more ground balls and better results.

“I felt like I had more in the tank. I threw 100 pitches and still felt like I could go out there and that’s what you’re striving for.”

Thompson walked off the mound following the eight having not allowed a hit in his last 6 and 2/3 innings. Cleto exited the ninth after striking out the side with his first save as a Knight in tow.

With two down in the third, Gorkys Hernadez doubled of Indians starter Jake Brigham (1-3) and then scored on a single by Carlos Sanchez to give Charlotte a 1-0 lead.

Jordan Danks doubled to lead off the following inning before Matt Davidson – who possess the most power of anyone on Charlotte’s roster – flied to right in an effort to advance Danks to third.

The ball wasn’t deep enough to accomplish Davidson's goal, but it was a clear sign that he's learning what it takes to play at the next level. 

“Even when it didn’t work out, you saw Davidson try to move the runner over right there and he wound up flying out the right field,” said Knights hitting coach Andy Tomberlin. “He’s trying to hit the ball hard to the right side. That’s the job that we’re all trying to execute.”

Blake Tekotte remedied Davidson's shallow fly with a deep one to right that sent Danks to third and set the table for another two-out RBI situation for Charlotte.

This time, it was Andy Wilkins that came through with the single to right.

“Two-out base hits win a lot of ball games,” said Knights manager Joel Skinner. “You try to put yourself in position to be in those kinds of situations. The Wilkins’ hit was a big one for us. ”

The Knights entered the game hitting .202 with two-out hits with runners is scoring position. By the end of the fourth, they were 2-for-3.

An error and a long single to right off the bat of Hernandez to begin the fifth left runners at the corners for Sanchez, who delivered his second RBI of the game with a sacrifice fly to left.

“It was a pretty clean situational approach tonight,” Tomberlin said. “I don’t know how many times I’ve been able to say that, but I can say that was one tonight and tomorrow we’re looking to repeat it.”

The Knights will look to salvage a split in their four-game series with the Indians at 2:05 p.m. tomorrow when Eric Surkamp (2-2) takes the mound against Casey Sadler (5-1).