JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp used a five-run fifth inning to give their pitching staff enough wiggle room to slip by the Charlotte Knights 6-5 Saturday night at VyStar Ballpark in front of 5,810 fans.
Jacksonville (19-19) received a 5.1 inning start from Ryan Gusto (W, 4-2), who allowed five earned runs with three walks and six strikeouts. Charlotte (19-19) left-hander Hagen Smith (L, 0-3) coughed up six runs (five earned) over four innings while walking two and striking out three.
The Jumbo Shrimp began the scoring in the bottom of the fourth with a two-out rally. Agustín Ramírez doubled and scored after a fielding error on a Kemp Alderman groundball to Charlotte shortstop Jacob Gonzalez to give Jacksonville a 1-0 lead.
Smith yielded a hit by pitch and two walks to open the fifth inning. Jesús Bastidas lined a bases-clearing three-run double to push the lead to 4-0. Deyvison De Los Santos followed with an RBI double of his own to plate Bastidas. Two batters later, Ramírez’s groundout to second base brought in De Los Santos and improved Jacksonville’s advantage to 6-0.
Charlotte responded with a five-run sixth inning of their own. The Knights placed runners on first and second for LaMonte Wade Jr., who smacked an RBI single to score Braden Montgomery. An Oliver Dunn walk loaded the bases for Korey Lee, who provided a two-run double to cut the Jacksonville lead to 6-3. Caden Connor recorded an RBI single to bring in Dunn, and Lee scored on a balk by Jacksonville reliever Tyler Zuber.
Holding a 6-5 lead, Jacksonville turned to Jack Ralston (SV, 2) for a six-out save across spotless eighth and ninth innings.
The series concludes Sunday with Jacksonville righty Josh White (2-0, 1.62) starting on the mound opposite Charlotte southpaw Shane Murphy (1-0, 5.40).
Coverage begins at 1:50 p.m. on Bally Live, MLB.tv, MiLB.tv, ESPN 690 and espn690.com with first pitch Sunday set for 2:05 p.m.
Gates open at 1:00 p.m. and fans can enjoy Mother’s Day with Mother’s Day Mimosas (**Click **MORE INFO to book your Mother’s Day picnic), Baptist Health Sunday Family FUNday, presented by Baptist Health for pre-game catch on the field for the first 20 minutes after gates have opened, along with face painting and balloon animals.
Fans can also participate in post-game Kids Round the Bases, presented by Goodwill Industries of North Florida and Florida Blue Mother’s Day Diaper Drive where fans who donate diapers to benefit Community Health Outreach at the Jumbo Shrimp games from May 8-10 receive two free tickets to a future Jumbo Shrimp game. *Diapers can be dropped off at the Community Health Outreach table located on the Main Concourse behind Homeplate.*
ABOUT THE JUMBO SHRIMP: The Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp are the Triple-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins and compete in the International League. The 2025 International League and Triple-A National Champions, the Jumbo Shrimp call VyStar Ballpark home for baseball but also a wide variety of additional community focused events with a goal of providing Affordable, Family, FUN to Northeast Florida. Winners of many marketing and sales awards and recognition since the team was rebranded prior to the 2017 season, the Jumbo Shrimp continually lead the state of Florida in attendance across all minor league professional sports organizations.