The weird thing about the Freaky Friday world that the Knights and Double-A Barons have undergone, as Birmingham sinks and Charlotte soars, is that not that much has changed between the two clubs: Drew Thorpe and Brooks Baldwin are in the majors, with Drew bypassing Charlotte completely and Brooks staying a week. Ky Bush, Edgar Quero and Bryan Ramos are on the Knights now. But that’s about it. Birmingham had five unbelievable starters, lost two, gained three. So your guess is as good as mine in explaining the Barons being terrible in the second half and now just seven better than .500 for the season; likewise also-ran Charlotte punting the first half and now storming toward .500, six below.

Charlotte Knights 7, Nashville Sounds 5 (Gameday Box) (Statcast Box)
Ky Bush had been kicked around a little in Triple-A, no thanks to a weird secondary-starter role upon initial call-up. However, he got the straight start tonight and went a clean five with just one run allowed. Meanwhile the offense took off like gangbusters, the top of the order going 6-for-15 and pushing to a 6-2 lead by the seventh-inning stretch. Whatever is in the pregame meals on the road, keep it coming!

GAME MVP
Zach DeLoach (LF) 2-for-4, 2 2B, 3 RBI, K, 31.9% WPA

RUNNERS-UP
Ky Bush (LHSP) 5 IP, H, ER, 2 BB, 4 K, HB, WP, WIN (2-0), 18.5% WPA
Dominic Fletcher (CF) 2-for-5, R, 6.9% WPA
Oscar Colás (RF) 2-for-5, 2 RBI, 2B
Bryan Ramos (3B) 1-for-3, 2 R, BB, 2 SB, 2 hard hits
Lenyn Sosa (2B) 2-for-5, R, 2B, K, 2 hard hits
Fraser Ellard (LHRP) IP, 2 K, 7-of-10 strikes

Tennessee Smokies 5, Birmingham Barons 1 (Gameday Box)
Adding insult to injury (another loss for Bham) was the fact that the Smokies, after barely losing out a first-half division title to the Barons, have rallied in the second half and moved a full 5 1/2 games better than the Barons over the full season. As extraordinary as the first 10 weeks or so of the season was in Birmingham, the second half of the season is undoing all of that good, perhaps all the way down to a .500 record.

Tonight, again, was the deadly combination of no hitting and mediocre pitching. Tyler Schweitzer (4 2/3 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 5 K, 2 HR, WP, LOSS to fall to 2-3) took the pill and coughed it right up. Bham hitters had twice as many Ks (10) and hits (3) + walks (2).

GAME MVP
Tristan Stivors (RHRP) 2 1/3 IP, H, 2 K, pickoff at 1B

RUNNERS-UP
Terrell Tatum (CF) 1-for-3, R, BB, K, SB
Wilfred Veras (DH) 1-for-4, 2B, RBI, 2 K

Bowling Green Hot Rods 7, Winston-Salem Dash 5 (Gameday Box)
We’ve given Wes Kath plenty of guff over the years, and it’s not ill-placed. That said, Wes continues to find his footing and has pushed his slash numbers, at this stage of the season, to the best levels of his career. Even his K-rate, while still abysmal, has improved. Kath has consistently manned the hot corner and is still just 21 years old (-1.2 years younger than level).

On Tuesday, Kath again mashed, with three hits, including a homer.

Wes Kath finishes off a 3-4 night with an oppo 🌮 solo shot in the top of the 9th, his 11th on the year. #Dash within 2, at 7-5. This is as close as they get. #WhiteSox pic.twitter.com/5FUeTq479N

— FutureSox (@FutureSox) July 24, 2024

Unfortunately for Kath and a pretty vibrant offense behind him, Tanner McDougal (2 1/3 IP, 4 H, 5 ER, 4 BB, K, 2 HR, HB) gave up the game early, getting knocked out of the box in the third inning and dropping to 0-8.

GAME MVP
Wes Kath (3B) 3-for-4, R, HR, 3 RBI, BB, 22.2% WPA

RUNNERS-UP
Eddie Park (LF) 2-for-3, 3 R, 2 BB, SB
Loidel Chapelli (2B) 2-for-5, R, 2 K
Billy Seidl (RHRP) 1 2/3 IP, BB

Charleston RiverDogs 1, Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 0 (Gameday Box)
This pitchers’ duel was dominated, as you might imagine, by the two starters: C-Town’s children’s show-named Gary Gill Hill and Kanny’s appropriately-monikered Ricardo Brizuela, who combined for 11 scoreless innings of four-hit ball. The game ultimately turned on a solo shot leading off the bottom of the seventh off of Luke Bell (1 2/3 IP, 2 H, ER, BB, 2 K, HR, loss to drop to 2-1).

GAME MVP
Ricardo Brizuela (RHSP) 5 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, 22.6% WPA

RUNNERS-UP
Connery Peters (RHRP) 1 1/3 IP, H, BB, pickoff at 2B
Ronny Hernández (C) 1-for-3, pickoff at 1B, 3-for-3 CS

ACL Dodgers2 6, ACL White Sox 5 (7 innings) (Gameday Box)
In this shortened contest (112° at gametime, yo), the Complex Sox rallied to go up, 5-3, in the fourth, but L.A. countered with three of its own in the fifth to decide it. The Sox dropped to 24-34, and with just two games left in the season, dreams of a .500 rookie club are long gone. However, there were some highlights for the club, including impressive summers from thumpers Javier Mogollón and Adrian Gil. Pitching treasures were harder to find, but we’ll recap the club in a few days and see what’s there.

GAME MVP
Darío Borrero (DH) 3-for-3, 2 R, 2B

RUNNERS-UP
Adrian Gil (1B) 2-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 K
Abraham Núñez (RF) 2-for-4, 2 K
D’Angelo Tejada (2B) 1-for-3, R, HR, 3 RBI, K
Javier Mogollón (SS) 1-for-2, BB, K
Leandro Alsinois (CF) 1-for-3, R
Jimmy Lambert (RHSP) IP, H, 2 K

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Wes Kath photo: S.R. Silver/Sox Populi