White Sox Minor League Update: June 3, 2023

Rain delays take over the East Coast, starting pitching shines across the board, and Barons and Knights lose in heartbreaking fashion

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The Charlotte Knights led for the majority of the game, but after a ninth-inning bullpen collapse from Lane Ramsey, the Nashville Sounds were able to come away with the win, 5-3.

John Parke started the game for the Knights and was able to limit the Sounds to just one run in his 2 2⁄3 innings, but he definitely seemed to struggle with his control, walking three consecutive batters in the first inning. Though Parke did get into jams in the first two innings, he ultimately got out of them without anyone scoring. It wasn’t until the third, when Alex Jackson homered for Nashville, that Parke allowed his first run of the game.

Tanner Banks came in to relieve Parke for the final out of the inning. Banks also got into trouble in the fourth, somehow letting up a double, single, and a walk without giving up a run. He worked some sorcery and forced a double play, and the anarchy ended by Nashville’s Cam Devanney getting caught stealing home. Crisis averted — for now.

Offensively, the Knights didn’t have much to write home about for the first three innings, with just a few sporadic hits sprinkled in here and there, but not putting much pressure on the Nashville pitchers. That changed in the fourth when Victor Reyes and Zach Remillard put together a couple of hits, putting themselves in scoring position for Erik González to drive them both in on a single up the middle, putting Charlotte up, 2-1.

Banks seemingly had a stronger fifth inning, striking out the first batter, and forcing a pop out on the next, but a little blip on the third batter allowed Nashville to tie the game on a solo shot to center, 2-2.

Victor Reyes has had a great year for the Knights in Triple-A, especially at home where he has posted a .907 OPS. He flashed some of that power tonight, and blasted his 10th bomb of the season in the bottom of the sixth to add a run to Charlotte’s lead, 3-1.

Things were looking positive for the Knights for the next couple of innings, with Declan Cronin holding it down for two solid innings, giving up just two hits and striking out three. Bryan Shaw was lights out tonight, striking out the side in the eighth, setting the stage nicely for Lane Ramsey to finish the job in the ninth. Unfortunately, that’s not how it played out.

The inning started with Ramsey hitting a first batter on his very first pitch, and as you can imagine, it snowballed from there. Ramsey would go on to give up three earned runs on just two hits, including one walk, the aforementioned HBP, and one strikeout. He was the losing pitcher this evening, and was also charged a blown save, his fourth of the season.

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There was heartbreak in Birmingham this evening after a pitchers’ duel ended with the Barons losing, 1-0, to the Mississippi Braves. The Barons must have had this afternoon’s White Sox game fresh in their minds, because once again, wild pitch offense was the cause of today’s win; however, this time it wasn’t in favor of the Good Guys.

Tommy Sommer was the starter for Birmingham tonight, and even with a lopsided stat line where he gave up six walks and only struck out two, he was able to shut the Braves down for five (what I imagine to be chaotic) no-hit innings. The only frame in which Sommer didn’t give up a walk was the second, though there was never really an inning where he got into a really bad jam. Obviously the walks definitely need to be limited, but he did a great job today adapting when he clearly wasn’t on his A-game. With the help of his defense, of course.

Even with the no-hit bid entering the sixth, Haylen Green came in to relieve Sommer after his pitch count started to creep up pretty high (96 pitches). Green held it down for 1 2⁄3 innings, walking two in the seventh before being replaced by Yoelvín Silven, in attempt to play it safe and close out the inning with a fresh arm. It didn’t play out as safely as you’d hope, but Silven still got the out without giving up a run. Thank you again, defense!

Silven came back out for the eighth, and was able to get the first batter out but got himself into a bit of a mess shortly after that, with runners on second and third after a single and a double. Caleb Freeman came in to try to clean it up, but his wild pitch was the difference in tonight’s game, putting Mississippi up, 1-0, with the run being charged to Silven.

After a hard-fought defensive performance from the whole team, it’s definitely a tough loss to swallow, but the offense was really nowhere to be found tonight for the Barons. I’ve spent this entire time talking about the pitchers and the defense, but with Birmingham only mustering four hits, there’s not much else to discuss this evening. Alsander Womack accounted for 50% of the team’s hits today in the leadoff spot, going 2-for-3 and walking once — really the only batter who provided any value today.

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The rain worked in favor of the Dash today, as the game was called after just six innings due to unplayable field conditions, officially defeating the Greensboro Grasshoppers, 2-0. A win is a win, though!

Drew Dalquist had an excellent start today, going for five innings of two-hit ball, walking just one batter while mowing them down left and right in striking out seven. Dalquist has had a rough go this year, improving just to a 6.33 ERA, and still definitely has some work to do, but he still secures his first win.

Winston-Salem scored their two runs quickly in the bottom of the first, and that was enough to get the job done today. DJ Gladney kicked off a two-out rally, singling up the middle and then stealing second to put himself in scoring position. Wilfred Veras is having an excellent year at the plate, and he put that on display by cracking a double to left and driving Gladney in to put the Dash up, 1-0.

On the very next play, Michael Turner smoked a line drive back at the Greensboro pitcher, who nearly recovered to make an amazing, gloveless play, but a throwing error to first allowed Veras to score. The Dash went up, 2-0, early in the game, and that’s all it took!

Kade Mechals came in for the sixth and did what he needed to do, also earning a rare sixth-inning save. He gave up a hit, walked one, and struck out another, but it was enough to hold off the Grasshoppers and take the W tonight.

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Rain was clearly an issue across the East Coast this evening, suspending tonight’s match between the Cannon Ballers and the Fayetteville Woodpeckers, which is scheduled to finish tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. ET, before the originally scheduled game. The game will pick up in the top of the fifth inning with a runner on first base for Fayetteville and the Cannon Ballers up, 3-0.

Tanner McDougal was tonight’s starter for Kannapolis, and he held it down for the first four innings, even with the difficulties of pitching in the rain. He started the game off with back-to-back walks, but offset that by picking off a runner at second. That wasn’t even his only runner picked off at second tonight — McDougal did the exact same thing in the second inning! In his four innings, McDougal gave up just one hit, struck out three, and ended up walking four batters. We can let him off the hook a bit for the walks tonight given the conditions — one hit and a couple of pickoffs will definitely do the trick!

The good news is, before the game was suspended, the Cannon Ballers already had jumped on the Woodpeckers early, scoring a couple runs in the bottom of the first to go up, 2-0. Jordan Sprinkle (super awesome last name, by the way) doubled to left to lead it off for Kannapolis, and ended up scoring a few batters later alongside Mario Camilletti, when Jacob Burke hit is own (ground rule) double down the left-field line.

In the bottom of the second, the Cannon Ballers continued to put the pressure on Woodpeckers pitcher Trey Dombrowski, stringing together a few singles from Johnabiell Laureano, Logan Glass, and Camilletti ultimately driving in the third run.

We’ll be back to pick up the action tomorrow!

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