JACKSONVILLE (www.sportsdayjax.com) - Jacob Amaya, Jerar Encarnacion and Jesús Sánchez each hit a home run in the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp’s 5-2 victory over the Charlotte Knights Sunday evening from 121 Financial Ballpark in front of 8,023 fans.
The Jumbo Shrimp drew first blood in the opening frame. Sánchez (1) and Amaya (7) smacked back-to-back solo home runs to give Jacksonville (23-26) a 2-0 advantage.
Charlotte (25-26) collected their first run of the contest in the second when Carlos Perez (9) hit a solo home run against Jacksonville left-hander Devin Smeltzer (1-2) to make it 2-1.
In the fourth inning, Elvis Andrus (1) hit the fourth home run of the contest to knot the game at two apiece.
Amaya sliced a leadoff single in the fifth. Three batters later, Encarnacion (10) hit a two-run homer off Knights reliever John Parke (1-1) to put Jacksonville back in front 4-2.
Jacksonville tacked on their fifth and final run in the sixth. Jake Mangum hit a one-out double and was brought home on a single from Sánchez stretching the lead to 5-2.
Jacksonville will travel to Durham to begin their six-game series with the Bulls on Monday at 5:05 p.m. from Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The Jumbo Shrimp will start RHP Ronald Bolaños (1-5, 7.76).