White Sox Minor League Update: September 23, 2022

The Knights were tonight’s sole victors on the farm. They are also the only team still playing

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The Knights beat the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp in hitting, pitching, defense, scoring runs, and baseball, giving them their eighth win of September and bringing their record to 57-88.

Starting pitcher Scott Blewett has struggled in AAA all three seasons he’s pitched there (spending parts of two years with the Omaha Stormchasers). Recently promoted to Charlotte after posting a 5.03 ERA in 111 innings with the Barons, Blewett allowed five runs in six innings today, lowering his Knights ERA through three starts to 12.75. He did not, however, walk a batter, and did exit with a permanent lead for the win.

The first half of the game was a death-by-a-thousand-cuts situation, the Knights scoring one run each in the second, third, fourth, and fifth. Lenyn Sosa started by mashing his ninth dong at the level to lead off the second.

In the third, Zach Remillard was hit by a pitch, stole second, Mark Payton walked, and Yolbert Sánchez singled in Remillard; Payton was out at third on the throw.

The fourth inning featured a Blake Rutherford leadoff double, followed up by an Xavier Fernández double that did not result in the run scoring. Craig Dedelow was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Remillard grounded into a force out at home, then Payton came through with a sacrifice fly before Jake Burger struck out; Burger was 1-for-5 in his return from the Injured List.

In the fifth, the Knights clogged the basepaths; Sosa hit an infield single with one out, Adam Haseley singled him to second, and Rutherford singled too core Sosa and make it 4-1 Knights.

Four of Blewett’s five runs came in a catastrophic bottom of the sixth where the Jumbo Shrimp took a 5-4 lead all before there were two outs, that inning containing a double, three singles, one home run, and one run-scoring balk.

However, they underestimated the bat of Payton, who has absolutely torn up the ball, one half-inning later; after a slow start, he entered this game batting .308/.387/.586 since the beginning of May, with 24 of his 25 home runs coming in that timespan. Rutherford, Dedelow, and Remillard all walked to load the bases for him with two outs, and while he did not go deep, he did merely clear the bases with his 31st double of the year, putting the Knights up for good 7-5.

JB Olson, Sammy Peralta, and Matt Foster were all scoreless in relief; Peralta has yet to give up a run in three Knights appearances (four innings).

The Knights had 13 hits, four walks, and two hit by pitches; they were 4-for-14 with runners in scoring position.