Monday’s number was 48-48, Charlotte’s record against everybody except Durham after the Knights closed a 14-4 season series against the Bulls.
Tuesday night changed it.
Charlotte opened its 12-game road trip with an 8-6 win over Rochester. The Knights are now 49-48 against teams that are not Durham, one game above .500 without help from the opponent that supplied their entire winning margin through Sunday.
That is a small change on paper. Getting there required a comeback from three runs down.
Rochester starter Luis Perales lasted 1.2 innings, and Charlotte’s hitters drew 10 walks to tie their season high. Neither fact produced an early lead. The Red Wings were ahead 5-2 after four.
Michael Turner and Ryan Galanie drove in Charlotte’s first two runs with singles. Both finished with two hits. Charlotte scored in the top of the fifth, Rochester answered in the bottom, and Andy Weber’s RBI single in the sixth brought the Knights within two.
Tim Elko erased the rest in the seventh. His three-run home run turned a 6-4 deficit into a 7-6 Charlotte lead. The Knights added another run in the eighth on a Rochester wild pitch.
Peyton Pallette earned the win with a scoreless inning. Tyler Davis followed with two shutout innings and three strikeouts. Jaden Woods retired Rochester in order in the ninth for his third save.
The opponent is worth remembering. Rochester visited Truist Field in June, lost two of the first three games and then won the final three. What had been a 2-1 Charlotte series lead ended as a four-games-to-two Rochester series win.
Charlotte began the rematch from the other direction. The Knights trailed most of Tuesday night, took their first lead in the seventh and kept it.
They are 63-52 overall and 21-19 in the second half. Game 2 in Rochester is scheduled for Wednesday at 6:45 p.m.