Tanner McDougal did everything a starting pitcher is supposed to do on a Saturday night at Truist Field. He went six innings. He struck out eight. He held the hottest lineup in minor league baseball to three hits.
Two of them left the ballpark.
Memphis first baseman Bligh Madris broke through in the fifth with a two-run home run — the only earned damage McDougal allowed all night. The Knights answered. They kept answering. But center fielder Joshua Báez delivered the shot that mattered most: a three-run blast in the eighth inning that broke a 2-2 tie and put the Redbirds ahead for good in a 6-4 Memphis win.
Charlotte falls to 6-6. Memphis — the first team in professional baseball to reach ten wins this season — takes the series lead 3-2 heading into Sunday's 1:05 PM finale at Truist Field.
McDougal's Night Deserved Better
There is a version of this game where McDougal gets the win. He was that sharp. Eight strikeouts in six innings against a Memphis lineup that became the first team in professional baseball to reach ten wins this season. He allowed three hits total. His command was ahead of the count all night.
The problem was the fifth inning. Madris — who finished 3-for-4 with a double and three RBI — turned on a pitch and put it over the wall for two runs. It was the only real mistake McDougal made. Memphis needed exactly one.
Charlotte Kept Coming Back
The Knights refused to go quietly. Dru Baker manufactured the first run of the game without anyone getting a hit — he stole second base, then scored all the way from second on an errant throw. It was the kind of hustle play that earns its place in a box score that otherwise belonged to Memphis pitching.
Darren Baker laced an RBI double in the seventh to tie the game at two. For a stretch, it felt like the series might swing Charlotte's way again after Thursday's walk-off extra-inning thriller.
Then Báez happened. Three-run homer. Eighth inning. Tie broken.
Lee's Blast Wasn't Enough
Korey Lee made sure the eighth inning wasn't entirely Memphis. His two-run home run — 427 feet, the longest shot of the night — cut the deficit to 5-4 and brought the Truist Field crowd to its feet. LaMonte Wade Jr. nearly tied it with a drive down the right-field line that hooked foul by inches.
Memphis tacked on an insurance run in the ninth. Closer Luis Gastelum recorded a five-out save. Scott Blewett picked up the win in relief.
What It Means
The homestand comes down to Sunday. Game 6, 1:05 PM at Truist Field. This is Memphis's only visit to Charlotte in 2026 — a point worth remembering from the series preview after Games 1-3. After tomorrow, the Knights won't see the Redbirds again until late June at AutoZone Park.
Charlotte's pitching has been competitive all series — a theme since the opening weekend sweep of Durham. The offense has been streaky. Thursday's nine-run, ten-inning walk-off feels a long time ago after consecutive losses in Games 3 and 5.
The Knights head to Jacksonville on Tuesday. But first, one more shot at splitting the series with a team that has barely lost all season.
Sunday. 1:05. Truist Field.