Junior Perez got all of one in the fifth inning Thursday night, a towering shot that tied the ballgame at 2-2. That was the high point. Buffalo scored the next nine runs.
The Bisons beat your Charlotte Knights 11-4 at Truist Field, their first win in this six-game homestand, and they did it the loud way: 17 hits off Charlotte pitching.
It was a real ballgame for five innings. Buffalo scratched out a pair of runs in the top of the third, and the Knights answered with the next two, Riley Unroe tripling home a run in the bottom half and Perez tying it two innings later. Then Buffalo scored four runs in the sixth, four more in the seventh, and one in the eighth, just to be thorough.
Here is the odd part. Charlotte drew NINE walks and finished with four hits. The Knights worked counts all night and made Buffalo throw strikes, and they came away with four knocks and four runs, two of which crossed in the bottom of the eighth, long after the thing was decided. The club credited Adisyn Coffey with a strong start in an assignment he was not scheduled for.
Look. Charlotte still leads the series two games to one, and the Knights are 76-65 with nine games left. They won the first two of this homestand, including Wednesday's comeback.
Here is what those nine games are worth. Triple-A splits its season into halves, and the International League sends one club to the postseason on the best second-half record in the whole twenty-team league. Charlotte is 34-32 in the second half. That is twelfth, five games back of Rochester. The club says it is still alive for the spot, and it is, the way anybody five games back with nine to play is alive: win every one of them and get help from eleven teams.
Which makes the rest of this short. Three home games remain in the Knights' 2026 season. Friday night, then a doubleheader Saturday. After that it is six at Norfolk and the year is over.
Friday is First Responders' Night at Truist Field, with more than 2,000 tickets given away to first responders and the game jerseys auctioned for the Fire Fighter Steven Coakley Foundation. First pitch is 7:04. Three home games left, folks.