Colás homers twice, doubles in Knights explosion of offense

Sep 25, 2022 - 8:34 AM

So, well, this was a crazy one.

Charlotte’s offense outlasted Jacksonville’s, taking home a 13-11 win in 10 innings. And on the hitting side, the prospect performances were something to be excited about, pointing toward 2023.

Certainly the headline here is, as it has been all week, the offensive outburst of center fielder Oscar Colás — and on Saturday, he hit his first two career Triple-A home runs. After leading off the game with a seeing-eye, bloop double, the white-hot slugger clubbed a two-run, 434-foot blast in the sixth inning, giving Charlotte an 8-7 lead. Two innings later, in Colas’ next at-bat, he smashed a solo shot. All told, Colás was 3-for-6 with 10 total bases, two long balls, and three RBIs.

Hey, take a look!

Even better, some other top talent at Triple-A crushed it on Saturday, as Jake Burger, Lenyn Sosa and Blake Rutherford all had three hits as well, meaning four Knights tapped 12 of the team’s 15 hits on the night. Sosa had two doubles, and Rutherford one, en route to a team-best four ribbies.

Burger, in just his second game back from extended illness/left wrist injury, showed some significant giddy-up with this towering triple to right-center (note he was basically on third base when the ball hits the cutoff man, so he was busting right from contact):

Most of Charlotte’s nine pitchers on the day had it rough; 11 runs are no picnic. But the Knights strapped it down in crunch time, getting scoreless frames from Dan Winkler, Bennett Sousa (win) and Lane Ramsey (save).

In fact, the game in extras turned on two swinging bunts. In the top of the 10th, Colás dribbled a ball back to pitcher Robert Garcia, who yanked the throw to first, scoring Micker Adolfo. More hustle in the season’s final week from Charlotte, 30 games below .500!

Things got a little hairy in the 10th, however, as Ramsey loaded the bases with a single and intentional walk. But Santiago Chavez tapped an 0-2 pitch in front of the plate, fielded by Xavier Fernández for an unassisted force out at home to end the game.