Charlotte Knights vs Memphis Redbirds

The Charlotte Knights and Memphis Redbirds played to a 4-4 tie through eight innings on Saturday night at Truist Field, with the game suspended before the bottom of the eighth could be completed. Junior Perez's fifth home run of the season in the sixth inning erased a 4-3 Memphis lead, capping a seesaw contest in which sloppy defence — three unearned runs across both sides — played a decisive role.

First inning — Charlotte strikes fast. Knights starter Chris Murphy worked a clean top of the first, striking out two. In the bottom half, Kyle Teel singled and Ryan Galanie walked before Korey Lee ripped a ground-ball single to left. Left fielder Noah Mendlinger misplayed the ball, allowing both Teel and Galanie to score and Lee to advance to third. Joey Wiemer followed with a line-drive single to centre, scoring Lee for a 3-0 Charlotte lead.

Second through fifth — pitchers settle. Murphy left after 1.1 innings (25 pitches, 1 H, 0 R, 2 K), turning the game over to Adisyn Coffey, who tossed 1.2 scoreless frames. Charlotte relievers Shane Smith (1.0 IP) and Nick Altermatt (1.1 IP) kept Memphis off the board, though Dakota Harris led off the fifth with a sharp double off Altermatt — his first extra-base hit of the season — and advanced to third on a groundout, but was stranded.

Sixth inning — Memphis erupts for four. The game flipped when Leo Bernal led off with a single and César Prieto followed with a line-drive single to right. Bernal scored on the play, aided by a missed-catch error from shortstop Andy Weber that allowed Prieto to reach second. After Ramon Mendoza popped out, Garrett Schoenle relieved Altermatt. Bligh Madris walked, then Colton Ledbetter doubled to left, scoring Prieto and making it 3-2. Schoenle intentionally walked Harris to load the bases, and Noah Mendlinger struck out for the second out. But Brody Moore — hitting .216 on the season — delivered a two-run single to right, scoring Madris and Ledbetter to put Memphis ahead 4-3.

Bottom of the sixth — Perez answers. Joey Wiemer grounded out to begin the frame, but Junior Perez crushed a 1-0 pitch from Pete Hansen over the left-field wall for a solo home run, knotting the game at 4-4. It was Perez's fifth homer of the season and his 14th RBI.

Seventh and eighth — bullpens hold. Garrett Schoenle worked around a Ramon Mendoza double in the top of the seventh, stranding him at third. Jairo Iriarte retired the Redbirds in order in the top of the eighth on three groundouts, stranding Madris at third with one out. The Knights came to bat in the bottom of the eighth with Korey Lee due up, but the game entered a weather delay and was ultimately suspended.

The game's largest swing came in the top of the sixth, when three runs crossed the plate on a sequence of two singles, an error, a walk and a double — flipping a 3-0 Knights lead into a 4-3 Memphis advantage. But the defining moment was Junior Perez's solo home run in the bottom half. Perez turned on a Hansen curveball and sent it over the left-field wall, resetting the game at 4-4 with a single swing (+31.7% win probability), per Chew's MLB Stats.

• Junior Perez (Charlotte Knights): 1-for-2 with a walk, a solo home run — his fifth of the season — and one RBI. His sixth-inning blast was the game's only home run and single-handedly pulled Charlotte back into a tie.

• Brody Moore (Memphis Redbirds): 1-for-3 with a two-run, two-out single in the sixth that put Memphis ahead 4-3. Both his RBIs came with two outs and drove in the go-ahead runs.

• Colton Ledbetter (Memphis Redbirds): 2-for-4 with a double (his 20th of the season) and an RBI. His sixth-inning double scored Prieto and started the four-run rally.

• Cooper Hjerpe (Memphis Redbirds): 4.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R (1 ER), 3 BB, 6 K. Despite allowing three runs in the first, Hjerpe settled in and retired seven of his final nine batters. Only one of the three runs was earned thanks to Mendlinger's error.

Player of the Match: Junior Perez (Charlotte Knights)

Each team had only five hits through eight innings, but that stat undersells the game's character. Memphis out-hit Charlotte 9-5, yet the Knights led 3-0 after one inning thanks to Mendlinger's two-run error. Both teams scored only two earned runs apiece — Charlotte's three first-inning runs included one earned; Memphis's four-run sixth included two unearned after Weber's error.

The Knights went 2-for-6 with runners in scoring position to Memphis's 3-for-15, though Memphis left eight runners on base and struck out six times. Charlotte's bullpen — six relievers combining for 6.2 IP, 8 H, 4 R (1 ER), 2 BB, 4 K — kept the game within reach, with Iriarte the most efficient (3 batters faced, 11 pitches, 3 groundouts).

This was the fourth game of a six-game series between the clubs at Truist Field. The opener (27 August) saw Memphis win a rain-shortened game 2-0, while Friday's contest (match 177313) was postponed. The Knights entered at 67-59 (.532), third in the IL East Division, while the Redbirds stood at 69-57 (.548), second in the IL West behind St. Paul (72-53) — per StatsCrew standings. Both teams remain firmly in the playoff picture with roughly three weeks remaining.

The game was suspended in the bottom of the eighth inning due to weather, with Korey Lee due to lead off. Per International League rules, suspended games are resumed from the point of interruption at a later date.

Neither team gained a win or a loss, leaving both records unchanged. Memphis stays 2.5 games behind St. Paul in the West. Charlotte sits third in the East, 9.5 games behind Rochester (76-48). The series is scheduled to continue with the remaining two games; the postponed and suspended contests will need to be made up.

A game that had a three-run first, a four-run rally, a tying solo homer and enough defensive mistakes to keep the unearned-run tracker busy finished in limbo. The 4-4 deadlock through eight felt fitting for two evenly matched Triple-A clubs fighting for playoff position. The final chapter is yet to be written.

1. Chew's MLB Stats — Box score, pitch-by-pitch, scorecard and play-by-play for game ID 816838 (https://chew.pw/sports/mlb/game/816838)
2. Betmana.co.uk — Match page and provider payload (https://betmana.co.uk/baseball/match/usa/il/season-2026/2026-08-29/177324-charlotte-knights-vs-memphis-redbirds/)
3. StatsCrew — 2026 International League standings (https://www.statscrew.com/minorbaseball/standings/l-IL/y-2026)
4. MiLB.com — Game information, venue and weather details (https://www.milb.com/gameday/redbirds-vs-knights/2026/08/29/816838/final/box)
5. MLB Gameday — Game ID 816838 (https://mlb.com/gameday/816838)