With a homer on Sunday, Blake Rutherford reached a personal milestone by reaching 10 homers in a season. He'd topped out at seven in each of the previous two years, over 115 games at Winston-Salem, then 118 games in Birmingham, whereas Sunday was only his 91st game of 2021.
It has to be noted that 10 homers in 91 games isn't as big of an accomplishment with the Knights as it is for other teams. Six other Charlotte players have reached 10 homers, including Cohoes' Zack Remillard, a jack-of-all-trades organizational player who only has 61 appearances with the Knights after being called up to fill roles around the infield.
But it looked like Rutherford might be stuck at single digits until he homered three times in the series against Durham this past week. He's only hitting .253/.290/.421 on the season, but he's trying to finish with a flourish in order to keep hope alive (.295/.320/.558).
Should he complete the strong closing of his season, the conversation will then turn to how much of it was aided by Truist Field. Chris Getz says the White Sox adjust numbers for pitchers based on the environment, so it stands to reason that they wouldn't get carried away for hitters whose stats might be similarly inflated. Rutherford's profile on the road looks similar to the guy who topped out at seven homers.
- Home:. 249/.296/.451, 7 HR, 10 BB, 40 K over 48 G
- Away: .258/.284/.392, 3 HR, 7 BB, 52 K over 43 G
He's 24 and has two options remaining, so there isn't a rush to reach a verdict. It's more a matter of whether his spot on the 40-man could be better used on somebody else before the start of next season. There's a little bit of padding before the conversation turns to him, but not that much.
Durham 5, Charlotte 1
- Billy Hamilton went 1-for-3 with a strikeout.
- Blake Rutherford was 1-for-4 with a homer and a strikeout.
- Jake Burger, 1-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Gavin Sheets walked twice, struck out twice and was caught stealing.
- Yermín Mercedes was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Romy Gonzalez, 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Micker Adolfo went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.
- Kade McClure: 3.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 40 of 70 pitches for strikes.
Montgomery 8, Birmingham 4
- Yoelqui Céspedes went 2-for-5 with a strikeout and two stolen bases.
- Carlos Pérez was 2-for-3 with a walk.
- Lenyn Sosa went 1-for-4.
Hudson Valley 9, Winston-Salem 6
- Jose Rodriguez went 2-for-4 with a leadoff homer.
- Luis Mieses went 1-for-3 with a homer and a walk. He was also caught stealing.
- Luis Curbelo and Harvin Mendoza both were 0-for-4 with a walk.
- Caberea Weaver singled and struck out twice.
Lynchburg 15, Kannapolis 0
- Bryan Ramos went 1-for-3 with two walks, and was the only Baller to avoid striking out.
- Misael Gonzalez singled, walked and struck out twice.
- Chase Krogman wore the collar and silver sombrero.
- James Beard struck out all four trips.
- Wilber Sanchez went 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts.
- The Cannon Ballers struck out 20 times overall.
(Photo by Laura Wolff / Charlotte Knights)
